As the Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety and the Select Committee on The Status of Boys and Men of Color, I have visited many jails and prisons. Regardless of the facility, I always leave with the belief that we can and should do more to change the path that leads these men, women and youth to incarceration.
Currently, we spend $11,000 per year to educate a child, but as a state, we spend over $300,000 to incarcerate each youth offender. In California over 80% of our youth prisoners are African American or Latino.