Courts: California must cut prison population by 40,000

AP via CoCoTimes ^ | 5/31/8 | DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer

[SmithL]

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal court referee is recommending that California's prison population be cut by nearly 40,000 inmates over the next four years.

There is little agreement over how to accomplish that, leading a special judicial panel on Friday to grant more time for settlement talks.

The three-judge panel says it will set a trial in November if the state, inmate advocacy groups, law enforcement organizations and others fail to agree on ways to solve prison crowding. They have 30 days to reach a settlement.

The federal courts could order an immediate release of inmates or cap the prison population, actions the Schwarzenegger administration and others want to avoid.

The court-appointed referee who is trying to negotiate a settlement says the state's 170,000 inmates should be reduced to about 132,000 by the end of 2011.

Referee Elwood Lui is proposing the population be trimmed by diverting parole violators and some convicts serving short sentences into community treatment or alternative-punishment programs.

Attorneys for the state, counties and local law enforcement say they are not yet ready to accept his proposed settlement. Republican lawmakers also have raised objections.

[purpleraine]

Can’t grow your own food in the tundra.

[Cobra64]

[bannie]

[Cementjungle]

They did this several years ago, and gave a financial incentive to the cities/counties for letting people go. It was a disaster! See: Former L.A. DA tells all

[Does so]

"...Release them into the gated communities where these judges live...?"

Entire towns are freshly created—made up by judges and attornies: witness the Village of Pinecrest in Dade County, Florida.

[bill1952]

Makes for thinner convicts... :)

[Stoat]

I like the way the sheriff operates, but he is running a short-term program.

And elements of his highly-successful program can certainly be adapted to long-term housing situations....at least they could be if it were not for the influence of Leftist, activist judges and the ACLU.   Eliminating cost and waste within the prison system while decreasing the creature comforts would be a great place to start and could be done without being abusive or placing any inmates or staff at undue risk.

Inviting Sheriff Arpaio to conduct a study of the California prison system and to recommend cost-saving improvements would be an excellent place to start; certainly better than releasing tens of thousands of hardened, career thugs and criminals back into society and placing decent people at risk.

[purpleraine]

That would be interesting, but I disagree with you about the number of similarities. His attitude would go a long way to cleanup most systems.

I'd rather see him in SoCal cleaning up the illegals.

[Stoat]

And I disagree with the notion that jails and prisons are completely different in all respects and are therefore impossible to compare in any meaningful way. Using an example of the extreme cases such as the 25 year inmates tends to overlook the fact that the overwhelming, vast majority of inmates are not sentenced for such a period (unfortunately). Sadly, most prison inmates are sentenced to a far shorter term than that and so do not present the same challenges to the administration.

Given the reality of breathtaking, bloated waste within the California prison system a voice of reason such as that of Sheriff Arpaio’s would be a welcome breath of fresh air that would instantly be shouted down by all of the usual Leftist suspects.

[purpleraine]

I don't think there's a lot of waste in the Cal system. Much of the cost is for the highest salaries in the country because my union was able to bribe three governors in a row, until now. I personally benefited from that.

The cost of such high pay? Fewer work crews, training, education and mental health care.

[BibChr]

Well. That’s going to mean a lot of executions — but, if they’re murderers, it’s the only just thing to do.

[Stoat]

I don't think there's a lot of waste in the Cal system.

I'm guessing that if he were given a chance to conduct a system-wide study,  Sheriff Arpaio would have serious disagreements with such a statement.  However, since he has not as yet been invited to lend his considerable expertise to the matter any such speculation is just that.

California appears to be taking a cue from the UK, which has made the premature releasing violent thugs back into communities a regular, expected, and entirely usual event....much to the increased pain and suffering of the decent and law-abiding majority there.

 

[William Tell]

Brilliant said: "... so that we can make room for the Republicans and tax cheats."

As long as Kalifornia has the resources to maintain the list of gunowners with my name on the list numerous times, I will remain unconvinced that Kalifornia is in need of any money.

When they eliminate all these ridiculous requirements that only burden us law-abiding gun owners, then I might become a little more receptive to the idea of increasing resources for the state. As far as I am concerned, Kalifornia has too much money to spend on wasteful and trivial nonsense.

[purpleraine]

I worked the prisons for 28 years. The money has been sucked up by salaries and benefits. Cal and NY are number 1 in pay for COs.

If you can find fat in the system, God bless you.

[realdifferent1]

THAT’S funny!

[realdifferent1]

Betcha’ if you let loose everyone in CA prisons who are in for pot, not paying child support or DUI, you’d come up with the space.

[realdifferent1]

Betcha' if you let loose everyone in CA prisons who are in for pot, not paying child support or DUI, you'd come up with the space.

See http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Annual/CalPris/CALPRISd2006.pdf