California Is Facing More Woes in Prisons
California’s prison system is one of the largest in the country. At the beginning of 2013 the state housed 199,000 inmates. The California prison population is facing a major crisis. The prison population is 50% over what the prison system is safely equipped to hold. Some California prisons are at 180% over capacity. A goal of reducing the overflow to137.5% was requested by federal courts in January with a 6-month deadline.
Presently, California prisons continue to be in a dismal predicament. Image courtesy sfbayview.com
For the last two-years Governor Jerry Brown has been rejecting the United States Supreme Court’s orders to release low risk inmates to lower the prison population. His reasoning for not reaching federal regulations is his concern for public safety.
The consequences of Brown’s unwillingness to conform are compounding the prison overpopulation problem.
The California prison overcrowding dilemma is causing a multitude of other issues.
