JUDGES ORDER CALIFORNIA TO CUT PRISON POPULATION BY 40,591

In a historic move Tuesday, a panel of three federal judges ordered
California officials to cut the state's prison population by 40,591
inmates in the next two years because of chronic overcrowding that
the panel said has resulted in an unconstitutional level of medical
and mental health care.

The order will not result in the immediate release of any of the
state's 150,354 inmates in 33 adult prisons.

Attorney General Jerry Brown said in an interview that the order is
probably not appealable, but eventually the state will have to
consider going directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, marking the first
time the high court would face such a case.

"I think the Supreme Court would see it differently," Brown said.

State officials said the proper solution is for the governor and
legislators to work out a reduction plan as funding becomes
available. The state should not be forced to function under the
hammer of a federal court order, they said.

"We just don't agree that the federal courts should be ordering us to
take these steps," said Matthew Cate, secretary of the state
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

California's prison system is operating at 190 percent of its design
capacity of 79,828 inmates, and the judges said the state must devise
an inmate reduction plan within 45 days, after which a remedial order
will be issued.

"The court will not grant any stay of the proceedings prior to the
issuance of the final population reduction plan, but will entertain
motions to stay implementation of that plan pending the resolution of
any appeal to the Supreme Court," the judges said in their 184-page order.

"The convergence of tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to
expend the necessary funds to support the population growth has
brought California's prisons to the breaking point," the judges said.

They added that "federal courts do not intervene in state affairs
lightly," but that conditions in California's prisons have become "horrific."

The rights of California's prisoners "have repeatedly been ignored,"
the judges wrote. "Where the political process has utterly failed to
protect the constitutional rights of a minority, the courts can, and
must, vindicate those rights."

The order stems from class actions filed against the state on behalf
of sick and mentally ill inmates, alleging overcrowding has led to
health care that constitutes "cruel and unusual" punishment under the
U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

Brown hotly disputed that analysis.

"The state spends $14,000 a year on each inmate for health care, and
these judges claim people are dying because they're not getting
adequate treatment," the attorney general noted. "I don't believe
that. That's not possible. Sure, things were pretty bad in the past,
but that's no longer true.

"We tried to present evidence at (last year's trial before the three
judges) on current conditions, and they wouldn't let us," Brown added.

"Public safety will not be compromised," he declared. "I will do
everything I can to achieve that goal."

Donald Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, which represents
the inmates along with other lawyers, called the order "a landmark
ruling and historic day in prison litigation in this state and in the country."

"The court's order will now require what virtually every expert and
even the state itself has recognized for 15 years needed to be done,"
he said. "It can be accomplished safely, thoughtfully and without any
adverse impact on our state."

Michael Bien, co-lead counsel for the inmates, said, "The state
should take this opportunity to remedy the overcrowding problem once
and for all."

The order comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking to reduce
the prison population by approximately 27,000 to plug a $1.2 billion
hole in the corrections budget. That plan is being attacked by crime
victims' groups angry at the prospect of such a reduction, and the
order from the judges Tuesday further upset some.

"This is a little frightening," said Christine Ward, director of the
Crime Victims Action Alliance in Sacramento. "I can't say I'm
surprised, but I am disappointed."

Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Police
Officers Association, called the order "a prescription for disaster"
that will endanger lives and property.

Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, head of the California Police
Chiefs Association, said the judges' order makes it critical for the
governor and legislators to reach agreement on how to reduce the
state's inmate population.

When they return from recess Aug. 17, legislators are expected to
resume talks on the governor's inmate reduction proposal, and the
judges' order makes a need for a breakthrough that much more critical.

The judges Lawrence K. Karlton of the Eastern District in Sacramento,
Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District in San Francisco and
Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
overcrowding had left mentally ill inmates without access to health
care and noted that since mid-2005, "a California inmate was dying
needlessly every six or seven days."

"During the pendency of this proceeding, the outlook for California's
prisons has only grown dimmer," they wrote.

"The state is now in the throes of a fiscal crisis that renders it
unable or unwilling to commit the necessary resources to fix the
problems in its prisons."

The judges said that "a prison system's capacity is not defined by
square footage alone; it is also determined by the system's resources
and its ability to provide inmates with essential services such as
food, air, and temperature and noise control."

The panel said California's prison population had increased 750
percent since the mid-1970s, largely because of the "shift to
inflexible determinate sentencing and the passage of harsh mandatory
minimum and 'three-strikes' laws."

"Thousands of prisoners are assigned to 'bad beds,' such as
triple-bunked beds placed in gymnasiums or day rooms, and some
institutions have populations approaching 300 percent of their
intended capacity," the panel said. "In these overcrowded conditions,
inmate-on-inmate violence is almost impossible to prevent, infectious
diseases spread more easily, and lockdowns are sometimes the only
means by which to maintain control. In short, California's prisons
are bursting at the seams and are impossible to manage."