May 26, 2011

Sure, you’ve heard of events or parties hitting capacity, so no one else is allowed in; or when Twitter is over capacity, you cant log on. What happens when the prison can no longer hold enough inmates; do you not allow anymore criminals in? Well, the U.S. Supreme Court came to a 5-4 decision this week of decreasing the prison population by about 25 percent; that calculation equates to about 33,000 inmates.

The state of California has promised to release a solution for reducing the prison population within the next two weeks. Quite naturally, residents are afraid the solution will be early release for those 33,000 inmates causing an influx of criminals into society. What effects would this have on the state? Officials have stated possible proposals may be: releasing inmates aged 65 and older, paroling non violent drug offenders, or deporting illegal immigrants in the prisons.

Currently, California’s 33 prison units are so overcrowded that a cell built to confine one inmate is holding 3. Basically, the prison system is operating at a capacity of 200 percent rather than 100 percent. One of the biggest concerns for the current inmates is the lack of adequate healthcare. The health care system has fallen under great scrutiny in the California prison system within the last 6 years, treatment of inmates with HIV and other illnesses have suffered because of the overcrowded facilities. Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the nation in an effort to feed and provide health care to the prison population.

So what is there to do? Overcrowded prison facilities plus a court order to cut the inmate population equals disaster to many citizens. Whatever decision is made, residents of California deserve to have their best interest considered.