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Pennsylvania to transfer prisoners out of state to reduce overcrowding

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said Monday that the state will begin transferring prisoners out of state to reduce prison overcrowding. State officials will transfer 2,000 prisoners, with 1,000 going to a facility in Michigan and another 1,000 going to a Virginia prison. The transfers are scheduled to begin by February, and the state hopes to begin bringing the prisoners back by 2013, when four new prisons are set to open. There are currently about 51,400 prisoners in a state system that was designed to house 44,000. Pennsylvania is not the first state to transfer prisoners out of state in order to alleviate overcrowding. In 2006, California began transferring prisoners out of state. California is currently under a federal court order to reduce its prison population from 190 percent to 137.5 percent by 2011. Last month, the California government submitted a revised plan for reducing its prison population that includes revisions made possible because of legislative enactments, such as summary parole for lower-level offenses to reduce the amount of inmates re-entering the prison system for parole violations and credit-earning enhancements to reduce time served.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 22, 2009 (boomark / email).