7:23 PM: A federal court panel ordered the state today to reduce the
population of its overcrowded prisons by up to 40,000 inmates within two years to correct what the panel called “woefully and constitutionally inadequate” health care.
A three-judge court said there is overwhelming evidence that severe overcrowding is the primary cause of deficient medical and mental health care.
The panel wrote, “The convergence of tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to expend the necessary funds to support the population growth has brought California’s prisons to the breaking point.”
The order requires state officials to reduce the population of California’s 33 adult prisons to 137.5 percent of capacity, or from 150,000 inmates to 110,000, within two years.
The prisons were built for 80,000 inmates and currently are filled to 188 percent, or nearly double, the planned capacity.
The panel gave the state 45 days to come up with a plan.
Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the state will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cate said the ruling “highlights that we do have an overcrowding problem” and said state officials agree the problem exists, but said, “We just don’t agree that the federal courts should be ordering us to take this step.”
Cate said the appeal will be filed when and if the court issues a final order following the state response due in mid-September.
The secretary said “common sense” proposals by Gov. Schwarzenegger to reduce a $1.2 billion budget gap in prison funding could reduce the inmate population by 35,000 to 37,000 within two years. The proposals include increased time off for good behavior in prison, alternative sentencing programs and parole reforms, Cate said.
The court panel said evidence during a trial last year indicated that such proposals and other changes such as better rehabilitation programs could decrease inmate numbers without endangering public safety.
The court said overcrowding is itself “criminogenic” – increasing the likelihood of repeat crimes by former inmates returned to their communities.
The 184-page ruling was made in two long-running civil rights lawsuits in which inmates claimed that medical and mental health care was so poor it violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The three judges were U.S. District Judges Thelton Henderson of San Francisco and Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento, who are presiding over the two lawsuits, and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt.
The panel was convened under the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. The 1996 law provides that in prison civil rights cases, an order to reduce an inmate population can be made only by a three-judge panel, rather than by a federal judge alone, and only as a “last resort.”
The decision finalizes a tentative ruling issued by the panel in February. The earlier ruling was the first time a three-judge court had held a trial and issued a prison population reduction order. Other cases had ended in settlements before trial.
Donald Specter, a lawyer for the inmates in the two lawsuits, said, “If the court’s ruling is followed, California can finally fix the horrible problems caused by prison overcrowding, and do so in a way that will not harm public safety, but will make us all safer.”
State Senate President Pro Tem. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said, “The case for reform can not be any clearer. We will return in August to produce reform that saves money, protects public safety, and takes back the control of our prison system.”
Cate said, “We believe the federal courts are exceeding their authority under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.”
California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who would handle the state’s appeal, said, “I’m very skeptical that conditions are as unacceptable as the ruling would make it appear.
“I think the U.S. Supreme Court will take a different view as to the standard” to be applied, Brown said.
3:57 PM: A three-judge federal panel ordered the state today to reduce the population of its overcrowded prisons by up to 40,000 prisoners within two years to correct what the panel called “woefully and constitutionally inadequate” health care.
The panel said there is “overwhelming” evidence that overcrowding is the primary cause of deficient medical and mental health care.
The order applies to California’s 33 adult prisons, which now operate at 188 percent of capacity with 150,000 inmates housed in facilities built for about 80,000.
It requires state corrections officials to reduce the population of those prisons to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two years, which means a reduction of up to 40,000 prisoners.
The panel gave the state 45 days to come up with a plan.
The court said evidence during a trial indicated that inmate numbers could be reduced without endangering public safety through procedures such as expansion of credits for good behavior, parole reform and diversion of low-risk offenders and technical parole violators.
The ruling was made in two long-running civil rights lawsuits in which inmates claimed that medical and mental health care was so inadequate it violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The three judges on the panel were U.S. District Judges Thelton Henderson of San Francisco, Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt.
The judges wrote, “The convergence of tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to expend the necessary funds to support the population growth has brought California’s prisons to the breaking point.”
The decision finalizes a tentative ruling issued by the panel in February.
