Pubdate: Wed, 5 Aug 2009
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Page: 1A, Front Page
Copyright: 2009 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Authors: Denny Walsh and Sam Stanton
Referenced: http://www.caed.uscourts.gov/caed/Documents/90cv520o10804.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

JUDGES ORDER CALIFORNIA TO CUT PRISON POPULATION BY 40,591

In a historic move Tuesday, a panel of three federal judges ordered 
California officials to cut the state's prison population by 40,591 
inmates in the next two years because of chronic overcrowding that 
the panel said has resulted in an unconstitutional level of medical 
and mental health care.

The order will not result in the immediate release of any of the 
state's 150,354 inmates in 33 adult prisons.

Attorney General Jerry Brown said in an interview that the order is 
probably not appealable, but eventually the state will have to 
consider going directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, marking the first 
time the high court would face such a case.

"I think the Supreme Court would see it differently," Brown said.

State officials said the proper solution is for the governor and 
legislators to work out a reduction plan as funding becomes 
available. The state should not be forced to function under the 
hammer of a federal court order, they said.

"We just don't agree that the federal courts should be ordering us to 
take these steps," said Matthew Cate, secretary of the state 
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

California's prison system is operating at 190 percent of its design 
capacity of 79,828 inmates, and the judges said the state must devise 
an inmate reduction plan within 45 days, after which a remedial order 
will be issued.

"The court will not grant any stay of the proceedings prior to the 
issuance of the final population reduction plan, but will entertain 
motions to stay implementation of that plan pending the resolution of 
any appeal to the Supreme Court," the judges said in their 184-page order.

"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 judges said.

They added that "federal courts do not intervene in state affairs 
lightly," but that conditions in California's prisons have become "horrific."

The rights of California's prisoners "have repeatedly been ignored," 
the judges wrote. "Where the political process has utterly failed to 
protect the constitutional rights of a minority, the courts can, and 
must, vindicate those rights."

The order stems from class actions filed against the state on behalf 
of sick and mentally ill inmates, alleging overcrowding has led to 
health care that constitutes "cruel and unusual" punishment under the 
U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

Brown hotly disputed that analysis.

"The state spends $14,000 a year on each inmate for health care, and 
these judges claim people are dying because they're not getting 
adequate treatment," the attorney general noted. "I don't believe 
that. That's not possible. Sure, things were pretty bad in the past, 
but that's no longer true.

"We tried to present evidence at (last year's trial before the three 
judges) on current conditions, and they wouldn't let us," Brown added.

"Public safety will not be compromised," he declared. "I will do 
everything I can to achieve that goal."

Donald Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, which represents 
the inmates along with other lawyers, called the order "a landmark 
ruling and historic day in prison litigation in this state and in the country."

"The court's order will now require what virtually every expert and 
even the state itself has recognized for 15 years needed to be done," 
he said. "It can be accomplished safely, thoughtfully and without any 
adverse impact on our state."

Michael Bien, co-lead counsel for the inmates, said, "The state 
should take this opportunity to remedy the overcrowding problem once 
and for all."

The order comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking to reduce 
the prison population by approximately 27,000 to plug a $1.2 billion 
hole in the corrections budget. That plan is being attacked by crime 
victims' groups angry at the prospect of such a reduction, and the 
order from the judges Tuesday further upset some.

"This is a little frightening," said Christine Ward, director of the 
Crime Victims Action Alliance in Sacramento. "I can't say I'm 
surprised, but I am disappointed."

Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Police 
Officers Association, called the order "a prescription for disaster" 
that will endanger lives and property.

Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, head of the California Police 
Chiefs Association, said the judges' order makes it critical for the 
governor and legislators to reach agreement on how to reduce the 
state's inmate population.

When they return from recess Aug. 17, legislators are expected to 
resume talks on the governor's inmate reduction proposal, and the 
judges' order makes a need for a breakthrough that much more critical.

The judges Lawrence K. Karlton of the Eastern District in Sacramento, 
Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District in San Francisco and 
Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said 
overcrowding had left mentally ill inmates without access to health 
care and noted that since mid-2005, "a California inmate was dying 
needlessly every six or seven days."

"During the pendency of this proceeding, the outlook for California's 
prisons has only grown dimmer," they wrote.

"The state is now in the throes of a fiscal crisis that renders it 
unable or unwilling to commit the necessary resources to fix the 
problems in its prisons."

The judges said that "a prison system's capacity is not defined by 
square footage alone; it is also determined by the system's resources 
and its ability to provide inmates with essential services such as 
food, air, and temperature and noise control."

The panel said California's prison population had increased 750 
percent since the mid-1970s, largely because of the "shift to 
inflexible determinate sentencing and the passage of harsh mandatory 
minimum and 'three-strikes' laws."

"Thousands of prisoners are assigned to 'bad beds,' such as 
triple-bunked beds placed in gymnasiums or day rooms, and some 
institutions have populations approaching 300 percent of their 
intended capacity," the panel said. "In these overcrowded conditions, 
inmate-on-inmate violence is almost impossible to prevent, infectious 
diseases spread more easily, and lockdowns are sometimes the only 
means by which to maintain control. In short, California's prisons 
are bursting at the seams and are impossible to manage." 
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