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June 03, 2005
CA: Delano: While Schools Close, New Prison Opens
Randy Shaw 02.JUN.05
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adaichi, School Board members Mark Sanchez and Eric Mar, Teachers Union President Dennis Kelly and Karen Zapata from Teachers4Social Justice were among those who spoke yesterday at the San Francisco site of one of five statewide press events designed to protest the opening of a new prison in the Central Valley city of Delano. Organized by Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), the speakers condemned the state's funding of an unnecessary prison at a time when budget shortfalls are
requiring school closures in Oakland, SF, and throughout California.
With the number of prisoners in California declining and student enrollment rising, it would be logical to assume that state government would be shifting money from incarceration to education. But in the Governor's May Revise budget is a request for funds to plan three new prisons, in Chino, San Luis Obispo and Sacramento.
The total estimated cost: $1.5 billion for construction and at least another $1 billion in debt service
To protest these crazy spending priorities a press conference was held yesterday in front of Golden Gate Elementary, a school slated for closure due to the budget crisis in the San Francisco School District. "They can spend our tax dollars to lock us up, but not to give us decent education," said Karen Zapata of Teachers 4 Social Justice.
The Department of Corrections is opening Delano II despite the fact that California's prison population is lower today than it was when this prison was planned 6 years ago," As of May 11, California held 161,174 prisoners. On June 30, 1999, there were 162,064 and a year later, 162,000.
Gov. Gray Davis revived plans for the prison, first proposed in the early 1990s, soon after taking office in 1999, despite a downturn in the state's prison population and years of falling crime rates. "Delano II was a thank you gift to the guards for their substantial financial support of Davis," said Rose Braz of Critical Resistance.
While national and international attention has focused on US-run prisons at Guantanomo and Abu Graibh, little attention has been paid to the fact that America has the world's largest prison population, now exceeding two million. And the prison population remains disprortionately African-American and Latino, the groups most suffering from lack of education funding.
Posted by lois at June 3, 2005 07:32 PM