Is Prison Overcrowding is Unconstitutional?
By: Gerri L Elder
The decision of a three-judge panel in San Francisco could result in the
release of more than 50,000 California prison inmates. The state's
prison system is in crisis because of severe overcrowding and federal
pressure to improve medical and living conditions. The judges will
decide if the overcrowding violates the constitutional right against
cruel and unusual punishment.
The New York Times
reported that the 33 adult prisons in California now house nearly
double the inmates they were designed to hold. Criminal defense attorneys for the
inmates say that the crowded conditions lead to increased violence,
disease outbreaks, deaths and inadequate mental and health care
services. According to The Mercury News,
on Dec. 4 defense attorneys asked the judges to order the state to
release about 52,000 of the current 156,300 inmates over the next two
years.
One of the judges on the panel, Lawrence Karlton
of Federal District Court, noted during the hearing that the court has
been asked to hand down a serious order that would interfere with
California's right to handle state affairs. However, Karlton also
voiced concern about the state's failure to provide adequate care for
the inmates.
Lawyers for the state argue that the release of nearly one-third of
the state's prison inmates would cause an increase in crime and would
burden counties that already have tight budgets.
Matthew
Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, said he had seen reports indicating that California's
inmates generally had more felony offenses than inmates in other
states. The release of more than 50,000 of these inmates would be a
danger to public safety.
Cate told The New York Times
that the most serious problem in California prisons is the lack of
appropriate space for mentally ill inmates, and the release of inmates
would not correct the situation.
Michael Bien, a lawyer
for the inmates, said overcrowded prisons are dangerous for prisoners
and also puts corrections officers and the public in danger.
Defense
lawyers for the inmates do not propose the release of dangerous
criminals. The state could achieve much of the necessary reduction to
the prison population by not sending people with minor parole
violations back to prison.
In August, a court-appointed
federal receiver in charge of bringing the California prison system
into compliance with the constitution announced that it would take $8
billion to build facilities and fix the prison system.
However,
California has a budget crisis, and it is unlikely that funding will be
available. At the hearing, Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated the obvious by saying,
"We should start from the premise that there's not going to be any more
money spent on this problem."
A decision in the case is
not expected until 2009. The special three-judge panel is acting for
the first time under a 1995 federal law designed to limit the
judiciary's power in inmate rights cases. Any order to release
prisoners would almost certainly face an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.