Overview

The Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations which is the legislative body responsible for overseeing California's massive prison system will be discontinued on November 30, 2002. Every two years the Committee comes up for renewal in the state Senate and Assembly. The Senate Rules Committee, rather than proposing an additional two years for the committee, amended the proposal to a six-week extension. The Senate approved the extension, however the Assembly voted it down.

"The California Correctional Peace Officers Association was directly responsible for the end to the Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations." states Dr. Corey Weinstein of California Prison Focus. "State legislators have caved into the enormous pressure of the prison guards union, while one of the largest and most expensive state agencies goes without any official government oversight."