Gavin Newsom wants to reform California prisons. Why Democrats traveled to Norway for ideas

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS AND SACRAMENTO MAYOR TOUR NORWAY PRISONS…AGAIN

Via Maggie Angst and Lindsey Holden…

Less than a week after wrapping up this year’s legislative session, a group of state lawmakers flew to Norway with California corrections officials and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to tour the country’s progressive prison system.

The six-day trip is part of a growing push by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to make the state’s prison system less punitive by deploying elements of the Scandinavian corrections model. Norway’s prison system, known for its low recidivism rate, attempts to make life inside prisons as normal as possible to prepare inmates for their release.

Newsom earlier this year announced the state would transform the state’s oldest and most infamous correctional facility, San Quentin State Prison, into a rehabilitation and education facility for inmates using, in part, lessons from Norway.

Lawmakers were initially hesitant to provide the $380 million needed for the reforms, saying they wanted more details about the project.

“I just want to be clear that I don’t think that the role of the Legislature is to green-light a proposal without any ability to be able to weigh in,” said Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, who chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety, in May.

However, legislators eventually green-lit the full amount Newsom requested through the budget process.

Steinberg went on the trip as head of the San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council, which is guiding the planned changes at the 171-year-old penitentiary. State lawmakers who made the voyage overseas include Bonta, Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley; and Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton.

Quirk-Silva on Tuesday posted a photo of herself and Steinberg on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“In Norway with #SmartJustice visited 2 prisons, so much to learn and see,” Quirk-Silva wrote. “Did you know Police Officers and Correctional Officers don’t carry guns? Also for an individual to get a gun, they must have training and a license.”

The trip was organized by criminal justice reform nonprofit Smart Justice California and Amend, a UC San Francisco program working to transform prison and jail culture by reducing negative health issues and addressing human rights violations. It mirrors a similar Norway trip orchestrated by the groups in 2019.

“As California continues to invest resources into reforming our expansive prison system, now is the perfect time for California policymakers, public safety officials, and stakeholders to witness, study, and learn from Norway’s alternative and more humane approach to corrections and incarceration,” said Anne Irwin, founder and director of Smart Justice, in a statement.

WORKER WAGES VS. INFLATION

Via Lindsey Holden...

California workers have seen their pay increase during the past three years, but their earnings still have not kept up with inflation.

The Public Policy Institute of California on Tuesday reported private-sector workers have seen their average hourly wages go up 15% since January 2020, but inflation-adjusted salaries are down 2%.

California saw an unemployment rate of 4.6% in August, which PPIC reported is low by historical trends.

Inflation has especially hurt education and manufacturing, as well as health, professional and financial services. Leisure and hospitality workers — along with trade, transportation and utilities workers — are earning more than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, although those employees’ average wages are lower than those in other industries.

The growth in the leisure and hospitality industry has been the result of Californians’ persistent spending, even though the overall economic outlook remains unpredictable, PPIC reported.

“It is not easy to predict how California’s labor market will evolve in the coming months,” the analysis said. “Inflation is likely to continue to erode wage growth, and the Federal Reserve might take further action to control price growth, possibly further slowing the economy and hampering job growth.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Found on a baby changing table in restroom underneath House floor: ‘Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant,’ from Rep. @mattgaetz, Sept. 15, 2023, 11:22am.”

- Matt Laslo on X, formerly known as Twitter

BEST OF THE BEE

▪ Could California see its first state worker strike soon? The union representing state scientists filed for impasse with the Public Employment Relations Board on Tuesday, the first step toward a potential work stoppage, via Maya Miller.

▪ Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho made good on a promise to sue the city of Sacramento for creating a public nuisance by failing to adequately address homelessness, via Sam Stanton.

▪ The Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates high could be good news for those with savings accounts, via David Lightman.