LOCAL VOICES: Supreme Court Decision Shows Importance Of Proposed Whitewater Jail

NIMBYs. We hear and read about them all the time. No they’re not little bug-like creatures. Nor are they a new sexual enhancement pill that comes as Spam in our emails. NIMBY’s are “Not in My Backyard.” You want to open up a halfway house? Fine, but “not in my backyard.” A shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence? Great Idea…. “not in my backyard.”

NIMBYs came to mind the other day when I read the story about the U.S. Supreme Court decision that told California their adult prisons fall "below the standard of decency."   

The net effect of the 5-4 decision is that 30-some thousand prisoners will have to be released from state prisons over the next two years. The state says “not to worry;” they won’t simply release prisoners into society. They say one option is to transfer the “less violent” inmates to the county jails. Hold on! Not so fast.

Last I heard the jails in Riverside County aren’t renovating any empty cells. And the state doesn’t have the money to reimburse counties anyway. Kent Scheidegger, legal director with the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, said "Unless there's a massive jail construction project, I can't see how that's going to work without impacting public safety," Ah, build new jails! NIMBY. Remember the proposal to build a new county jail in Whitewater? NIMBY. It would have provided 7,200 beds.

NIMBY. It will negatively impact tourism, the NIMBYs said. Tourists in Whitewater? Never heard that.

OK, so here’s an idea. Check this out. The state can buy an island for as little as $55,000. What a deal! Transfer 30-thousand of the state’s most violent criminals to that island. Living on a Caribbean island CAN’T be cruel and unusual punishment can it? Living conditions will be well above the “standard of decency” right? And no NIMBYs. Problem solved. What do you think?