Should California send prisoners to Mexico? Schwarzenegger floats idea. Do you agree?

With California facing more budget problems and more early releases of prisoners a real possibility, should the state export its prison population south of the border?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested the idea Monday, according to The Times' Shane Goldmacher, writing at the California Politics blog.

“We can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take inmates, for instance the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here, and get them to Mexico,” Schwarzenegger said during a question-and-answer session at the Sacramento Press Club. “Think about it.”

According to Goldmacher, the Republican governor has pushed to house California inmates out of state before -- but never in a different country. It’s cheaper to build prisons in Mexico, Schwarzenegger reasoned, and it’s cheaper to staff prisons there too.

How do you like the idea? Share your thoughts.

And check out the latest California political news here.

Photo credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Jorge S]

Why don't the Governor have the guts to tell the block sucking Unions that it is time to sit at the table and renegotiate contracts that are unreal. Guards making over 100k is ridiculous and it is time for him and legislature to have the guts to cut state workers and tell these Unions that there will be cuts and renegotiations to their contracts. Enough is enough

[Judith]

I feel all illegal aliens should be sent to their home countries. I'm sure there are more than was stated. Why should our taxes go to support them?

[terry]

Good idea, does that mean they will be released in Mexico too?

[jay]

Would give jobs to Mexicans and cost us less!!!

[No mas illegals]

Here's a novel approach...let's send ALL illegals from Mexico back!

[Thoms Nelson]

For Illegal Immigrants from Mexico, I think this is an ideal solution, but not for Americans or citizens of any other country for that matter. Then again, I think anyone who brakes the law should be punished, so all illegals should be sent back anyway.

[Siri Khalsa]

I'd consider moving incarcerated illegal immigrants to prisons in Mexico, if their families were there too. Illegal or not, if they have kids in America it'd be a tragedy (and perpetuate the crime cycle).

[Lemonic]

I think it's a novel idea. They're illegal immigrants, they broke the law, why not? I know mexico is a tough, dangerous place; but at the same time, you should be extra careful if you're in a country illegally. Keep your nose clean and don't draw attention to yourself. On a more insensitive side, it saves the taxpayers money. The ones that pay income tax in addition to point of sale taxes and certain payroll taxes. Yes it's mean, but times are tough right now.

[Frederick]

Why should it costs the U.S to build prisons there? in the first place if the ( god bless him if he does) Governor and many other lawmakers all the way up to the President at east one President in the this country would step up and remove all illegal immigrants that are in this country to go back and deal with their own struggles like the poor have to here then they would be better off and more well admired for doing so. You can't go to France Germany and or other parts of the world and set up shop and come back with " we are good people" we just want a better life speech - uh huh that wont go in other countries so easily like it does here

[Skeptical]

Sounds like Schwarzenegger is keeping people under California's jurisdiction, just outsourcing the jobs to "cheaper" Mexico. Why not just hand them over to Mexico's jurisdiction?

Also, seems like we are having our own depression in jobs right here. We need to stop incarcerating non-violent drug offenders and roll-back the three-strikes-you're-out mentality that has changed our state's idealism to just solving problems by locking people up longer and longer for relatively minor stuff.

[jon watson]

How about deporting Schwarzenegger for pretending to be a govenor??

[k_]

Just throw them out of the country and let their own countries deal with them! California is wasting too much tax dollars on these illegals!

[E.F. Taylor]

I love the idea. It makes perfect sense. It's time money-saving ideas caught on in California.

[American]

Sending illegal alien prisoners to Mexico is a great idea. Its good for Californian's fiscally and otherwise to have them there rather than here. When and if each is released they'll be released in Mexico where hopefully we'll never have to contend with them again. Governor Schwarzenegger, your head and heart are in the right place.

[Don Marshall]

Sounds like a great idea, deporting the criminals...

[Just Say'n]

Another brilliant idea from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; NOT!

[aaroin]

Sounds like a good idea, but not very realistic. Why not just deport them and secure the border.

[aaron]

Hey Arnold, think out of the box!, Mexico it tooo expensive, outsource ALL of the prisoners to China, its considerable less expensive than Mexico. In China, labor, materials, maintaince needs are a real bargin! Yea Arnold, outsource all of California prisoners to China, we can probably save enough money to balance our budget and have a surplus.

[Just Say'n]

After reading more on his proposal, maybe it's not that bad of an idea. But, only if Mexico would agree to keep the prisoners the whole time they was sentenced to, or it's no use of doing it at all, if the prisoners get over there and get a free get out of jail pass, while their counter part criminals have to do their whole time. We'll see...

[Liberal Patriot]

No, illegals in our prison system should not be sent to Mexico. They should be sent to the country they came from,which is not always Mexico.

[badhog]

sounds good to me, if you don't want to be inprisoned in Mexico, don't comment crimes

[Adrian]

How about sending them to Arizona instead? To Maricopa County, to be exact. I'm sure Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be more than glad to take them in for a fee and treat them like the inmates they are. The good Sheriff once said: "If our boys and girls in the armed forces can live in tents in the middle of a scorching desert, why can't we have inmates endure those same conditions?"
I think if prisons in California were like the ones in Maricopa County, crime would go down substancially since criminals will think about it twice before committing their next crime. I mean, what sane person would want to go back to that?

[MichaelR]

Yes, I agree send them. Its painful to know as a taxpayer, we have to pay $45,000 a year to house these guys who shouldn't have been allowed in the country in the first place, or maybe they should have been deported before they committed violent crimes. If its cheaper to house them there, lets do it.

[MichaelR]

Ouch, this costs $900,000,000 per year for us to house these violent felons - who shouldn't have been in our country in the first place. $45,000 per year x 20,000 violent illegal immigrant felons in years of imprisonment. Lets put that money to better educating our working class children in this state, the proper use of our hard-earned tax dollars.

[kb]

sounds like a good idea to me, it would be nice if we didn't have to pay for them at all, but since that really isn't an option, might as well house them for reduced cost in their home country.