Supreme Court orders California to free 40,000 prisoners

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, May 23rd, 2011 -- 4:49 pm

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court ordered California Monday to free thousands of prison inmates, saying chronic overcrowding violated inmates' rights -- but one judge warned the ruling was "outrageous."
In a narrow 5-4 majority ruling upholding a lower court decision, the top US court said the release is the only way to address the constitutional violation of cruel and unusual punishment.
"This case arises from serious constitutional violations in California's prison system. The violations have persisted for years. They remain uncorrected," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in a majority opinion.
Cash-strapped California has for some years had a problem with prison overcrowding: the western US state has some 148,000 inmates housed in 33 jails designed for some 80,000 people, according to its own figures.
In a sign of tensions in Calilfornia's jails, another riot was reported Monday, the second in only a few days: four inmates were injured when nearly 200 prisoners rioted Sunday at San Quentin jail, north of San Francisco.
There was no immediate reaction to the ruling from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Kennedy said that although the state has reduced the population by at least 9,000 during the appeal process, the decision "means a further reduction of 37,000 persons could be required."

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Suggestion - Stop incarcerating people for victimless crimes. Stop violating the constitutional rights of the people. Those two things would greatly reduce the future prison population.