One Year of Prop 36: Treatment Stalled, Justice Denied

Prop 36 proponents promised safety, accountability, and mass treatment. California’s getting more mass incarceration instead.

One year ago, California voters passed Proposition 36, a ballot measure sponsored by retailers including Target, Walmart, and Home Depot, as well as the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (representing prison guards) and California District Attorneys Association.

In dubbing Prop 36 the “Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act,” proponents promised California voters mass treatment. Yet sponsors did not include funding for the measure, provide new revenue to cover increased costs, or address what would happen should treatment be unavailable — a glaring oversight in a state where 22 of 57 counties report having no residential treat