California To Reveal Plan To Cut Inmate Population
SACRAMENTO (KCBS/AP)--- Governor Jerry Brown's administration is scheduled to release its plan for complying with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the state to greatly reduce its inmate population.
The proposal to be announced Tuesday is expected to rely heavily on the administration's stalled proposal to shift responsibility for thousands of criminals to California's counties.
Secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Matthew Cate is asking the legislature to extend taxes to pay for the shift. Cate said in some facilities overcrowding remains at 200 percent.
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
"We should not or will not reform our way out of that problem," he said. "That problem requires construction."
Brown has said he is considering seeking an extension to give his realignment plan time to work.
In an order late last month, the Supreme Court gave California two years to remove more than 33,000 inmates after the justices ruled that easing congestion is the only way to improve unconstitutionally poor inmate medical care. The reduction in prison population will occur in stages, with the initial goal being to reduce the population by more than 10,000 by the end of November.
The latest count shows California's 33 prisons housing 143,565 inmates in space designed for fewer than 80,000.
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