View Full Version : SCOTUS approves CA prison population limit; massive releases to happen
Roguish Lawyer
05-23-2011, 10:38
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/sc-dc-0524-court-prisons-web-20110523,0,2337401.story
Awesome . . .
"..................Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the majority, said California's prisons had "fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements" because of overcrowding. As many as 200 prisoners may live in gymnasium, he said, and as many as 54 prisoners share a single toilet.........................."
I kinda' got used to living like that while traveling with the Army.
I'm sure the Army has some surplus tents, cots and razor wire. Fence off a few ball parks and there you are. Some T Rats and they'll be living high on the hog.
rubberneck
05-23-2011, 10:51
I agree with Scalia. This isn't going to have a happy ending for the people of California. You can't release 40,000 hardened felons at once into a depressed job market without real serious problems. What happens when those 40,000 felons realize that can't find a job? For those in California who pushed for this get ready to reap the whirlwind.
The Reaper
05-23-2011, 10:57
I agree with Scalia. This isn't going to have a happy ending for the people of California. You can't release 40,000 hardened felons at once into a depressed job market without real serious problems. What happens when those 40,000 felons realize that can't find a job? For those in California who pushed for this get ready to reap the whirlwind.
Well, most of them can move back to Central America and Mexico, if they have to.
TR
............ For those in California who pushed for this get ready to reap the whirlwind.
Those folks don't have to worry. The felons will not be coming to their neighborhoods.
Maybe the occasional break-in or catjacking but nothing other than a one or two here and there.
The real assault with come on the edges and in the lower income neighborhoods.
rubberneck
05-23-2011, 11:06
Well, most of them can move back to Central America and Mexico, if they have to.
TR
They can't milk every last penny out of Uncle Sugar from Mexico, but that's just the cynic in me speaking.
Some interesting stats for anyone interested in looking into the issues:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=1
I heard this on the news this morning while running errands.
San Quentin prison is on lockdown Monday after a riot at the maximum security cell block sent at least four inmates to the hospital. Prison officials say the riot began last night in the dining hall and nearly 200 inmates were involved.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=8146764&rss=rss-kgo-article-8146764
This is a pretty interesting graphic.
Richard :munchin
lol Fucking idiot Demwit liberals at it again. This one's gonna bite 'em in the collective ass, big time.
lol Let 'em all out, you imbecilic twits!!!:D
Whats sad. Someone if not a few Innocent people. Will be killed by one or more of those released.
This is really just awesome.
:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Can't we give CA back to Mexico?
This is really just awesome.
:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Can't we give CA back to Mexico?
I can just hear the Mexicans laughing their asses off. "No, gracias!":D
I can just hear the Mexicans laughing their asses off. "No, gracias!":D
Damn them! :D
I say put them all on a one-way ticket to A-stan. Let them off on the side of some very rural road up north with no weapons, no food/water, no ruck sack. Let the bad guys waste several million rounds killing 40,000+ "recently deployed Americans". They'll feel better, we'll feel better while the bad guys use up a bunch of ammo.
We heavy drop several tons of hardware as they leave the area.
This new tactic we call, "Feeding the Deer", kind of like corn and white tail deer season in Russell, Kansas.
Its all part of a new tough on those who are tough on crime program..
craigepo
05-24-2011, 07:06
My favorite line from the opinion, from Justice Alito:
"The three-judge court ordered the premature release of approximately 46,000 criminals — the equivalent of three Army divisions.”
My favorite line from the opinion, from Justice Alito:
"The three-judge court ordered the premature release of approximately 46,000 criminals — the equivalent of three Army divisions.”
Cross that with this thread's threat, and you've got trouble:
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/05/23/ray-lewis-makes-controversial-comments-about-nfl-lockout/
Cross that with this thread's threat, and you've got trouble:
OMG - not trouble in River City again!!?! :eek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI
Richard :munchin
Masochist
05-27-2011, 13:45
A look into the future?
APNewsBreak: High-risk Calif parolees unsupervised
By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press
Wed May 25, 5:15 pm ET
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California improperly paroled more than 450 dangerous criminals without supervision last year as part of a program designed to reduce prison crowding and cost, the California prison system's independent inspector general said Wednesday in a report.
A faulty computerized risk-assessment program predicted the offenders could be released under the state's non-revocable parole law that took effect in January 2010.
The inspector general found that about 1,500 offenders were improperly left unsupervised, including 450 who "carry a high risk for violence." The offenders otherwise would have been released under traditional parole, which requires them to report in regularly and follow specific rules.
The new law was designed for less serious offenders. Under non-revocable parole, offenders don't report to parole agents and can't be sent back to prison unless they commit new crimes.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it relies heavily on a computerized program because it must review the criminal histories of more than 160,000 inmates and more than 100,000 offenders on parole.
Auditors found the risk assessment was wrong for 23.5 percent of more than 10,000 offenders who were considered for non-revocable parole between January and July 2010. Some were scored too high and others too low, with the lower-scoring inmates eligible for unsupervised release.
Even after the computer program was altered, analysts determined it was wrong in 8 percent of cases.
"CDCR should not compromise public safety ... by understating offenders' risk of reoffending and releasing high-risk offenders to unsupervised parole," the report said.
The department disputed the inspector general's analysis and conclusion.
"Alleged `errors' ... have in large part been corrected," Lee Seale, the department's deputy chief of staff, wrote in a rebuttal letter. "We reject the notion that the California Static Risk Assessment is flawed and dispute the evidence the OIG cites in support of this claim."
The version of the assessment reviewed by the inspector general has now been obsolete for over a year, Seale wrote, and the department will keep working to improve the program developed by the University of California, Irvine, Center of Evidence-based Corrections.
Seale said the program has saved money and cut prison overcrowding by keeping many parole violators from returning to prison — important developments given current events.
The report came as the state struggles to safely release less dangerous convicts and parolees to help combat a $10 billion budget deficit. Compounding the pressure, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state must reduce its prison population by about 33,000 inmates over the next two years to reduce crowding and improve care for mentally and physically ill inmates.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law this year shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of lower-level criminals to the jurisdiction of counties, though the shift can't take place until legislators or voters approve funding for local governments.
Non-revocable parole would end under the new law, but the inspector general's report left state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, who requested the report, wondering if California can accurately predict which criminals are less dangerous.
"The report, to me, confirms my worst fears," he said. "They have dangerous parolees running around who should not be."
Lieu has repeatedly called for the department to end unsupervised releases, most recently two weeks ago when an ex-convict on non-revocable parole was charged with murdering two people in Southern California. He reiterated his plea based on the inspector general's report.
The report is the latest in a series of reviews questioning California's parole practices. The inspector general previously found the state failed to properly supervise paroled rapist Phillip Garrido, who pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping a young Jaycee Dugard and holding her captive in a backyard compound for 18 years.
Another report said the department should have sent a paroled San Diego County child molester back to prison before he raped and killed two teenage girls.
The inspector general's report cited problems with the non-revocable parole program that were originally reported by The Associated Press last year.
The AP found that because of the way the law was written, the department was releasing some unsupervised parolees who had been convicted of violent or threatening crimes.
The AP also reported there were early problems with the risk-assessment program. The department was forced to return 656 parolees to active supervision after learning that nearly 10 percent of parolees released without supervision had committed more crimes than officials previously believed.
Officials said then that the problem was fixed, though the inspector general's report says the improved assessment program wasn't immediately used at all locations statewide.
Wednesday's report found the high error rate under the computerized program resulted from multiple problems:
• It did not include prior parole violations or some crimes offenders committed as juveniles.
• Some offenders whose risk should have been assessed by human beings were instead left to the computerized assessment. Only about 4 percent of the more than 270,000 risk assessments of inmates and parolees were done by hand.
• The system relies in part on criminal histories compiled by the California Department of Justice. But about half the histories don't reveal what happened to criminal charges, for instance whether suspects were convicted or acquitted, because the information isn't submitted by the court system.
The system relies on 22 factors that are supposed to predict whether offenders are likely to commit new crimes. They include things like age, gender, gang affiliations, previous convictions, disciplinary problems in prison, and previous parole violations. It then uses a mathematical algorithm to assign a risk score.
Only those with low and moderate risk can be placed on non-revocable parole.
However, even a low risk predicts that 48 percent of those parolees are likely to be arrested for a felony, and 18 percent convicted of a felony, within three years. A moderate risk projects that 69 percent of parolees will be arrested and 31 percent convicted of a felony within three years of their release.
The program has been tested and proved scientifically valid, the department said in response. However, researchers found the program is weak in predicting future convictions and weak to moderate in predicting future arrests.
Lieu said state lawmakers were unlikely to have passed the law in 2009 had they known those odds.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110525/ap_on_re_us/us_california_prisons
greenberetTFS
05-27-2011, 14:14
Why should we give a damn,it's in California isn't it?..........:rolleyes:
Big Teddy :munchin
So what I'm hearing is, if one wants to commit a crime, California is the place to do it, is that right?
What if the criminal element of CA decided to unionize and commit a whole bunch of crimes on the same day? You know, kind of bog down the system more or less.
How about dumping the 40K plus on one of several islands west of Catalina?
Or better yet, cull the other end of the spectrum by 50,000, making more room.
incarcerated
07-07-2011, 18:00
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/us/08hunger.html
Hunger Strike by Inmates Is Latest Challenge to California’s Prison System
By IAN LOVETT
Published: July 7, 2011
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of inmates at prisons throughout California have been refusing state-issued food in a mass hunger strike to protest conditions at the state’s highest-security prisons, where some inmates are kept in prolonged isolation.
The protest was organized by inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison’s security housing unit, where prisoners are kept in isolation more than 22 hours a day. They stopped eating on July 1, and prisoners at other facilities around the state have imitated their campaign. About 2,100 prisoners in all were continuing to refuse at least some state-issued meals on Wednesday, down from a peak of 6,600 last weekend, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation....
Prisoners and activists say that such conditions are cruel and unusual punishment. Most inmates end up in these extreme isolation blocks because of ties to gang activities....
“We do see this long isolation and debriefing process as torture,” said Carol Strickman, a staff lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy group based in San Francisco....
But a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said....that gang members were leading the hunger strike, which only showed the need to separate them from the general prison population.
“The department is not going to be coerced or manipulated,” she said. “That so many inmates in other prisons throughout the state are involved really demonstrates how these gangs can influence other inmates, which is one of the reasons we have security housing units in the first place.”
....The hunger strike has transcended the gang and geographic affiliations that traditionally divide prisoners, with prisoners of many backgrounds from across the state participating....
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/us/08hunger.html
Hunger Strike by Inmates Is Latest Challenge to California’s Prison System
By IAN LOVETT
Published: July 7, 2011
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of inmates at prisons throughout California have been refusing state-issued food in a mass hunger strike to protest conditions at the state’s highest-security prisons, where some inmates are kept in prolonged isolation.
The protest was organized by inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison’s security housing unit, where prisoners are kept in isolation more than 22 hours a day. They stopped eating on July 1, and prisoners at other facilities around the state have imitated their campaign. About 2,100 prisoners in all were continuing to refuse at least some state-issued meals on Wednesday, down from a peak of 6,600 last weekend, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Although most prisoners have resumed eating, a group of at least two dozen at Pelican Bay, some of whom have been kept in the security housing unit for decades, said they were prepared to starve to death.
“We believe our only option of ever trying to make some kind of positive change here is through this peaceful hunger strike,” Todd Ashker, one of the Pelican Bay inmates who organized the strike, said in a statement conveyed through a lawyer....
Prisoners and activists say that such conditions are cruel and unusual punishment. Most inmates end up in these extreme isolation blocks because of ties to gang activities. To get back into the general prison population, activists say, they are pressured to divulge information about other gang members in prison, a process known as “debriefing,” which can jeopardize their safety.
“We do see this long isolation and debriefing process as torture,” said Carol Strickman, a staff lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy group based in San Francisco....
The hunger strike has transcended the gang and geographic affiliations that traditionally divide prisoners, with prisoners of many backgrounds from across the state participating.
But not all were prepared to take the protest as far as Mr. Ashker. All have continued to drink liquids, and some have refused to eat cafeteria food but have drunk Ensure or bought food from vending machines....
I will pray these chaps don't become folk hero's like the the boy's in H Block back in the 80's.
I will pray these chaps don't become folk hero's like the the boy's in H Block back in the 80's.
The way I see it, saves the taxpayers some money. If they don't want to eat, screw 'em.
lets:
release them...
give them each 20,000 dollars cash and a midsize car with no insurance...
send them to mexico...
incarcerated
07-07-2011, 19:17
I will pray these chaps don't become folk hero's like the the boy's in H Block back in the 80's.
The hunger strikers themselves are highly replaceable cogs. There’s lots more where they came from. What concerns me is the high level of organization and coordination, and the activist/legal infrastructure.
This just in, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has filed a petition to change its motto from "Public Safety / Public Service" to "Don't Do The Crime -- We Can't Afford The Time"
What concerns me is the high level of organization and coordination, and the activist/legal infrastructure.
Reminds me of the current administration of Community Activists.
lets:
release them...
give them each 20,000 dollars cash and a midsize car with no insurance...
send them to mexico...
Where they can pick up a decent assault rifle for next to nothing...
greenberetTFS
07-08-2011, 05:21
F**k them,they don't want to eat,tough s**t.........We'll save on food,and when they get around to accepting food,and don't worry they eventually will,give them less and see how well they like it.........Wait till they realize no more free medical,dental and room and board with 128 channels of TV,weight building eqpt,etc........Plus sitting on their ass's most of the day............God help California when they hit the sreets..........:rolleyes::eek::p
Big Teddy :munchin