Thread: CA. risks violating first deadline to cut prison population

California risks violating first deadline to cut prison population

California has to meet a November federal deadline to slash the head count by more than 10,000 inmates, but administration officials say they can't act without funding from the Legislature. A Republican leader accuses Gov. Brown of relying on 'scare tactics.'

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9139.story

Prison officials say crowding has eased but ask Legislature for help

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 1:02 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 4:24 pm

California prison officials told a panel of federal judges today that "prison crowding has been relieved significantly" since the judges ordered a massive reduction in the state's inmate population.

But they acknowledged that there still is no way to fund further court-ordered reductions in prison populations, and they urged the Legislature to take action quickly to help reduce the number of prisoners in California's 33 adult prisons.

"We are out of time, and we're out of room," Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told reporters today after the department filed its report to the judges. "We've got to get this done."

The state is under order from the federal three-judge panel to reduce its inmate population in stages by May 24, 2013, to 137.5 percent of capacity, or about 110,000 inmates.

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that order last month, meaning the department is quickly running out of time to meet the first deadline of Nov. 24, when it must reduce the current inmate population of 143,435 inmates to 133,016.

Prison officials say Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shift thousands of low-level inmates and parole violators out of prisons and place them under the supervision of county sheriffs will make the court's order feasible.

But they acknowledge that "realignment" plan, which passed as Assembly Bill 109, cannot be implemented unless the Legislature agrees to Brown's budget, which has split lawmakers.

Without the funding, the state cannot begin shifting inmates to the counties, meaning the only other option is for prison officials to go back to the court and ask for an extension and "cross our fingers," Cate said.

"I just don't think that's a responsible plan," he added.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/07/368374 ... wding.html