Posted on 12/21/2005 12:03:34 AM PST by paulat
Calif. prisons to end race-based policy Tue Dec 20, 6:47 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's prison system will no longer divide inmates by race, a practice in effect for more than 20 years and intended to limit gang violence, a spokeswoman for the system said on Tuesday.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had routinely segregated inmates by race on their arrival at prison, a practice challenged by a prisoner in a federal discrimination lawsuit.
The department has settled the challenge and has agreed to no longer use race as the sole factor in deciding how to house inmates, said department spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
"Prisons have always been desegregated, but had we made housing decisions based on a person's race? Yes," Thornton said. "It's no secret that many instances of gang violence in prison are racially motivated."
California's prison population of nearly 167,000 is 28 percent white, 29 percent black and 37 percent Hispanic. Its gangs include the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, which recruit inmates based on race, Thornton said.
The prison system's change of practice brings it in line with a February U.S. Supreme Court decision banning racial segregation in prisons with the exception of extraordinary conditions.
Whichever inmate brought this suit is gonna be REALLY popular with his own racial group.
"a practice challenged by a prisoner in a federal discrimination lawsuit"
One person ! You have to be kidding me !
How many people are going to get killed over this?
I shudder to even think. Its lunacy.
Well, I guess that's ONE way to ease prison overcrowding.
Expect a lot more prison death's and homo rape.
Then some inmate can sue to reinstate race based housing!
No winning here, just lawyers getting rich, and cons amusing themselves.
I thought CA had won this lawsuit based on safety concerns? Was it overturned on appeal?
Not good for white or black folks, based on the prison population stats in the article.
Idiot libs and their allies live in a fantasy world.
They have no understanding of the reality that exists in a prison or the real world. Some people are extremely violent and racist, and they are not going to change no matter what, even in prison.
You're right, a lot of bad stuff is going to go down over this.
Strange, you think the all-powerful CA prison guards union (whom we heard so much about, thanks to Gray Davis) would have found some way to put the kibosh on this. Do you suppose they may strike over it?
Let them kill one another it will save us from having to do it later.
Reducing the surplus prison population.
time will tell how many will die over this inane change.
These are troubled people. ACLU attorneys probably came in there trying to make what they thought were good changes. (what a joke).
oreo ?
What with all the other crap going on in this crazy world I don't think too many really give a damn what happens in Calif prisons.
The imbecilic courts decided SAFETY isn't reason enough to segregate.
Look for prison riots and murders to increase.
One thing is certain, the prison guards lives are about to get a whole lot less safe.
New prisoners were segregated by race to give them a breathing space to learn the ropes. Now the senile judges have guided by their clueless law clerks into ruining the system.
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