California's prison people put out their Spring 2008 inmate population projections, and the news is positive for those who favor putting fewer offenders behind bars.
The projection is contained in a report released today by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It says that this June, there will be 171,126 inmates in the state's custody, or about 4,292 fewer than the projectors had previously projected, as recently as last fall.
Moving ahead to June 2013, corrections analysts say the state will be housing exactly 167,535 inmates. The projections release in the fall called for a June 2013 prison population of 191,886.
Parole agents, meanwhile, are projected to have fewer offenders to track. They're supposed to have 124,631 parolees under supervision this June and 117,816 in June 2013.
The numbers have big implications for the state budget. It costs $43,000 to house the average prisoner for a year.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's money people said this week he was dumping his budget-driven release plan because the prison population drops are taking place on their own.
Accounting for the pop drops: fewer admissions from courts, mostly the result of fewer drug and theft offenders getting convicted in Southern California; and fewer parolees returned to custody for minor, non-criminal infractions.
The report credited corrections' new parole policies for helping drive the numbers down. In the last year, the administration has directed thousands more offenders into drug and other community-based programs. It also is discharging parolees from supervision sooner if they stay clean.
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