11/13 Protest New Prison Construction

DELANO PRISON BONDS GO ON SALE,
ADDING TO STATE DEBT AND CORRECTIONS’ OVERSPEND

PETER CAMEJO TO CONDUCT TEACH-IN AT
DELANO PRISON BOND MANAGER

Street Theater/Photo Ops:
What: Teach In & Protest
When: November 13, 2003, 2 pm
Where: Bond Seller Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co.
1999 Harrison St (near 20th Street), Oakland, CA

OAKLAND, CA – Following revelations that the California Department of Corrections overspent its budget by $544 million, Corrections will add yet another $595 million dollars of debt to California’s already disastrous credit report when the state begins to sell bonds for construction of the controversial Delano II prison next week.

Peter Camejo, Green Party gubernatorial candidate, and Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, professor at UC Berkeley, will conduct a Teach-In in front of the offices of the Senior Manager of the prison bond sale. The Teach-In is part of a week of teach-ins and other activities organized by the Education Not Incarceration Coalition.

The Delano prison will be funded with Lease Revenue Bonds (LRBs). Unlike General Obligation Bonds, LRBs don’t require voter approval.

“Taxpayers have been scammed. Lease Revenue Bonds were designed for projects that produce revenue to pay off the bonds. What revenue will a prison produce?,” said Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore. “The Legislature has again ducked the Constitutional demand that voters approve state debt. Elizabeth Hill, the Legislative Analysts, often calls such bonds Lease Payment Bonds because we pay for them but get no revenue from them.”

Noting that a statewide poll of likely voters found 76% wanted the right to vote on prison construction bonds, Rose Braz, Director of Critical Resistance, commented, “Legislators know that prison construction is very unpopular in California. Voters have turned down prison construction bonds for over a decade. The majority of Californians recently polled – over 58% -- said they wanted a moratorium on state prison construction.”

Earlier this month, CDC revealed that it had once again overspent its budget. Corrections has overspent its budget and gone back to the Legislature for more money every year since 1997. Last year, CDC asked the legislature of an additional $69 million, the year before it was $178 million. Facing our worst budget crisis ever, it was revealed that CDC spent $544 million – half a billion – more than it was allocated this year.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, LRBs can cost taxpayers up to twenty percent more to repay than general obligation bonds. “Some have asserted that because the prison is funded with bonds, taxpayers are somehow off the hook. But, the money to repay bonds does not grow on trees; that money comes from the state’s general fund, which is projected to run multi-billion dollar deficits for years to come,” said Braz, noting that the state could save approximately $283 million in interest costs if it stopped the project and did not issue the bonds plus any monies it has not yet spent on construction.

School children, teachers, parents, and community members will gather on November 13, to protest in front of Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co, the Senior Manager of the Delano Bond sale,

“The cost for your child to go through California’s public schools from kindergarten to 12th grade is about $85,930,” said teacher Lisa Gutierrez-Guzman. “Compare this with the cost of simply constructing one cell at Delano II: $142,000, which doesn’t even include the $100 million annual operating costs of the prison. Where are our priorities?”

“Four statewide polls have shown that Californians want cuts to prison spending, yet Gov. Davis asked for increased Corrections spending in every budget. Will Gov. Schwarzenegger prioritize the will of California voters or big campaign contributors like the CCPOA?,” asked Craig Gilmore of the California Prison Moratorium Project.

Gilmore noted other options to reduce the state’s prison population and budget, including paroling eligible prisoners slightly early and reducing the enormous number of people sent back to prison on technical violations of parole, over 74,000 in 2001.

“States across the nation, headed by Republicans and Democrats, are reducing prison spending by reducing the number of people in prison and the number of prisons,” says Jason Ziedenberg, Director of Policy and Research with the DC-based Justice Policy Institute.

“If Texas and Ohio can stop building prisons, why do California’s leaders want to build yet another prison the state doesn’t need, can’t afford and Californians don’t want,” said Braz.

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