by TChris

California's prison system is a mess, as TalkLeft has frequently reported. A report prepared by a 40-member panel appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agrees, describing the prison system as "dysfunctional."

It presented a long-term strategy to improve public safety and save money by lowering one of the nation's highest reimprisonment rates of former inmates. It also placed a new emphasis on inmate education and rehabilitation.

The report proposes replacing the California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency with a new Department of Correctional Services run by a commission that would meet publicly. The proposed change is designed to end a structure in which prison wardens act as "feudal barons" who set their own rules.

The report also proposes reforms in the recruitment, training, and discipline of prison guards. The reforms seek to end the current "code of silence" that protects abusive prison guards, and to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.