Judges Deny Brown’s Request To Delay Release of 9,600 Prisoners

Last week, three federal judges denied Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) request to delay the court-ordered release of 9,600 state prisoners, the Los Angeles Times reports (St. John, Los Angeles Times, 7/3).

Background

In 2006, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ruled that federal oversight of the prison system was needed after determining that an average of one inmate per week died as a result of medical malpractice or neglect.

Shortly after taking office in 2011, Brown implemented a plan to reduce the prison population by shifting many inmates from state prisons to county jails.

In April, a panel of federal judges rejected Brown's request to end a court-mandated prison population cap. The judges ruled that the cap is necessary to address substandard conditions that have resulted in unconstitutionally poor inmate care.

In their ruling, the judges said Brown had provided "no convincing evidence" that prison overcrowding is no longer a problem.

As of April, the prison population was at 150% of capacity, or 9,000 more inmates than the court-ordered cap.

On May 2, Brown filed a proposal to comply with the population cap.

State officials said that they could remove about 7,000 inmates by December under the plan.

Details of Recent Ruling

In June, three federal judges rejected the plan, ordering Brown to release about 9,600 inmates -- or 8% of the inmate population -- by 2014.

The judges said that the state can use any method under its original plan to reduce the inmate population, but they suggested expanding the use of good behavior credits to expedite prisoner releases.

If the state does not comply with the order by the end of the year, officials will have to release inmates based on a list of "low-risk" offenders, according to the judges.

Details of Request for Stay of Ruling

Shortly after the June ruling, the Brown administration filed a request seeking a stay of the federal court-ordered release until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case.

In the request, Brown administration officials said that California will be "irreparably harmed absent a stay" because "the balance of hardships tips sharply in [the state's] favor."

The filing also stated that "public interest weighs heavily in favor of granting the stay" and that the state has "a strong likelihood of success on the merits" (California Healthline, 7/1).

Judges' Comments

In their denial of Brown's request for a stay, the federal judges wrote that California has a "long history of ... noncompliance" with the four-year-old order to reduce the prison population.

"Until now, the state has insisted that it is unable (read unwilling) to comply with the population reduction order," they added.

State Response

State officials said they now will seek a stay of the order from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Deborah Hoffman -- a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- said the state will comply with the court order while "making [a] case to the Supreme Court justices that no further reduction in the prison population is needed" (Los Angeles Times, 7/3).