Sacramento, CA (Monday, Feb. 10, 2014 at 12 noon)—Governor Edmund G.  Brown, Jr. issued a short press release on a ruling earlier today regarding a two-year extension on the federal mandate to finish compliance to end overcrowding in California’s state prisons:

“It is encouraging that the three-judge court has agreed to a two-year extension. The state now has the time and resources necessary to help inmates become productive members of society and make our communities safer,” Brown’s statement said.

The state has already reduced the population in its 34 state prisons by 30,000, but must still shed 7,000 more, according to the report. The controversial AB109 “realignment” legislation which sends a large number of state prisoners back to their home counties, often for early release, was passed in response to the federal court’s mandate.

The April 2014 deadline to finish the job is extended to February 2016. The prison crisis developed over several decades, until a federal court set the mandate to reduce the population because of inadequate medical and mental health services to those living within the overcrowded facilities.

In today’s extension, the judges also put a limit on the number of inmates who can be shipped to out-of-state prisons.

This is part of the February 7, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.