Prop 9 Means Fraud for Taxpayers

Although she is just 5 feet tall, weighs 90 pounds and is gravely ill, Loheac is shackled, waist chained and transported by two armed guards when she goes for dialysis. She is often confused and frightened and the prison environment is very difficult for her. Although she poses no threat to anyone, Helen was recently denied parole.

This Nov. 4, Californians will vote on Proposition 9, a measure that could create even more hardship for Helen Loheac and others like her. If Prop. 9 is passed, Helen could be denied the opportunity to re-petition for release until she turns 100. She is among 10,000 low-risk frail elders now in prison who may be denied hope of release, even as they grow older and sicker and require more costly care. Prop. 9 asks California taxpayers to foot the bill to incarcerate a group of prisoners who cost the most to confine yet pose the least threat to public safety.

Interestingly, Prop. 9 was funded by billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III, who is under federal indictment for fraud, conspiracy and drug charges. In a way, Prop. 9 would perpetrate another fraud on Californians by siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from the general fund into the already bloated state prison budget

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