A panel of three federal judges, saying overcrowding in state prisons has deprived inmates of their right to adequate healthcare, tentatively ruled Monday that the state must reduce the population in those lockups by as many as 57,000 people.
The judges issued the decisionafter a trial in two long-running cases brought by inmates to protest the state of medical and mental healthcare in the prisons.
Although their order is not final, U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt effectively told the state that it had lost the trial and would have to make dramatic changes in its prisons unless it could reach a settlement with inmates’ lawyers.
Never has there been a more left-wing panel of judges convened. This will not stand on review (by adults).
Nevertheless, this is a very serious issue – for years California has abdicated responsible government, preferring to play with things like cramming “gay marriage” down the throats of the subjects.
How are these 57,000 people to be employed. One suggestion:there still a lot of roads to be repaired, and building repair to be done. Looking back a number of decades, I remember a lot of good things like this were done during the Great Depression. Jumping four or more decades ahead I remember a photograph of an unemployed orange grove worker holding about 80 dollars in his hands. I remember the caption in the newspaper. ” Look at all this free money, why should I work in the groves?” Nuff said.
If there is a core function of state government, it’s the protection of the law-abiding from those who prey upon them. #1 is right…if California cannot perform this central task, it is no longer a legitimate government.
Wonder what percentage of the 57,000 are illegal aliens and whether these might not be deported upon release? Come to think of it, wonder why they can’t deport all of the illegals in the California prison system. That should solve the problem and enable the state to protect the law-abiding citizens, per Michael in #3.
It would be interesting to know how many illegal aliens are in California prisons. I suspect the number is relatively small.
But think about what might thus far have constrained California from turning over such a prisoner for deportation. Here are 3 possibilities:
1. The so-called “truth in sentencing law,” which generally prohibits releasing an inmate until the inmate has served 85% of his sentence.
2. Quite apart from that law, a desire to see serious offenders receive significant punishment before deportation—a consideration all the more significant insofar as the offender may be able to slip back into the United States.
3. Political pressure against deportation: unlikely to be a significant influence on Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Irenaeus– Seems I have read recently that the number of illegals in CA jails is approaching at least a third of the total. If true, and I believe it is, the overcrowding which provoked this judicial decision might have been eased by deportation, even if applied liberally to those who had finished 85% of their sentences. That the political climate in California is against deportation, against mending broken borders and, in fact, promotes illegal immigration, suggests that many Californians will happily put up with the fresh appearance of 500,000 felons on their streets. In this case, the politics of race, which has always been with us in one form or another, has taken a particularly nasty turn!