From AFP:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested California could ease its crowded prison system by sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built jails in Mexico.
Speaking to reporters at the Sacramento Press Club, Schwarzenegger said California could ease its strained finances by a billion dollars if 20,000 illegal immigrants currently held in the state were housed across the border.
"I think that we can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take, inmates for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here and get them to Mexico," Schwarzenegger said.
"Think about it -- if California gives Mexico the money. Not 'Hey, you take care of them, these are your citizens'. No. Not at all.
"We pay them to build the prison down in Mexico. And then we have those undocumented immigrants down there in prison. It would half the costs to build the prison and run the prison. We could save a billion dollars right there that could go into higher education."
When I first saw the headline, I thought he was going to propose something broader than just sending "undocumented inmates" to Mexican jails; I thought all inmates would be eligible. (One thing that wasn't clear to me was whether it's just Mexican "undocumented inmates," or whether other nationalities would be going, too). Still, even with the "undocumented inmates" limitation, it's quite a bold proposal, with all kinds of complications and concerns. Among other things, there will be job losses for American prison guards, difficulties in ensuring good treatment of the prisoners, and questions of which companies (Mexican or American) would build these new prisons.
While I have a hard time imagining this going forward, let's say it does. Would it ever be expanded to cover American citizens as well? And would we start seeing GATS negotiations and commitments on this issue? (If we haven't already -- I have not checked). Will there become a competitive international market for housing prisoners?
