$1.2 billion in new jails still haven’t been built

 

What incompetents. To ease overcrowding, in 2007 the Legislature authorized $1.2 billion for local jails to expand. That was before both the Great Recession hit. Before a federal judge ordered the state to reduce overcrowding in state prisons. And before Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature in 2011 moved many prisoners from state prisons to local jails. Those jails sure could have used the extra space paid for by the $1.2 billion.

Here we are, six years after the $1.2 billion was authorized, and not one local jail has been expanded. Reported the Bee:

But six years after the state approved $1.2 billion for jails, not a single county has finished construction – and only five have started building new cells.

State and county budget woes during the recession are partly to blame. The state initially struggled to sell bonds, while counties could not scrape together enough matching construction funds or devote more money for workers to operate expanded jails.

County officials, however, also cited a maze of bureaucratic state hurdles that proved too difficult to navigate.

“The red tape is unbelievable,” said Manuel Perez, Madera County’s corrections director. “It’s not an easy process.”

Six years!

Just last year, a local strip mall where I live completely refurbished itself in about six months. It ripped down 3/4 of the mall. Then it rebuilt the what was left of the original. Then it built new buildings where the ripped-down ones were. Then it constructed new buildings on part of the parking lot.

That’s the private sector for you: efficient. No doubt they also put up with California’s “unbelievable” red tape.

Government: Always incompetent, late, over budget. Yet we keep getting more of it: Obamacare, the Common Core education scheme. Plus more and more mandates, meaning more and more red tape.

When will we ever learn? When will we ever begin dismantling the Monster?