April 18, 2011
Calif. cuts inmate numbers as it awaits high court
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide within weeks whether federal judges can order California to reduce the inmate population in its overstuffed prisons, but the state already has taken steps that will limit the consequences if the court rules against it.
Moreover, a new state law would remove even more inmates than the federal courts contemplated. However it rules, the high court still will set a nationwide precedent as it determines the authority of federal judges to intervene in states' operations of their prison systems.
California operates the nation's largest state prison system and currently houses 142,600 inmates in its 33 adult prisons. That's down from a high of 162,268 in 2006, or a decline of 12.1 percent over five years. The state has another 20,000 inmates housed in private prisons in other states, and in firefighting camps and community correctional facilities within California...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
