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...some criminal-justice experts the violence that erupted at the facility, located about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, was an inevitable consequence of a state prison system long hobbled by massive overcrowding, program cuts and understaffed facilities. And given the state's ongoing budget woes - with $1.2 billion in cuts mandated to the prison budget - the situation is likely to only get worse...
...declared a state of emergency because of "severe overcrowding" in California's prisons, saying it had caused "substantial risk to the health and safety of the men and women who work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in them." In response, legislators passed AB 900, which earmarked $1.2 billion in jail-construction funding through state lease-revenue bonds. However, more than two years later, construction is still on hold as lawmakers quibble about the details. But it's not just a lack of buildings that is the problem. Says Krisberg: "Without programs and without services, the tensions that exist...
...addition to overcrowding, the state's corrections efforts are the nation's most expensive - and one of the least effective. The state spends $10 billion annually, or $49,000 per inmate for a year in custody, according to statistics from the nonpartisan policy-advising group Legislative Analyst's Office. Yet, California's recidivism rate is 70%, one of the worst in the country...
Mexico also struggles with corruption among prison officials, some of whom are susceptible to the influence of their prisoners - especially the traffickers from the multi-billion dollar narcotics industry. For example, the escape of the 53 prisoners at Zacatecas was clearly an inside job: a closed circuit video showed guards sitting and watching as the escapees marched out of the cells into the waiting convoy. The warden and several guards have since been arrested, though they have yet to be charged. Many of the escapees were members of the Zetas, a feared drug paramilitary based over the border from Texas...
...instant noodles streamed into the disaster zone, where nearly 90,000 people had been killed and 5 million left homeless. The response was so overwhelming that authorities blocked roads and turned away volunteers because they threatened to overwhelm official rescue work. Over the following year, Chinese contributed some $9.5 billion to relief efforts...