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Someone Finally Acknowledges the Prison Problem!

Federal judges have tentatively ruled on a suit filed by California prisoners claiming that overcrowding has deprived them of their right to adequate health care. This means the state may have to reduce prison populations by up to a third. No doubt this will frighten many Californians who vote, which is why this was a good issue for the courts to decide.

My own take is that this is only a first step. Even setting aside the moral argument against lengthy sentences and rare parole, prisons that were built four decades ago are carrying four times the load for which they were designed, and we don't have the money to build more. Something needs to be done, and this ruling at least seems to acknowledge the problem.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on February 10, 2009 (boomark / email).