Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

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Velokid1
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Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Velokid1 » Tue May 24, 2011 8:50 am

The most interesting part of this story (to me, anyway) is to consider which prisoners are likely to be released, if the prison industry is allowed to decide.

Also interesting is to ponder why it is that the prison officials are so adamantly opposed to released non-violent offenders. (And prisoners who were imprisoned for victimless crimes.)
California must cut prison population by 30,000

(05-23) 17:20 PDT WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to reduce the population of its jammed prisons by more than 30,000 in two years to repair a health care system that lower courts found was defying constitutional standards and endangering guards as well as inmates.

Federal judges rightly found that overcrowding in a prison system that has held nearly twice its designed capacity for more than a decade was the main cause of "grossly inadequate provision of medical and mental health care," the court said in a 5-4 ruling.

"Needless suffering and death have been the well-documented result," Justice Anthony Kennedy said in the majority opinion.

He cited evidence from two decades of litigation: mentally ill prisoners waiting up to a year for treatment, suicidal inmates held for 24 hours in phone booth-size cages without toilets, waiting lists of 700 inmates for a single doctor, and gyms converted into triple-bunked living quarters that breed disease, and violence victimizing guards and inmates alike.
Death toll

A federal judge found in 2006 that shoddy prison health care in California was responsible for the death of one inmate a week, Kennedy noted.

"The medical and mental health care provided by California's prisons falls below the standard of decency that inheres in the Eighth Amendment," which bans cruel and unusual punishment, said Kennedy, joined by the court's more liberal justices.

Under the ruling, California's prison population of 143,000 must be reduced to 110,000 by mid-2013. Critics both on and off the bench forecast a wave of dangerous felons on the streets.

Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, said the majority was loosing "the equivalent of three Army divisions" of criminals and was "gambling with the safety of the people of California."

Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway of Tulare said Californians "could be at serious risk of becoming victims of crime ... as a result of this reckless and irresponsible decision."
One alternative

But Gov. Jerry Brown's administration, while critical of the ruling, said the state could comply without releasing any dangerous criminals - if Republicans approve Brown's budget proposal to shift thousands of low-level offenders and parole violators from state prisons to county jails.

"If realignment is done quickly and fully as the governor proposed, it will solve this problem," said Matthew Cate, Brown's prison director. "Our goal is to not release inmates at all."

The California State Sheriffs Association chimed in, saying Brown's plan - as long as it is accompanied by more state funding for counties - is "a way to ensure this is not a massive release of prisoners."

But Republicans have opposed Brown's plan on two grounds: The governor wants to extend tax increases to pay for it, and it would arguably reduce punishment by allowing some felons to avoid state prison.
Sentencing overhaul

At the other end of the spectrum, the American Civil Liberties Union said the ruling should prompt the state to ease some of the nation's harshest sentencing laws by, for example, making it a misdemeanor instead of a felony to write a $450 bad check or possess drugs for personal use.

"California locks up too many people who pose no threat to public safety and keeps them locked up for too long," said Allen Hopper, an ACLU attorney in San Francisco.

Inmates claiming that prisons provided substandard mental health treatment first sued the state in 1990. They were joined in 2001 by prisoners suing over medical care.

A federal judge appointed a receiver to manage the health care system in 2006, saying state officials were unable to comply with constitutional standards. After a trial in 2009, a three-judge panel said the system could be repaired only if the state first addressed overcrowding. At the time, there were 156,000 inmates in a system designed for 80,000.
Reductions to date

While fighting the courts' authority to lower the prison population, state officials have responded to the litigation by making their own reductions.

Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an overcrowding "state of emergency" in 2006 and transferred nearly 10,000 prisoners to other states. He also acted with lawmakers to speed up the releases of some low-risk inmates and stop returning parolees to prison for minor violations.

In upholding the panel's order, the Supreme Court said California's "serious constitutional violations ... have persisted for years. They remain uncorrected."

Kennedy said the three-judge panel had heard expert testimony by former prison directors in California and other states that prison populations can be reduced in a way that "does not increase crime to a significant degree."

The court also upheld the panel's two-year deadline for lowering the prison population but said state officials might ask the three judges for more time - five years, for example - because of "changing political, economic and other circumstances."

Cate said the Brown administration would seek an extension "if that's what public safety requires."

The ruling in Brown vs. Plata, 09-1233 can be read at links.sfgate.com/ZKZF.

Chronicle staff writer Marisa Lagos contributed to this report.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z1NHkPK5xv

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by glasseye » Tue May 24, 2011 8:58 am

Amazing. Clear evidence that the present attitude toward drug crime is not only indefensible, it's unsustainable.
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 24, 2011 9:06 am

glasseye wrote:Amazing. Clear evidence that the present attitude toward drug crime is not only indefensible, it's unsustainable.
Some of the critics of this move appear to display irrational vindictiveness. If you keep people triple-stacked up in gyms in a state of incivility, what do you think is going to happen when they are released at the end of their sentence?
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by glasseye » Tue May 24, 2011 9:11 am

Amskeptic wrote: Some of the critics of this move appear to display irrational vindictiveness.
Surprise, surprise.
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 24, 2011 9:14 am

glasseye wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: Some of the critics of this move appear to display irrational vindictiveness.
Surprise, surprise.
Well, where is it coming from? How can we evolve past it? What defect of the self-confident makes them lose all empathy, not to mention self-interested common sense?
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Velokid1 » Tue May 24, 2011 9:26 am

Good questions ^.

As always, we tend to justify whatever it is that provides us with a paycheck. We humans are capable of some very crafty self-deceptions that allow us to justify all manner of things. Self-reflection is key. Even in the depths of self-deception, we all, from time to time, get momentary flashes of what is true and/or right. The person dedicated to the uncomfortable art of self-reflection can learn to take a mental snapshot of those tricky, fleeting flashes of Truth, and hold that snapshot up against their reality. Learn to catch themselves, and retrain themselves.

Now, I feel like the thing that most often stands in the way of anybody's ability to self-reflect effectively is Fear.

Ahh... so often it's Fear that drives us. Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear.

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by steve74baywin » Tue May 24, 2011 10:01 am

Velokid1 wrote:Good questions ^.

As always, we tend to justify whatever it is that provides us with a paycheck. We humans are capable of some very crafty self-deceptions that allow us to justify all manner of things. Self-reflection is key. Even in the depths of self-deception, we all, from time to time, get momentary flashes of what is true and/or right. The person dedicated to the uncomfortable art of self-reflection can learn to take a mental snapshot of those tricky, fleeting flashes of Truth, and hold that snapshot up against their reality. Learn to catch themselves, and retrain themselves.

Now, I feel like the thing that most often stands in the way of anybody's ability to self-reflect effectively is Fear.

Ahh... so often it's Fear that drives us. Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear.
Gosh darn it, I agree with most, if not all of that.

Something else that stood out to me
2006 and transferred nearly 10,000 prisoners to other states
I wonder what that did to there ability to get visitors?

Could you imagine if we only had laws for crimes that had victims of hurt, murder or theft?

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by poptop tom » Tue May 24, 2011 11:09 am

I'm sure the state of California will make certain all those folks are put into jobs so as to minimize the possibility they turn back to crime as a support means.
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Velokid1 » Tue May 24, 2011 1:01 pm

By that logic, we might solve the nation's unemployment crisis by imprisoning everybody.

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by ruckman101 » Tue May 24, 2011 1:05 pm

The cost of college is cheaper than incarceration. Getting tough on crime costs.


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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Cindy » Tue May 24, 2011 1:09 pm

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." James Baldwin

Velo, your post reminded me of this quote.

I will say, again, that every living human should read his book The Fire Next Time.

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Or you don't.” ― Stephen King, The Stand

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by hambone » Tue May 24, 2011 1:33 pm

Most are African-American men. Funny coincidence.
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by glasseye » Tue May 24, 2011 1:51 pm

Velokid1 wrote:
As always, we tend to justify whatever it is that provides us with a paycheck.

"Pot pays my mortgage"
New York Cop


Self-reflection is key. Even in the depths of self-deception, we all, from time to time, get momentary flashes of what is true and/or right.

Oh, so uncomfortably true. And timely. Only yesterday, reflecting on an earlier argument with my wife I decided, on reflection: "I'm an asshole".

Returning home, I ventured that opinion, to which she replied: "I know" :colors:





The person dedicated to the uncomfortable art of self-reflection can learn to take a mental snapshot of those tricky, fleeting flashes of Truth, and hold that snapshot up against their reality. Learn to catch themselves, and retrain themselves.

I know. Now. : )

Cannabis encourages the art of self-reflection, does it not? Of course not all of the reflections and realizations are valid, but at least some self-reflection happens. With alcohol? Not so much.


Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear.

A very interesting observation. Please elaborate.
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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 24, 2011 3:21 pm

glasseye wrote:all that in-bold stuff.
Peter. Right here. Right now. You are going to learn how to quote.

Below, please note that you end any Velokid1 quote with a [ / q u o t e ] (I have put spaces between each character to fool the site)

Here is your correct reply with red where you need to add the above.
[ quote="Velokid1"]
As always, we tend to justify whatever it is that provides us with a paycheck. [ /quote]

"Pot pays my mortgage"
New York Cop

[ quote="Velokid1"]
Self-reflection is key. Even in the depths of self-deception, we all, from time to time, get momentary flashes of what is true and/or right. [ /quote]

Oh, so uncomfortably true. And timely. Only yesterday, reflecting on an earlier argument with my wife I decided, on reflection: "I'm an asshole".

Returning home, I ventured that opinion, to which she replied: "I know" :colors:

[ quote="Velokid1"]
The person dedicated to the uncomfortable art of self-reflection can learn to take a mental snapshot of those tricky, fleeting flashes of Truth, and hold that snapshot up against their reality. Learn to catch themselves, and retrain themselves. [ /quote]

I know. Now. : )

Cannabis encourages the art of self-reflection, does it not? Of course not all of the reflections and realizations are valid, but at least some self-reflection happens. With alcohol? Not so much.

[ quote="Velokid1"]
Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear. [ /quote]

A very interesting observation. Please elaborate.

*********************************************

Now, there are times where you need to double-stack. For example, if I quote you and Velokid1, it would look like this:
[ quote="glasseye"][ quote="Velokid1"]Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear.[/quote]
A very interesting observation. Please elaborate. [ /quote]

See? I have your reply surrounding his quote. Now, without the fake-out spaces, it would look like this:
glasseye wrote:
Velokid1 wrote:Sometimes I feel like the opposite of Love isn't Hate; it is Fear.
A very interesting observation. Please elaborate.
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Supreme Court Orders CA to Release 30,000 Prisoners

Post by Velokid1 » Tue May 24, 2011 8:36 pm

Cindy wrote:"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." James Baldwin

Velo, your post reminded me of this quote.

I will say, again, that every living human should read his book The Fire Next Time.

Cindy
I need to check that one out. Thank you.

A couple days ago I saw Paulo Coelho post something on Facebook about "an angry person is just someone who wants a little attention." Kind of the same thing. Our anger and hatred (MY anger and hatred) certainly come from our own pain, frustration, fear.

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