The three federal judges who have ordered California to dramatically
reduce its prison population have now pushed back their deadline by 30
days. The delay is both less and more than it seems.
It's less, because it's nothing close to the three extra years that Gov. Jerry Brown
said he would need to reduce overcrowding and to keep the number of
inmates capped. Instead of facing a Dec. 31 compliance date, the
governor and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation now have
until late January. That's not enough time to reduce crowding by
attrition, or even by assigning newly convicted felons to leased cells
in and outside of California.
But it's also more, or at least it could be. It's a signal from the
judges that they believe, perhaps for the first time since the reduction
order was handed down four years ago, that California may be ready to
devote considerable thought and resources to reducing the flow of felons
into the system.
Read on...
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