Governor Newsom and the CDCR administration have been trying to push several lies regarding “The California Model.” The California Model is a victim-offending model, and the only truth is the decrease in staff and inmate safety.
One lie is the California Model is based on the Norway Model. There is no basis to this claim other than well behaved inmates in Norway can earn many freedoms and property. The California Model is intended on giving inmates more freedom and property without the need for rehabilitation or even good behavior. CDCR likes to focus on rehabilitation however it is apparent no one in administration understands criminology or how to rehabilitate offenders. The plan is to give the inmates more happy times, more freedoms, and more stuff without any real plan. Even a basic knowledge of criminology or forensic psychology will explain how the California Model will garner no positive effect.
CDCR has been implementing parts of Newsom’s horrible California Model plans within the department. The result of giving inmates more happy times and freedoms has resulted in more violence and more staff attacks. According to CDCR’s data, 2023 has had many more incidents than 2022 or 2021. (From January to October 2023 there were 17,993 total incident reports; compared to 14,138 and 12,717 for the same periods in 2022 and 2021, respectively.)
There are several reasons the California Model allows for more inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff violence. One reason is the push to give inmates more freedoms, often placing inmates in housing assignments much lower than their security level. Another important reason for the violence is the lack of accountability. Some correctional administrators have been deleting violation reports, additionally the new inmate appeals branch works to change the outcome of rules violation hearings. Probably the most impactful is reduction of security controls CDCR is implementing. In the desire to make the inmates happier, many security controls have been reduced or removed. Even some inmates have been complaining about the new lack of security controls.
CDCR is public funded, and to support officer training and equipment, the department needs the public to agree training and equipment is worth the investment. The California Model is an afront to the victims of crime. When a person is wronged by an offender, the public relies on the government to right that wrong. Newsom’s California Model re-victimizes the victims by not providing any form of retribution. Inmates are only required to have free school, free healthcare, and happy fun times in prison. No atonement for offending is allowed under the California Model; one can expect more violence in the streets as victims start to seek their own justice.
Perhaps the California Model can be re-done with a basis on criminology and forensic psychology. Maybe we can look at reforming the offender instead of planning inmate BBQ’s, bike shows, concerts, and other recreation activities. Rehabilitation means changing the offender’s attitude and beliefs regarding offending, no amount of Newsom’s happy inmate free fun times is going to accomplish this.
thetoughestbeat