U.S.: The logistics of Supreme Court’s California prison overcrowding case
- The gates of California prisons aren’t going to be opened, and 30,000 prisoners aren’t going to walk out tomorrow. The court ordered a very slow, conscientious process that gives state prison and law enforcement officials compete discretion on how to accomplish it.
- Prison Law Office attorney Don Spector • Pointing out that the process of releasing 30,000 prisoners in California might be a bit … complicated. There are some ideas, though, including having short-term non-violent offenders serve at the county level rather than the state level, which might ease the prison system’s burden. Gov. Jerry Brown signed that plan in April. Unfortunately, that plan hasn’t received funding from the state due to disagreements with the legislature on the issue. Other options: Finding a different way to fund the state-to-county thing, coming up with a new plan — or shipping off prisoners to other states. The state has shipped around 10,000 California to nearby states like Arizona, Oklahoma or Mississippi (wait, that’s not nearby!), and they might increase the number, based on the Supreme Court’s decision. Either way, this is a logistics nightmare. source