http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2009m2d10-California-needs-to-release-prisoners-heres-a-good-place-to-startFebruary 10, 11:59 AM
by J.D. Tuccille, Civil Liberties Examiner
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San Quentin
California prisons like San Quentin hold twice as
many inmates as they were designed to accommodate.
California has to release up to 58,000 inmates, or roughly 40% of the total prison population, says a three-judge panel convened to deal with the state's massively overcrowded prisons. That's not really that much of a shocker -- the state is currently jamming its holding pens full of human bodies at roughly 200% of capacity, with the inhumane conditions you'd expect as a result. But who to release? The obvious answer, it would seem, is to start with California's sizable population of people who shouldn't be behind bars at all: those convicted of consensual "crimes" such as drug offenses.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's most recent annual report on prisoners and parolees, the state's total prison population stood at 170,129 at the end of 2007. (The numbers are a bit different in the most recent, but less-detailed, quarterly report, but this is close enough.) The prisons are actually designed to hold about 85,000 prisoners. The results of stuffing 170,000 men and women into spaces intended for half as many sparked a lawsuit by the Prison Law Office, a non-profit law-firm that protects prisoners' rights. Resolving the situation doesn't have to be that painful -- and may even offer an opportunity.
An opportunity? You bet.
Of those 170,129 inmates, 33,738 people, or 19.8%, were imprisoned for drug crimes. The largest proportion of those inmates -- 13,456 -- were serving time for simple possession. But really, none of these people should suffer legal penalty simply for using or trading in officially disapproved intoxicants with other willing adults. If California is serious about alleviating its prison overcrowding problem and leaving some room for real criminals, returning this one-fifth of the inmate population to freedom is a good place to start.
Where else to go from there?
Well, 6,530 people, or 3.8% of the prison population, were behind bars at the end of 2007 for simple possession of a weapon. Given California's increasingly draconian laws, that's all too easy a "crime" to commit without actually doing anything wrong. Turn them loose, too, unless they face other charges for crimes against people or property.
Inmates convicted of prostitution and gambling are probably classified among those prisoners held for "other sex offenses" (2,776) and "other offenses" (3,903). Let them go. And tell them to have fun, while they're at it.
Do that and you've already released more than half of the required inmates without setting free a single murderer, rapist or burglar, without tinkering with sentences, and without building another prison. By letting loose inmates who never did anything wrong, California could start to alleviate its prison overcrowding problems even as it creates a more-free society, without breaking a sweat.
The effort would even save money -- a matter which might be of interest just about now.
