"The system as it exists is not working," DeVore said. "We don't appear to be effectively deterring people from crime, and we don't seem to be effectively rehabilitating people."
Under the bill, about $10 million to $20 million would be spent to analyze what programs and staff would be needed for drug-related offenders and to design the additional bed space. Actually building it, which could cost up to $2 billion, would be a separate decision by legislators.
Splitting the two items is one of two strategies that may help the bill pass. Fiscal conservatives may find it more palatable to spend money to plan prison facilities that likely will be needed in any scenario, DeVore said.
The other strategy is the bill's bipartisan co-authors. Dymally is a prominent Democrat, a former lieutenant governor and a leader of the Assembly black caucus.
"This is going to be one of those head-turners that's going to cause the Democrats to look carefully at this bill," DeVore said.
The added prison beds in the bill would be for people who have already been through the prison system for drug offenses or who have committed nonviolent crimes such as writing bad checks or breaking and entering to support a drug habit, DeVore said.
He believes the proposal could help the state avoid a court takeover of prisons, which some fear would mean the release of prisoners to ease jail crowding.
Lawmakers worry that violent criminals would be released and people will get hurt, DeVore said, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement Thursday that he won't allow that.
The governor hasn't ruled out releasing "the old, feeble and sick who pose no threat to the public," the statement said, but, "I will not allow the early release of any felons — violent or nonviolent — as a means to address overcrowding."
