Judges consider prison population cap

SACRAMENTO
Judges consider prison population cap
Tom Chorneau, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Thursday, June 28, 2007
(06-28) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- A pair of federal judges considered imposing a population cap on the state's troubled prison system on Wednesday -- an order that could result in the early release of thousands of California's 170,000 prisoners.
In a joint hearing, U.S. District Judges Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento and Thelton Henderson of San Francisco heard arguments on the proposal, which has been offered as a means of solving the state's overcrowded prison system.
The judges, who are presiding over separate, long-running cases involving inmate abuse, both seemed at times to embrace the population cap idea although they did not issue a ruling Wednesday. A written order is expected in the coming days or weeks.
Karlton, who is overseeing a decadelong lawsuit over the state's failure to provide care to mentally ill inmates, was critical of the Legislature and the Schwarzenegger administration for their inability to address the overcrowding problem. But he also said the idea of a population cap was "very radical" and may not be acceptable given the number of inmates it could affect.
"There's been no evidence of change," he said. "At some point something has got to change."
At issue is control over the state's prison system, which has an inmate population nearly double the capacity it originally was designed for. Inmate advocates have argued that overcrowding makes it almost impossible for prisons to adequately provide health care to the general population and provide services to inmates who have mental health problems.
In some prisons, inmates sleep outside or on floors. Attorneys for inmates have said that California inmates have a suicide rate twice that of the rest of the nation, due in part to overcrowding.
In response, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders passed a $7.4 billion prison expansion program in May that will add 40,000 new prison beds and 13,000 new county jail beds.
Attorneys representing the state at Wednesday's court hearing told the judges that they needed more time to put the building program into motion.
Bill Maile, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor remains optimistic that the judges will not order a population cap -- which the administration believes will result in the early release of inmates.
"The governor has consistently said that releasing dangerous prisoners early is not a solution to prison overcrowding, " Maile said. "A prison cap will not solve the problems identified by the plaintiffs in these cases."
Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Office in Marin County and who represents clients in the case, said a population cap will not necessarily result in early inmate release.
"You can also prevent more people from coming into the system -- a lot of the inmates are from parole violations," he said. "There's a lot of discretion about who you send to prison."
Specter noted that other states, including Texas and New York, are decreasing their prison populations without creating public safety problems.
A study that Schwarzenegger commissioned in 2004, and which was conducted by a committee headed by former Gov. George Deukmejian, found that the state's prison system could safely hold about 137,000 inmates.
Some analysts have suggested that a population cap would result in the release of about 35,000 inmates.
E-mail Tom Chorneau at tchorneau@sfchronic le.com.
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