SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

* indicates required
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Will Matthews, (212) 549-2582 or 2666; media@aclu.org

Supreme Court Hears Arguments About Need To Decrease California's Prison Population

ACLU Amicus Brief Supports Federal Court Order Mandating That Prison Population Be Drastically Reduced

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard arguments in Schwarzenegger v. Plata,
a case examining a federal court order requiring the state of
California to resolve the extreme overcrowding in the state prison
system by reducing the prison population to 137.5 percent of the
system's design capacity. The system is currently at nearly 200 percent
of capacity.

The order to reduce the prison
population was issued in two long-running cases in which the medical and
mental health care provided in California prisons was found to be so
deficient that it endangers the lives of prisoners and violates the U.S.
Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

A special three-judge federal court
determined last year that severe overcrowding was a primary cause of the
constitutionally inadequate medical and mental health care provided to
prisoners and would only be improved by a reduction in the prison
population. California is appealing that ruling.

The following can be attributed to David Fathi, Director of the ACLU National Prison Project:

"Gov. Schwarzenegger has acknowledged
that prison overcrowding increases recidivism while creating
'conditions of extreme peril' that threaten the health and safety of
staff and prisoners alike. Our public safety is jeopardized by
overcrowded prisons, in which high-risk prisoners don't rehabilitate and
low-risk prisoners learn new criminal behavior. It is far past time to
abandon failed 'get-tough' ideologies and invest in policies that are
rooted in evidence, fiscal prudence and common sense."

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666