U.S. Supreme Court orders massive inmate release to relieve California's crowded prisons

U.S. Supreme Court orders massive inmate release to relieve California's crowded prisons

www.latimes.com

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California must remove tens of thousands of inmates from its prison rolls in the next two years, and state officials vowed to comply, saying they hoped to do so without setting any criminals free.

Administration officials expressed confidence that their plan to shift low-level offenders to county jails and other facilities, already approved by lawmakers, would ease the persistent crowding that the high court said Monday had caused "needless suffering and death" and amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

(visit the link for the full news article)

California has been doing a bang-up job locking people up but the conditions are deplorable. One Texas prison official that toured the California lock-ups called it "appalling"and "inhumane" and unlike anything he had ever seen. They are over-crowded by the tens of thousands and that must be corrected.

California prison conditions caught the attention of the US Supreme court and they are ordering that things be done about it soon including releasing the inmates onto the streets.

In presenting the decision, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a Sacramento native, spoke from the bench about suicidal prisoners being held in "telephone booth-sized cages without toilets" and others, sick with cancer or in severe pain, who died before being seen by a doctor. As many as 200 prisoners may live in a gymnasium, and as many as 54 may share a single toilet, he said.

I can only imagine this means they must detain non-violent drug-law violators that were sentenced under mandatory sentencing guidelines while releasing violent prisoners locked-up for assault, rape, armed-robbery, and other such crimes. That is probably how it would have to be decided who gets to hit the streets.

The governor's plan is to transfer these state prisoners back to county lock-up in order to solve the over-crowding problems rather than release any of them. Right now it is the only plan they have to remedy this and comply with the Supreme Court.

Gov. Jerry Brown's transfer plan "would solve quite a bit" of the overcrowding problem, though not as quickly as the court wants, said Matthew Cate, secretary of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "Our goal is to not release inmates at all.''

But the governor's plan would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, to be paid for with tax hikes that could prove politically impossible to implement. And at present, Brown's plan is the only one on the table.

An earlier LA Times article on the same subject puts more specific numbers on what California would be required to do.

U.S. Supreme Court upholds order to release 46,000 California inmates

latimesblogs.latimes.com...

www.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Very sad to see my state in such sorry shape, especially when the solution is so simple: legalize pot, and free non-violent offenders.

Unfortunately, Prop 19 didn't pass last year...

I seen this post on FB today, the only thing that makes me happy about this is, I don;t live in CA......

but still just cut them loose......come'on now.....

reply to post by Erongaricuaro

I can only imagine this means they must detain non-violent drug-law violators that were sentenced under mandatory sentencing guidelines while releasing violent prisoners locked-up for assault, rape, armed-robbery, and other such crimes.

With the current way our government has been thinking lately, I would assume this is exactly what they will do.

Release the killers and other violent offenders back into the streets, and keep the drug users incarcerated.....obviously because what you do with your own body is soooooooooo much more damaging to society than people who go around and kill innocent people....

This is good news even through I dont live in Cali but Free the non-violent low level inmates and the ones who were wrongfully put in there. Free up the jails and free up the taxes that goes to these prisons run by some corp. that profiting from every inmate that there is. I hope this keep going on all around this country. I rather have our taxes going to more productive things so people wont do the wrong things just to end up in prison

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California must remove tens of thousands of inmates from its prison rolls in the next two years, and state officials vowed to comply, saying they hoped to do so without setting any criminals free.

lol

This makes me laugh. It's like they're admitting that some crimes aren't worthy of being crimes? Maybe they'll release all the potheads that got caught with a dimebag.

EDIT: Ohh I get it now. They're just wanting to transfer them to other prisons, nevermind then. I need to read more carefully I guess -.-

Originally posted by banandar123

This makes me laugh. It's like they're admitting that some crimes aren't worthy of being crimes? Maybe they'll release all the potheads that got caught with a dimebag.

I would like to agree with you but having lived in California most of my life I don't think that is how it will come down. You realize armed-robbers are just trying to make a living while potheads are just full-on scoff-laws so they will be the last ones freed. I think there are some minimum-sentencing requirements for the non-violent drug offenders that don't apply to the violent crimes. They will release the violent criminals to be in compliance with higher laws that mandate doing it that way.

Rather glad I left California. Rather glad I left the US altogether. It was just not the same anymore and seems to have gotten worse. More than 5 years since I was in the US now but people I know say it isn't good there now, not no more.

The highest prison population state in the highest prison population country. Why, what brought this on? It doesn't seem to be cutting-down on violent crime. Do all these prisoners deserve to be locked-up? Is there another solution? Somehow I don't think everyone's priorities are straight, on both sides of the bars.

The comment I put on my profile page addressed just such an issue as this several months ago. I am not trained in administration of justice, but am I that far from wrong with what I proposed? Maybe in a better world and in a better time we will have a better solution to having a better society. We were not all carved from the same mold.

Bet they let a major criminals loose, and keep Lindsay Lohan.

I read a little more into the article and this is kind of funny.

Talking about the Governers plan to just move "tens of thousands" to county jails.

Gov. Jerry Brown's transfer plan "would solve quite a bit" of the overcrowding problem, though not as quickly as the court wants, said Matthew Cate, secretary of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "Our goal is to not release inmates at all.''

It gets better, they need a tax hike.....hundreds of millions of dollars.

But the governor's plan would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, to be paid for with tax hikes that could prove politically impossible to implement. And at present, Brown's plan is the only one on the table.

The court gave the state two years to shrink the number of prisoners by more than 33,000 and two weeks to submit a schedule for achieving that goal. The state now has 143,335 inmates, according to Cate.

Thats a pretty.....large number.....

reply to post by Erongaricuaro

...state officials vowed to comply, saying they hoped to do so without setting any criminals free.

Does this one statement make any sense? Without setting any criminals free? If there is anyone in prison that's not a criminal, then what are they doing in prison?

Oh...I nearly forgot...it's all a money racket.

Once again, a round of applause for al lthe people who keep voting to spend money on more prisons and "tough sentencing" laws. Morons, the lot of 'em.

i wonder what percentage of these inmates are illegal aliens. here is my solution the hardcore criminals murders and the like that are here illegally put them in newly constructed supermax prisons paid for by feds for failing to defend the borders. why inmates are there put them to work

Our prison system is hopeless. Should have been to rehabilitate, but instead ruins lives and turns non-violent offenders into violent gang members, or a prison wife. I don't bring that up to be funny. Prison rape is the most underreported crime in america, and many men are victims.

It ruins lives, and that's the choice inside, or fight every day to survive, or join a prison gang. On top of just trying to survive, the prison are holding twice as many people as they were built to hold. They don't have the medical facilities to care for all them. They don't have the cells required to house them. They don't have enough officers to keep anyone safe. It's horrible.

Men come out of prison worse than they went in. It's a never ending cycle which when has grown to the numbers which it has, negatively impacts our society in a way we can't ignore. It's a huge waste of tax dollars, and doesn't do anywhere near the job it should as a system.

I don't believe prison is the way to solve people's differences. There may well be "dangerous" people in the world but I believe even those can and should live together, murderers with murderers and thieves with other thieves and let them have their own community standards as to what constitutes acceptable behavior for their community.

That kind of thinking, though, is not likely to line the pockets of those who are profiting off incarceration. It is obvious some people are profiting from this current arrangement. People now are incarcerated for non-violent offenses and forced to live in deplorable conditions. Now the taxpayers are going to be told to foot and even greater burden in order to be able to add even more inmates to these prisons for their "crimes". The alternative is to set them free. Who goes free? Not the ones serving under mandatory sentencing, not the drug offenders. Prohibition is a big money-maker for "the system" and the taxpayers pay for this system.

It's simple end the drug war, release all drug offenders and non violent offenders, lay off the cops. Of course this makes to much sense. These idiots will not do anything till there is rioting in the streets and then they will just run and hide as society breaks down. The mindless masses created and control this idiot society we live in as their are just to many of them, and nothing will change until it all collapses.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


SIMPLE SOLUTION:

Get rid of all the @#$@ drug laws. Lay off all the %$$@# drug cops..... Solve inmate problem and balance the budget in one simple move

How else will corrections make money? Prision is a business, and the business has been thriving.

^ Yeah really.

I'd say remove all "prisoners" who were incarcerated due to marijuana possesion

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


I find it odd that a sitting Justice would offer anything other than the truth. I challenge Justice Kennedy to offer proof that prisoners are being held in 4' x 4' cells. My generation's mobile phones were telephone booths so don't blow smoke up my a**. Just make your decisions and present/defend your written legal opinion and spare us the corral dust. Oh, and by the way, if what he says were true maybe when they leave the miscreants will think; "boy, I don't want to go back there again" because they don't want to stand on their feet up every hour of their sentence.

Sheeeesh.........

peace...........yak055h