This is completely insane. Here you have a quadriplegic - maybe a bad dude in his heart, but incapable of acting on it in any way - that we're spending $625,000 to hold in prison for no reason. Under normal circumstances this would be a waste of money - under the circumstances that California, under a Supreme Court ruling, must reduce the prison population, it's unconscionable. This guy is taking up the space of some other criminal. There are people in comas in state prisons. When lawmakers passed this bill, they didn't just want parole hearings, they wanted people who could not threaten society released, as a least-worst option to relieve a prison crisis.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans are addicted to the prison system. They are addicted to the simple solutions that it presents, and afraid to confront the more difficult issues of prevention and treatment. Perhaps the Supreme Court decision changes that, but don't count on Incarcerex going down without a fight.
