Over the past quarter-century, multiple lawsuits have challenged
California’s state prisons as dangerously overcrowded. In 2011, the
United States Supreme Court found that the overcrowding had gotten so
bad — close to double the prisons’ designed capacity — that inmates’
health and safety were unconstitutionally compromised. The court ordered the state to reduce its prison population by tens of thousands of inmates, to 110,000, or to 137.5 percent of capacity.
In January, the number of inmates was down to about 120,000, and Gov. Jerry Brown declared
that “the prison emergency is over in California.” He implored the
Supreme Court to delay a federal court order to release nearly 10,000
more inmates. On Aug. 2, the court said no.
Over the furious dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia, who reiterated his
warning two years ago of “the terrible things sure to happen as a
consequence of this outrageous order,” six members of the court stood by
its earlier ruling. California has to meet its goal by the end of 2013.
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