Federal Judges Join Department Of The Obvious

Let me build on this post regarding the decision by two separate US District Court judges to convene three-judge panels to consider capping the California prison population. This should have been completely expected to everyone in the state government.

There is a near-term and a long-term crisis in our state prisons. So the Governor predictably offered a medium-term solution. Prisons don't build themselves overnight, so "adding 53,000 beds" which can only phase in over the course of a couple years does absolutely nothing to address the current situation. Furthermore, the continued overcrowding, which impacts rehabilitation and treatment and the high recidivism rate, means that by the time those new beds are constructed, the problem will be bigger, and any additional capacity (which doesn't even cover the CURRENT overcrowding numbers) will be only a temporary solution. So with root causes unaddressed, there was no way any judge with any sort of conscience could sit idly by and watch as the prison system continues to spiral out of control. A state government that has COMPLETELY FAILED TO LEAD forced his hand.

This is the first time since the law was established in 1996 offering for this kind of option for federal judges that it has been invoked. No other system in America is as out of control as the prison system in our state. And so the judges stepped in because we are violating the Constitution:

First of all, this is not just one judge making findings and a ruling. There are two cases, one before Judge Henderson (Plata) on the prison medical system in which orders were stipulated to (agreed upon) by the parties which included the state of California in 2002 and 2004. The judge has found that those orders have not been complied with. He has based his ruling on the evidence presented, including reports of the Receiver he appointed, last year, Robert Sillen, that document in great detail the problems in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation system.

The other case (Coleman) before Judge Karlton, concerns the medical treatment received by state prisoners with "serious mental disorders," and has been going on since 1995. In that case, a Special Master, John Hagar, has been appointed by the Judge to investigate and report back to him on how the needs of these mentally ill prisoners have been met. After almost 12 years and 77 orders, the Special Master and the Judge have found the prisons to not be in compliance with the United States Constitution.

Gov. Schwarzenegger is talking about appeal, but there is a voluminous public record documenting this total failure in leadership that has brought our prisons to the crisis point. But such an appeal will likely take close to a year. That's another year where root causes will not be addressed as everyone awaits this decision.

But there's another way. The judges have rejected that AB 900, which authorized the construction of the prisons, will be insufficient to deal with the problem. But if Gloria Romero's sentencing reform bill, SB 110, can offer a real sea change in empowering an independent commission to recommend and review changes to sentencing law, perhaps the judges can be persuaded that the state is finally moving in the right direction on understanding what needs to be done. Romero is a lonely voice for sanity on this issue, and with her bill now in the Assembly, she needs to be joined by we the people. The California Democratic Party has come out in support of sentencing and parole reform. Every Democratic member of the Assembly needs to be made aware of that fact, and the fact that SB 110 is the ONLY vehicle to get a handle on this unconscionable state prison crisis. It's worth a call today.