There is a huge political issue brewing with the Prison Systems in CA and major problems for the taxpayer. You see the skyrocketing costs for the Prisons are part of the problem and the incredible lobby of the Prison Guard Labor. The biggest issue I see is illegal aliens in prison which are approaching one-third the prison populations. If an Illegal Alien is in prison for his third DUI, with manslaughter attached; well, one has to ask, what on Earth is he even doing in our country in the first place?

Indeed we do need to be smart on crime and the Politicians use scare tactics in the media to get elected and then constantly propose higher penalties. Indeed we do have too many people in our prisons in the United States and it is very costly to society and the individual. It tends to make otherwise productive people, institutionalized when returned to society and thus the recidivism rates are indeed way too high.

Taxpayers are angry that the prisons have color TVs and weight rooms and are screaming. While many more liberal leaning Californians think the treatment of those in prisons is unfair. One has to ask them why would you want prison to be a cakewalk? Did you know out West that one-third of all those in the prison system are illegal aliens? We can no longer afford this folks? It is a serious issue, so consider this in 2006.