Fed judges order California to devise plan to slash prison population

[teacherone]

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_12991912?source=rss

By 25%!

SACRAMENTO — In a decision that could dramatically reshape California's criminal justice system, a panel of federal judges Tuesday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to find ways to cut the prison population by 40,000, or about one-quarter of all inmates.

[Working Poor]

Let all the pot smokers go:D

[Reason]

good. They should release every single person that is in on drug charges and every single person that is in on a victimless crime charge.

[BlackTerrel]

good. They should release every single person that is in on drug charges and every single person that is in on a victimless crime charge.

Agreed.

[acptulsa]

I thought legalizing the stuff was the state's plan for cutting the prison population. But, of course, the fedgov gets too much from the pharmaceutical lobby to ever promote a sensible plan.

Does California have one of those three strikes laws? Anyone in prison for life for shoplifting three times?

[armstrong]

excellent,,,about time

[cindy25]

about time, but its the federal system that is most bloated. most in state prisons are criminals, although by civilized standards serving far too much time

[catdd]

That would save them a huge chunk of change.

"They should release every single person that is in on drug charges and every single person that is in on a victimless crime charge."

[s35wf]

Let all the pot smokers go:D


This was my first thought also. Cheers :cool:

[sratiug]

My nephew was released yesterday from a Mississippi prison. He said Haley Barbour decided to let all non violent prisoners out. We must be dead broke too.

[mczerone]

FTA:

The ruling was a stark milestone in the years-long saga of two lawsuits charging that California allows inhumane conditions to fester in its prisons because of severe overcrowding. Law-and-order advocates say such cuts would result in inmates being returned to the streets early or being turned over to cash-strapped counties to jail. The Schwarzenegger administration signaled that it would likely appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The three-judge panel gave the governor and lawmakers 45 days to present a plan to cut the inmate population from about 150,000 to 110,000 over two years. The judges delivered a stern message about conditions that are so poor in some prisons that they violate inmates' constitutional rights.

So what is really going on is that the State sucks at providing a service, and instead of being allowed to fail and be replaced by competitors, a Federal Judge thinks that addressing a single symptom will improve things at all?

I predict: They'll pare down the number of incarcerated while expanding "community" programs where borderline criminals will be jailed in half-way houses. The drop in prison inmates will lead to a cut in guards and services to the prisons. The 'success' of the community program will divert more funds from the prisons, making them nastier and more unlivable than before.

How about we allow competition in Justice, Prosecution, and Incarceration? This would stop arbitrarily prosecuting drug crimes, it would stop favoring the rich and politically connected, and it would allow the justice-agents responsible for jailing another human to avoid jailors who are inhumane.