Fed judges order Calif. to cut inmate population

[toymachines]

Source: Associated Press

A federal judicial panel on Tuesday ordered California to reduce its prison population by 40,000 to improve treatment of ailing and mentally ill inmates.

The three-judge panel ruled that cutting the number of inmates is the only way to bring the system’s medical care up to adequate standards.

“California’s prisons are bursting at the seams and are impossible to manage,” the judges wrote.

They gave the state 45 days to develop a plan to reduce the number of inmates in the 33 adult prisons from about 150,000 to 110,000 over two years.


Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-08-04/news/fed-judges-order-calif-to-cut-inmate-population

[truthisfreedom]

1. Start by releasing non-violent drug offenders.

[bemildred]

2. And that alone will save a couple billion dollars.

Just for the incarceration.

[valerief]

3. Fewer inmates means less slave labor for industry. I guess when the

economy is hurting, they don't even want the slaves.

[bemildred]

4. I forgot that, it will create jobs too.

Low wage jobs, it's true, but more than they get in prison.

[Faux pas]

5. 'from about 150,000'. About being the key word. The population

count of the California prisons is never accurate. The inmates that are on the buses transferring from one prison to another are not included in the count. That is also one of the reasons for the over crowding. I always wondered how they got away with that.

I always thought the drug/alcohol inmates should never have been incarcerated. I think letting them work and having ankle monitors and doing outpatient rehab would have been better for them and cheaper for the state (incarcerated fathers add more families to the welfare system). California spends a hell of a lot more for prisons (what other state has 33 prisons?!) than they do on education. They are the poster child for the prison industrial complex.

:grr:

State of California Dept of Corrections retiree-the stories I could tell.

[customerserviceguy]

6. It's not going to be pretty

releasing inmates during a time of high unemployment, and a badly frayed safety net.

I'm not saying that people convicted of victimless crimes should rot in prison forever, but the timing of this ruling is not good.

[Canuckistanian]

8. You do know that a great many prisoners are in for marijuana busts

People who were arrested, charged and convicted for marijuana possession alone, don't you?

These people aren't a threat to society. The judge's order can be fulfilled without letting a single violent criminal free.

[customerserviceguy]

9. I'm perfectly fine with not holding the folks busted for simple possession

but when they go to find jobs in this economy, and they have to explain where they have been for the past few years, they're not going to get work over people who have been continuously employed until the recession threw them out of a job.

All I'm saying is that Californians are going to have to come up with a really creative solution to absorb that many people who may have spent time with more hardened types, to keep them from falling back on 'skills' that they might have learned from a 'roommate'. If the crime rate in CA goes up dramatically side-by-side with this release, you're never going to see early parole for mere drug users again.

[WheelWalker]

7. Kick

:kick:

[shanti]

10. let the tokers go free - NOW!

geez, such a no-brainer! :eyes: