US Supreme Court Orders 46,000 criminals released

[Coito ergo sum]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to release tens of thousands of its prisoners to relieve overcrowding, saying that "needless suffering and death" had resulted from putting too many inmates into facilities that cannot hold them in decent conditions.

It is one of the largest prison release orders in the nation's history, and it sharply split the high court.

Justices upheld an order from a three-judge panel in California that called for releasing 38,000 to 46,000 prisoners. Since then, the state has transferred about 9,000 state inmates to county jails. As a result, the total prison population is now about 32,000 more than the capacity limit set by the panel.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the majority, said California's prisons had "fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements" because of overcrowding. As many as 200 prisoners may live in gymnasium, he said, and as many as 54 prisoners share a single toilet.

Kennedy insisted that the state had no choice but to release more prisoners. The justices, however, agreed that California officials should be given more time to make the needed reductions.

In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia called the ruling "staggering" and "absurd."
He said the high court had repeatedly overruled the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for ordering the release of individual prisoners. Now, he said, the majority were ordering the release of "46,000 happy-go-lucky felons." He added that "terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order." Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him.

In a separate dissent, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the ruling conflicted with a federal law intended to limit the power of federal judges to order a release of prisoners.

State officials and lawyers for inmates differ over just how many prisoners will have to be released. In recent figures, the state said it had about 142,000 inmates behind bars, and the judges calculated the prison population would need to be reduced to about 110,000 to comply with constitutional standards.

Kennedy said the judges in California overseeing the prison-release order should "accord the state considerable latitude to find mechanisms and make plans" that are "consistent with the public safety."

The American Civil Liberties Union said the court had "done the right thing" by addressing the "egregious and extreme overcrowding in California's prisons."

David Fathi, director of the ACLU national prison project, said "reducing the number of people in prison not only would save the state taxpayers half a billion annually, it would lead to the implementation of truly rehabilitative programs that lower recidivism rates and create safer communities."

Meanwhile, the court took no action on another California case in which a conservative group is challenging the state's policy of granting in-state tuition at its colleges and universities to students who are illegal immigrants and have graduated from its high schools.

The justices said they would consider the appeal in a later private conference.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/sc-dc ... 7401.story


Simple solution. End incarceration for non-violent crimes. Create a system of tethered house arrest, where GPS encoded tethers or better yet, implants, are used to track the whereabouts of non-violent criminals. Have them restricted in movements outside of their jobs, and have them closely monitored with periodic check ins with a parole officer. That should free up plenty of space in the prison system.

[cowiz]

All the implants you suggest absolutely must contain 666 in the serial numbers! I insist on it.

[Coito ergo sum]

All the implants you suggest absolutely must contain 666 in the serial numbers! I insist on it.

I was thinking "bar codes" on the back of the neck.

[Gallstones]

Legalizing marijuana would go a long way to taking some of the burden off the criminal justice system. It would create an entrepreneurial opportunity where people who are now felons and on the public dime would instead be legitimate businesspersons making money and contributing capital to their counties and the state. It would also remove the incentive for some crime based business.

[Ian]

Prison conditions in many states, such as California, are bad enough to be considered cruel & unusual punishment. True, it's also not justice that so many prisoners are being let out because of this ruling, but that's why justice is represented by scales: in this case, it's a matter of which decision would've been worse. I think the majority made a very tough decision and got it right.

Of course, this ruling never would've happened if the penal system had enough money to function properly. But when state governments are faced with budget shortfalls, it's always easy to deny adequate funds to prisons in order to meet other needs. And why do budgets have such shortfalls? Well, it's obviously not because overspending is such an epidemic, or else these prisons would be functioning just fine. The problem is much more on the revenue side. Raise some frickin' taxes already!

[Coito ergo sum]

I think we're just putting a lot of people in jail who ought not to be.

[Ian]

I think we're just putting a lot of people in jail who ought not to be.

DEFINITELY. Such as a lot of marijuana-related convicts. And "three strikes" violators. And mandatory-minimum sentences. The prison population doesn't have to be nearly so high.

[Gallstones]

Raise taxes? Burden the citizens who are themselves suffering economic hardship?

How about this, how about we just do things smarter?

I know, I know, that is just a fantasy.

[Gallstones]

46K is a tiny portion of the total. Will it make that much of a difference?

[Coito ergo sum]

California has about 170,000 state prison inmates.

[Gallstones]

We should allow prisoners to smoke marijuana and to grow it on prison farms. It will keep them mellow.

[HomerJay]

give them guns and invade another country?

[Gallstones]

California has about 170,000 state prison inmates.

That's all?

[Coito ergo sum]

All? That's 10% of the American prison population. State and federal prison authorities had jurisdiction over 1,613,740 prisoners at yearend 2009: 1,405,622 under state jurisdiction and 208,118 under federal jurisdiction.

[Svartalf]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to release tens of thousands of its prisoners to relieve overcrowding, saying that "needless suffering and death" had resulted from putting too many inmates into facilities that cannot hold them in decent conditions.

It is one of the largest prison release orders in the nation's history, and it sharply split the high court.

Justices upheld an order from a three-judge panel in California that called for releasing 38,000 to 46,000 prisoners. Since then, the state has transferred about 9,000 state inmates to county jails. As a result, the total prison population is now about 32,000 more than the capacity limit set by the panel.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the majority, said California's prisons had "fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements" because of overcrowding. As many as 200 prisoners may live in gymnasium, he said, and as many as 54 prisoners share a single toilet.

Kennedy insisted that the state had no choice but to release more prisoners. The justices, however, agreed that California officials should be given more time to make the needed reductions.

In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia called the ruling "staggering" and "absurd."
He said the high court had repeatedly overruled the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for ordering the release of individual prisoners. Now, he said, the majority were ordering the release of "46,000 happy-go-lucky felons." He added that "terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order." Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him.

In a separate dissent, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the ruling conflicted with a federal law intended to limit the power of federal judges to order a release of prisoners.

State officials and lawyers for inmates differ over just how many prisoners will have to be released. In recent figures, the state said it had about 142,000 inmates behind bars, and the judges calculated the prison population would need to be reduced to about 110,000 to comply with constitutional standards.

Kennedy said the judges in California overseeing the prison-release order should "accord the state considerable latitude to find mechanisms and make plans" that are "consistent with the public safety."

The American Civil Liberties Union said the court had "done the right thing" by addressing the "egregious and extreme overcrowding in California's prisons."

David Fathi, director of the ACLU national prison project, said "reducing the number of people in prison not only would save the state taxpayers half a billion annually, it would lead to the implementation of truly rehabilitative programs that lower recidivism rates and create safer communities."

Meanwhile, the court took no action on another California case in which a conservative group is challenging the state's policy of granting in-state tuition at its colleges and universities to students who are illegal immigrants and have graduated from its high schools.

The justices said they would consider the appeal in a later private conference.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/sc-dc ... 7401.story


Simple solution. End incarceration for non-violent crimes. Create a system of tethered house arrest, where GPS encoded tethers or better yet, implants, are used to track the whereabouts of non-violent criminals. Have them restricted in movements outside of their jobs, and have them closely monitored with periodic check ins with a parole officer. That should free up plenty of space in the prison system.

Problem is that it either requires a constitutional amendment, or intolerable meddling of the federal into what's state domain... Of course, states might individually follow that advice, but I suspect that if they try, some 5star resorts will get filled with lawmakers for symposiums on why prison is absolutely necessary as a crimefighting and social engineering tool.