Bay Area Group Protesting Prison Expansion

  Pamela Tom

Mar. 28 - KGO (KGO) -- Governor Schwarzenegger's push for more prison space is facing stiff controversy by a group of Bay Area residents who are traveling to Sacramento today to protest the proposal.

They say the solution lies in treating and reducing the number of inmates.

The people working for prison reform loaded onto buses in Oakland this morning, headed for a big rally in Sacramento called Beyond Prison Day.

Rally organizers oppose Governor Schwarzenegger's $10.9 billion proposal to create 78,000 more prison beds to reduce overcrowding. A coalition of groups will be on hand today offering a variety of their own solutions, including Families To Amend California's Three Strikes. They say too many nonviolent criminals are contributing to the exploding prison population.

Other groups are calling for more funding for Proposition 36's drug treatment program.

Right now the state is housing 174,000 prisoners in facilities meant for just 100,000.

Rose Braz, Coalition For Effective public Safety: "The reality is that history teaches us better than anything else that if you build them you're going to fill them so increasing the number of cells in this state will only service to increase the number of people in prison."

The governor says he will not release any dangerous inmates in order to reduce overcrowding. At the same time he only has a couple of months to hammer out legislative support for his proposal before a federal judge considers imposing a cap on California's prison population.

That rally got underway at 9:00 a.m. and was scheduled to last until noon. People all over the state are planning to attend.

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