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February 16, 2009
Rapid Repat for California prisons
From the Los Angeles Times
Opinion
Rapid Repat for California prisons
The state could save money and reduce the number of inmates by taking part in a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement program.
By Julie Myers Wood
Julie Myers Wood was the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from January 2006 to November 2008.
February 16, 2009
The tentative federal court ruling last week that California must release thousands of inmates in its correctional system comes as more bad news for a state trying to enforce the law and control its budget. One partial solution may lie in a federal program.
Under the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, California must develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the state prison population by as many as 57,000 people over the course of two to three years, unless the state reaches an agreement with the inmates who are the plaintiffs in the case. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office has announced that the state will appeal the decision if it becomes final. In the meantime, the state should reconsider joining a program that is saving millions of dollars each year in states including Arizona and New York, and soon many others.
This innovative cost-cutting measure is Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer program, known as Rapid Repat. On top of significant savings related to housing inmates, this program has the added benefit of reducing California's criminal alien -- legal and illegal -- prison population and would be a logical part of any comprehensive plan to reduce the prison population.
The program provides for conditional early release of qualifying non- violent criminal aliens on the condition that they voluntarily agree to deportation. Under this program, immigrants are not treated differently from U.S. citizens, as far as early release is concerned. The state must already have (or put in place) a parole structure that permits early release for eligible U.S. citizen criminals. Immigrants who have committed violent, serious felonies are not eligible.
If an immigrant participates but then comes back into the United States illegally, the individual first serves the remainder of his or her state sentence. After that, ICE will present the case to the U.S. attorney's office for federal prosecution for illegal reentry after removal, subjecting the individual to a potentially lengthy federal prison term.
The success of Rapid Repat in other states demonstrates its potential in California. New York has used a version of this program since 1995, saving the state more than $120 million. Arizona joined the program in late 2005 and has saved more than $18 million. In the last year, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island and Georgia have begun participating. Rapid Repat also saves federal taxpayers significant money by reducing federal detention and court time, and leveraging limited federal detention resources.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wood16-2009feb16,0,6259374.story
Posted by lois at February 16, 2009 02:59 PM