GOVERNOR'S PRISON PLAN SEEKS TIME TO REDUCE NUMBERS

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday evening gave federal judges a
road map to reducing state prison overcrowding. But the proposal
would take more than twice as long as the judges ordered to make the
improvements they demanded and would fall short if state lawmakers
did not approve certain provisions, administration officials said.

The plan appears to set up a confrontation between the governor and
the judges, who made their impatience clear in ordering the state to
forge a plan to reduce the number of inmates by 40,000 within two
years. Schwarzenegger's plan would take five years -- if lawmakers
sign off on it.

Under a second scenario, if lawmakers balk at more prison changes
than they reluctantly approved last week on the final day of the
legislative session, the state would retain nearly 23,000 more
inmates after two years than the judges have said is reasonable.

There was no indication Friday that legislators were more inclined to
approve the proposals the governor included than they were when they
dismissed some of the same ideas in recent weeks under pressure from
law enforcement groups.

The governor's proposal avoids anything that could be portrayed as a
mass release of criminals or that would leave him on a ledge without
lawmakers' support. A combination of prison construction and a
variety of generally modest steps to reduce inmate numbers, it is
limited to maneuvers for which he already has authority or might receive it.

If the judges find that the state's proposal violates the order they
issued Aug. 4, they could hold officials in contempt. The judges
could also ask inmates' attorneys to present their own plan to reduce
overcrowding and order the state to implement it.

State officials said they filed the plan in U.S. District Court
Friday evening, hours before the midnight deadline set by the
three-judge panel overseeing a pair of inmate lawsuits. U.S. District
Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and Judge Stephen
Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that
crowding must be reduced because it has caused medical and mental
healthcare for prisoners that is so poor it violates the
constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The state has appealed the judges' ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The elements of Schwarzenegger's proposal that would not require
further legislation would create about 18,000 new prison beds over
six years. They would reduce the number of inmates by allowing them
to earn more time off their sentences if they completed
rehabilitation programs; by reducing post-prison supervision to
prevent offenders from returning to prison on parole violations; by
sending more inmates out of state; and by attempting to turn some
undocumented immigrant felons over to federal custody.

The Legislature approved some of these measures last week; the rest
the governor can do on his own authority.

The plan would not come close to the judges' target. Under the second
scenario, the proposal would come closer. It assumes that lawmakers
might approve some measures the Assembly recently rejected, such as
home detention for some inmates and a commission to reexamine state
sentencing. It also would require more transfers of inmates out of
state, faster construction and other changes.

That would leave the state with almost 18,000 more inmates after two
years than the judges specified. The state would meet the required
inmate level after five years, and after six years would have 4,300
fewer prisoners than required.

In outlining details Friday, Schwarzenegger's prisons chief, Matt
Cate, said the administration had suggested "everything that is
appropriate" to relieve overcrowding safely as permitted by existing state law.

"In my view, this honestly demonstrates a good-faith effort to do
everything we can," Cate said. "I think that what we've got is a plan
that a reasonable viewer will see substantially complies with the
court's orders. Do the years match up exactly? Maybe not, but I think
it's a good plan."

In a statement, Schwarzenegger called it "a comprehensive public
safety plan that cuts [the] corrections operating budget, builds more
cells, reduces recidivism and meets court-mandated inmate healthcare."

But lawyers for inmates asked why the governor was unable to present
the judges with a plan different from the more comprehensive one he
advocated before the Legislature -- unsuccessfully -- only weeks ago.
That plan was projected to reduce the prison population by 37,000 in
two years, nearly what the court had ordered, but lawmakers adopted
only a small portion of it after the Assembly stripped key provisions.

Donald Specter, a lawyer for inmates, said the proposal was "nowhere
close to what the court required."

"How can it be a good-faith effort when just a few months ago Mr.
Cate and the governor proposed a far more comprehensive package to
reduce crowding in one third of the time?" asked Specter, director of
the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit legal group based in Berkeley.

Michael Bien, a San Francisco-based lawyer for inmates, called
Schwarzenegger's plan disappointing. "It's too little and too late,
and it's just not enough of a reduction and it's going to take too
long," he said.

The state incarcerates nearly 170,000 inmates, with almost 150,000 in
its 33 correctional institutions and the rest in other facilities.