The Militant - February 23, 2009 -- Court orders California to reduce its prison population by 55,000

Vol. 73/No. 7 February 23, 2009

Court orders California to reduce
its prison population by 55,000

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
A panel of three federal judges tentatively ruled February 9 that the state of California should release about 55,000 prisoners because overcrowded conditions violate inmates’ constitutional rights.

The ruling comes in response to two class-action lawsuits charging the state with failing to provide prisoners with basic medical, dental, and mental-health care, a violation of the constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

“The evidence is compelling that there is no relief other than a prisoner-release order that will remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions,” the judges said in their ruling.

There are about 160,000 adults incarcerated in California, which the judges said is 200 percent of state prisons’ capacity. Some facilities “are even more packed than that,” stated the New York Times. “Prison gymnasiums and classrooms are packed with three-tier prisoners’ bunks, and lines for prison health clinics often snake 50 men deep.”

After at least 34 prisoners died because of inadequate care, an earlier court ruling put the state’s prison health-care system under the control of a court-appointed receiver.

The ruling by the judges projects reducing California’s prison population over the next three years to about 120 percent to 145 percent of capacity.

California attorney general Jerry Brown said that once the judges issue a final order the state will appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There some 2.3 million people in jail in the United States.

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