Early Reports Indicate Prop. 36 is Working as Intended

California Department of Corrections Cites New Initiative as Primary Factor in Keeping Women out of Prison

Plan to Build New Maximum-Security Prison Unexpectedly Reversed

May 1, 2002

Contact: Whitney Taylor
(916) 444-3751
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The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has reported that the state’s population of women inmates has dropped 10 percent in the past year. Last week, the CDC acknowledged that this decline is due in large part to Proposition 36, California’s groundbreaking initiative that diverts people convicted of nonviolent drug possession into treatment instead of prison.

"We think the biggest factor with the women’s numbers is Proposition 36," said Margot Bach, a CDC spokeswoman, in an April 25th Orange County Register article.

Sixty-one percent of Californians voted in favor of Proposition 36 in November 2000, hoping to decrease the number of non-violent drug offenders in the state’s prisons and jails. The initiative went into effect July 1, 2001.

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