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.
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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."
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