(02-09) 16:53 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal court panel said today it intends to order the release of tens of thousands of California inmates over two to three years to relieve overcrowding that has ravaged prison medical and mental health care.
The three-judge panel said it was confident that the prison population could be reduced without endangering the public.
"The evidence is compelling that there is no relief other than a prisoner release order that will remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions," the panel said in what it labeled a tentative ruling after a trial in San Francisco last fall.
Two federal judges, both panel members, have ruled in separate cases that the quality of medical care and mental health treatment in state prisons violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In today's decision, the panel agreed with lawyers for the inmates that "crowding is the primary cause" of the constitutional violations.
Because prisons are jammed beyond capacity, they lack medical facilities, doctors and nurses, can't make sure inmates are taking medications or receiving treatment, and are triple-bunking inmates in gyms and other locations, the panel said. Such overcrowding increases the risk of spreading diseases among prisoners and staff, the judges said.
California's 33 prisons hold about 160,000 inmates, nearly twice their designed capacity. The judges said they were prepared to impose a limit of between 120 and 145 percent of capacity, which would require 40,000 to 60,000 prisoners to be released.
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