|
Lawyers for California's prison inmates on Monday supported Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's overall plan to reduce overcrowding in the state's 33 prisons, but asked a federal court to order state prison officials to meet strict deadlines to ensure they shed nearly 40,000 inmates from the system over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the plan drew fire from Republican lawmakers and some counties, including Santa Clara County, which is worried about the impact of releasing state prison inmates into local jails.
In court papers, the prisoner rights lawyers, who just a few months ago asked that the governor be held in contempt for failing to comply with court orders, said the state has now set out a plan that meets the demands of a three-judge panel. That panel in August ordered California to dramatically reduce its inmate population because the state's prisons had become so overcrowded, they violated the constitutional rights of the inmates.
After the judges rejected Schwarzenegger's original plan, the governor came back last month with a new proposal that in theory would comply with the court's orders through a number of changes, including the early release of certain nonviolent offenders, construction of new prison space and shipping more inmates out of state and into private prisons.
The state's latest proposal would remove at least 37,000 inmates from California prisons by 2012, seeking to address the judges' concern that the prisons are
so overcrowded now they cannot provide adequate medical and mental health care. The judges had asked the state to get the inmate population down to about 137 percent of prison capacity, 40 to 50 percent less than its typical level in recent years.
Lawyers for the inmates say the state's progress in clearing prison space should be reviewed every six months.
It's unclear what the judges' next step will be. They could accept or reject the governor's plan or schedule a hearing on it.
The governor's plan drew opposition in separate court filings. Republican legislators continue to oppose much of the plan, and also the intervention of the federal judges, saying the court is overstepping its authority.
In addition, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties oppose aspects of the plan that could impact county jails. In particular, the governor's proposal to shift more than 11,000 inmates serving state prison time for certain low-level offenses to county jails would "merely shift the overcrowding problem to local governments."
If the three judges support the governor's plan, it remains unclear whether it will get the necessary support from the Legislature, which last summer balked at similar proposals.
 Contact Howard Mintz at 408 / 286-0236 |
