Governor Schwarzenegger: Prison Reform to help California balance higher education-prison costs:
"Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal reported in the San Francisco Chronicle last week is not as out of this world as it has been perceived by some. Saving a billion dollars on the prison costs that are breaking California's back financially with overcrowded prisons which cost the taxpayer $102,730 for each prisoner incarcerated is a serious problem. His plan: we pay Mexico to build the prisons for undocumented prisoners currently being paid for by the state of California, which represents 1/2 the cost of installing a new facility in California, and then once operational in Mexico, it costs 1/2 the amount to run the prison. Tittering and knee slaps were heard when this was first reported, but looking at it more seriously, there are good reasons to investigate this proposal."
