U.S. Supreme Court says California cannot delay prison plan

[usregimechange]

Reporting from Sacramento - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected the state's request to delay a federal court order requiring officials to produce a plan by the end of next week that would reduce prison overcrowding in California.

A panel of three federal judges on Aug. 4 told the state to submit a plan next week showing how it would cut the prison population by 40,000 inmates over two years.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state would now submit the plan as ordered.

The lower court order said prison conditions must be improved because they have hampered the care of sick and mentally ill inmates. State officials disagreed and had hoped to avoid submitting an overcrowding reduction plan until the Supreme Court decided the appeal they have filed of the Aug. 4 order.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prisons12-2009sep12,0,1400387.story


Put a quarter of them in drug court and fix the entire state budget with less recidivism.

[Joanne98]

1. It's the prison guards union. Lazy assholes!

[pinto]

2. YES!

Two big thumbsup.

:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:

[tularetom]

3. WTF? WTF?

"A spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state would now submit the plan as ordered."

WTF? They had a plan sitting there ready to go and wouldn't implement it until the court told them they had to?

At a time when the state of CA is a brazillian dollars in the hole? And this plan would save money?

Just to show everybody he's "tough on crime"?

Somebody needs to get that steroid addled shitbag and shake him until whatever passes for brains in his thick skull starts to function again.

What a fucking disaster this dildo has been.

[usregimechange]

4. Dumb on crime it sounds like

[Nikki Stone1]

5. 40,000 inmates let out on California streets?

Arnold has been getting pressure NOT to let these people out.

[pinto]

6. Some background on CA prison overcrowding / health care issues - -

This is a review of the original Federal Court order that CA appealed to SCOTUS, from FindLaw. Bold highlights are mine. ~ pinto

California Ordered to Trim Prison Population
By Caleb Groos on August 5, 2009

A federal court has ordered California to cut its prison population by over 40,000 in the next two years. The state faces the prospect of fixing long known prison problems or perhaps appealing the order to the Supreme Court.

The scathing opinion by a panel of federal judges came to the following conclusions:

•Woefully inadequate medical and mental health care in California prisons are caused by unprecedented prison overcrowding; and

•Court ordered reduction in prison population is required to make the prisons comply with the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

What happens now? The court gave the state 45 days to submit a plan to reduce its prison population (down to a mere 137.5% of intended capacity) within two years. In theory, after a plan is finalized, there would be a final order by the court to implement it.

The head of California's Department of Corrections said today that the state would appeal any final ruling requiring the release of over 40,000 inmates. According to his press release, getting to 137.5% capacity would require releasing 40,591 inmates. According to the LA Times, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said the state will cooperate in drafting a plan, but feels the court is overstepping its bounds.

<snip>

Today's opinion is rooted in two lawsuits challenging the care given to California prisoners. One, filed in 2001, claimed that prison medical care was so inadequate that it violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The other, going back two decades, made a similar challenge to the mental health care (or lack thereof) given to California inmates.

Since the mid 1970's, California's prison population went from about 20,000 to over 160,000 in 2006. That's an increase of over 750%.

Since then, California's prisons have operated at around double their intended capacity (with some at almost triple capacity).

Summed up by the court, "California's prisons are bursting at the seams and are impossible to manage."

<more at>

http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2009/08/california-ordered-to-trim-prison-population.html

Copyright © 2009 FindLaw, a Thomson Reuters Business. All Rights Reserved.

[vadawg]

7. the biggest concern of mine is the desegregation of the prisons

it seems they are having a lot of violence over teh forced integration of the prison blocks, not sure if this is going to be a major blunder no matter what the reasoning behind it.

[pinto]

8. CA prisons? iirc, Safety-based segregation remains in place. i.e., Gang affiliation,

Hx of repeat violence inside, Non-violent offenders / violent offenders, security classification within the system, Ad Seg inmates, etc.

Last time I worked inside a CA State Prison facility, those were the over-riding housing segregation issues.

[vadawg]

9. problem is that the gangs are totally against the integration of the races and starting to plan riot

there is still segregation for validated gangbangers but this is not stopping this being a big concern with the authorities, i believe there was recently a riot in one of the jails over the integration of hispanic and black inmates...

[pinto]

10. Racial classification can be an oversimplification. For instance, Nortenos

and Surenos are both Mexican - Mexican/American gangs. Bitter, violent rivals in the CA prison system.

And, for some inmates, gang affiliation inside is not a matter of personal choice as much as a matter of personal survival. Being unaligned is, in and of itself, a danger, regardless of race.

[vadawg]

11. yup and then there is the alliances between the black gangs and some latino gangs

and all the other stuff going on, im just not sure that i would want to be integrated if i was an inmate,