COURT ORDER TO RELEASE INMATES IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO REFORM PRISONS

Three federal judges did the state a huge favor Monday by ordering
the release of tens of thousands of inmates from the state's prisons.
But you'd never know that from the protestations of Attorney General
Jerry Brown and the Schwarzenegger administration.

Instead of vowing to try to overturn the ruling, Brown and the
governor should negotiate a settlement. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
knows that what the judges are demanding is necessary and doable; his
own budget calls for the early release of 16,000 prisoners and
changes in parole policies that also will lead to fewer inmates.

Court intervention was inevitable. The judges' tentative ruling on
suits brought by inmates follows years of state inaction. It is based
on persuasive findings that overcrowding denies inmates the
fundamental right to medical and mental health care.

And what's appropriate for inmates is smart for California. The
ruling offers the political cover for Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to
adopt common-sense prison and sentencing reforms that could save the
state $1 billion this year alone without threatening public safety.

As a Mercury News analysis by Paul Rogers and Leigh Poitinger last
weekend showed, prison spending soared faster than any area of
spending since 2001 and now consumes 10 percent of the budget - twice
what it was 20 years ago. Despite all that money, much of it in
higher pay for guards, the 33 prisons are a mess and are filled with
inmates who need not be there.

The 158,000 inmates (not counting 12,000 shipped out of state and in
other facilities) are housed in prisons built for 84,000. The judges
want to cut the capacity from nearly 200 percent to between 120 and
145 percent of capacity. That would force the release of 36,000 to
57,000 inmates over two or three years.

The state Legislative Analyst suggested ways that this can be done.

# Cutting the number of criminals sent to prison by prosecuting
crimes like drug possession and forgery as misdemeanors instead of
felonies; and diverting some criminals to intensive probation and
community-based programs. Every criminal diverted from prison would
save the state $100,000.

# Reducing time in prison by granting credits to inmates who complete
rehab programs and granting early release to some nonviolent
offenders. Last year, Schwarzenegger proposed early discharge of
20,000 prisoners, although he failed to limit the program to low-risk
offenders. Republican lawmakers balked at the whole idea.

# Reducing the number of parolees returned to prison and scaling back
parole for nonserious offenders from three years to a year. Nearly
half of 70,000 parolees each year are sent back to prison on
technical violations such as a failed drug test. The state would save
$125 million if only 25 percent of technical violators weren't
reincarcerated, the Legislative Analyst estimates.

Some of the savings would reimburse counties for redirecting inmates
to jails and to locally based drug treatment and counseling programs.
Schwarzenegger has recognized the need for this. He just hasn't moved
fast enough.

The court action is a last resort. Packing inmates into prisons,
regardless of cost and consequences, has been a disaster for
California. Schwarzenegger and legislators should admit it and settle the case.