Los Angeles, CA. In an eight minute Full Disclosure Network® video news blog, President Steve Ipsen of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys accuses California politicians of deliberately sabotaging the California Prison system thus setting the stage for a massive prison release program now underway. Ipsen tells FDN host Leslie Dutton how criminals who are sentenced to prison are now being released after serving only half, or less, of their sentences due to California politics. He says elected officials, who oppose the Three Strikes law, have for the past ten years, blocked building new prisons, causing massive overcrowding and early releases. The video is available FREE for viewing 24/7, on demand as a public service at the URL.
Steve Ipsen, is a 20 year career gang and homicide prosecutor who is currently with the L. A. County District Attorney's office is a frequent spokesman on behalf of the Three Strikes Law. Here are a few of his quotes from the video news blog.
- "The reason you have a huge spike in gang crimes is because it's Christmastime in L.A."
- "L. A. Sheriff Baca is fighting for funding to lock up criminals for their full sentence}
- "Judges sentence criminals to a year in county jail.. and the Sheriff has no space"
- "Criminals get a 50 percent discount on every prison sentence"
- "Criminals are laughing at the system"
- "We spend billions of dollars for police to arrest, prosecutors to prosecute, judges to judge and we build marble court houses and then have no where to house (the criminals)"
According to Steve Ipsen, the political strategy to undermine the Three Strikes Law started ten years ago, when elected officials decided "We're not going to build more prisons because we don't like the three strikes law, we're going to let overcrowding occur and then some poor governor down the line-who happens to be Governor Schwarzenegger-has Federal judges staring down his.saying 'you better do something or we're going to release 'em' and we've got a governor here who's been sabotaged by a plan orchestrated ten years go-where were the plans to build more prisons?"
Billed as the news behind the news the FULL DISCLOSURE NETWORK® is an independent, educational, public affairs cable program featured on 43 cable systems and the worldwide Internet website www.fulldisclosure.net. In 2002 the program was presented with a public affairs Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their series entitled "L.A.'s War Against Terrorism". Channels and airtimes can be found on the website.
Comments to date: 112. This is page 1 of 12.
dan ward escondido
Posted: 01:48 pm [PST] on April 10 2008
Release the prisoners and stop breaking the eight amendment..Did you forget we have a constitution or are you so damn greedy for money that peoples rights in America are just not important anymore. I bet if your reading this and you work for the state you didn't even read the eight amendment or are aware of it's content. When is the last time any of you even read the constitution. I think all state employees should be tested to see if they even know what nation they live in and serve. Remember we are all created equal and in Gods image so don't look at all criminals as animals there are some who have been railroaded in the name of justice but yet state employees have taken it upon themselves to be Judge,Jury and executioner by letting people die everyday in jail because we are over our capacity by 79,000 and so broken down heathcare wise that it's impossible to be humane to any prisoner which translated is "deliberate indifference". Remember," Money is the root of all evil", and it's no different in C.A.
daddyzgyrl california
Posted: 12:56 am [PST] on April 08 2008
this is a system meant to fail. implimented by fencewalking polititions. laws and sentences are extreme. espececially in cases where "crimes" are commited out of desperation. directly due to a lack of resources. what is the basis? if corperate america wan'ts to make a buisiness out of imprisoning people for petty crimes, they should be responsible for the overhead. i would rather my taxes be spent on education, social services, rehabilitation, or any other preventative measure. "the downfall of our country is ingenius marketing, and ignorant people" bill maer. please people don't beleive the hype!
anonymous texas
Posted: 02:06 pm [PST] on April 05 2008
Instead of building more prisons, I think people should take a good look at who is being locked up, why they are being locked up, and if the laws need to be changed. If prisons are overflowing, one has to ask why. How many prisons are being filled with people based on moralistic issues? Blindly adding more prisons without addressing the reasons for the overflows sets the system up for an even bigger problem later... when the additional prisons fill up as well.
sarah san diego
Posted: 12:43 am [PST] on March 20 2008
I think the three strike law is terrible. People going to prison for life for petty crimes is unfair. The DA'S give people srtikes for almost anything they consider violant without any consideration for the truth. This is why are prisons are so packed for example my husband is serving a 6 year sentence for recieving stolen property because he had a prior strike talk about paying twice for 1 crime.
Bernice Sacramento
Posted: 10:12 am [PST] on March 19 2008
I need to feed my family, I pay too many taxes already. I want more money for schools!
Kim A. Sacramento CA
Posted: 01:52 pm [PST] on February 02 2008
Ipsen has misleadingly touted this as a "Victims Rights Initiative". It is a "Lock 'Em Up, Throw away the Key" Initiative. Or a "Build More Prisons, They will Come - AND STAY" Initiave. It is extremely frightening to think that an unwary voter could fall for this, not knowing the full scope of it's intent. We need to put a leash on the Bear, California cannot afford this. Spend our budget wisely by instituting better/more rehabilitation programs, and get the rate of recidivism down. That is the ONLY solution to the crisis we are in.
MM Riverside
Posted: 11:26 am [PST] on February 02 2008
Mr. Ipsen is a typical Law Enforcement fearmonger. What he isn't telling you is the unforseen consequences of these ridiculous laws that always occur when emotion is allowed to legislate. These laws do not protect you, they scoop up the unintended targets and drive our Corrections Budget through the roof. We cannot punish our way out of crime. Report after Report has been done including the roadmap to stopping recidivism rates and changing the path of our youth. People like Mr. Ipsen want more jobs for law enforcement and our children are his source of income. No more of these "For the Children" initiatives. Stop the "Sky is falling Rhetoric". We will not fall for anymore Victims Rights Groups terrible legislation. My money I want to go for Education and Medical, not to keep a young persons in prison for ridiculous amounts of time. Longer sentences cost more, that's all. If we keep listening to people like him it won't be long before 50% of the population will be in prison and the other 50% will be guarding them.
Judeca South Bay, ca
Posted: 11:10 am [PST] on February 02 2008
Steve Ipsen is a Runner wanabee. He's looking for political power and using scare tactics.
Phillip Lambro Los Angeles
Posted: 05:27 pm [PST] on December 24 2007
Here we go again; I have spoken with some gang members in my travels as to what made them join gangs and they told me that their mothers had too many children and with their parent(s) only home to sleep having to survive with multiple jobs; that when they reached 8 years of age they found that their real family became the gang. We need these parents after two children to be fixed like animal control and denied any benefits before being deported. As for overflowing prisons; we must have mandatory birth control and with hardened criminals mandatory vasectomies before we ship them off to a Russian or North Korean Gulag, so that they will not keep illegally re-entering our borders again and contribute to the horrific uncivilized crimes which they commit. Wake up Mayor Villaraigosa; how can you keep pontificating large families and supporting these millions of illegal aliens who keep breeding like rats and cause mjaor crimes; drain our life support systems and who are destroying this country and planet? We are having water shortages in 38 states because of your unenlightened policies of pontificating to have large families with the illegal immigrants who put you in office.
S. Robinson Los Angeles
Posted: 03:46 pm [PST] on December 24 2007
Justice is the name of the game. There are consequences for injustice, no matter whether perpetrated by the criminal or the state. No justice, no peace.