Thousands of women inmates from California prisons could soon be released to be reunited with their families under a program the state began implementing on Monday.Several thousand men, under this new California program, would also qualify for the release, given the parameters laid out. The sole exception of course is that they are men. The CDCR gave no indication why it was starting their release program strictly with females, and furthermore gave no indication as to when, or even if, the men would qualify for the benefit.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said offenders whose crimes were nonviolent, nonserious and not sexual, with less than two years remaining on their sentences, are eligible for the Alternative Custody Program, which was signed into law in 2010 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Approximately two-thirds of CDCR’s female inmates are mothers whose children are either with relatives or are in foster care,” CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate said in a press release. “ACP is a step in breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration, as family involvement is one of the biggest indicators of an inmate’s rehabilitation.”
About 45% of the state's 10,000 female inmates may be eligible for the program, the CDCR said. It may be made available to male inmates in the future, the department said.
Though while several people interviewed by multiple news agencies, from State officials to local citizens, stated that bringing families back together was a wonderful idea, almost no one questioned the double standard being imposed on men. Indeed, most news agencies, with the exception of one line in CBS LA , did't even question if this move is constitutional, either at the state or federal level. Females already serve on average 48 months less time in prison for the same crimes as men. Furthermore, the focus on women being the more important single parent than a single father in the eyes of CDCR, is also quite telling of society as a whole.
The bottom line in all this is that men have been so forgotten and so demonized in society, that there is hardly a peep from anyone when something like this occurs that is such an obvious egregious violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection under the law clause. This is just one of countless acts and laws and guidelines, aimed at the institutionalized discrimination of men. The CDCR and the California state legislation are just another bigoted cog in the wheel on the quite war on men.
The men's rights movement needs to move forward, as an issue driven political organization with some punch, and soon. Just today, Slate.com wrote an article asking "Are men finished?" Even in an article and a upcoming debate that will discuss this, the title is the same double standard example of sexism. I wonder how many people would be up in arms if Slate wrote an article called "Are women finished?"
