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California prisons rocked by problems
by greg1usa
Chino Mayor Dennis Yates said the dilapidated prison dormitory where Friday's fight between inmates took place was built to house 60 men but holds nearly 200.
"It's a ticking bomb down there," he said.
The California Correctional Institution, where Thursday's attack on the guards took place, has been expanded to hold about 2,800 inmates. It currently has about 4,700 inmates but held about 5,500 just a few weeks ago.
Assaults on inmates and staff increased statewide, along with the size of the prison population, from 6,225 in 1997 to 9,090 in 2006, corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. At the same time, the number involving weapons declined from 2,123 to 1,869.
Source Las Cruces Sun and News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A stabbing attack this week on four guards at one overcrowded state prison and a racially sparked brawl at another mark the type of violence that guards, inmates' attorneys and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been worried about for years.
The violence comes at a critical juncture for the nation's largest state prison system.
Later this year, a panel of federal judges will consider whether the crowding has become so severe that the state must cap the inmate population or release some prisoners early.
At the same time, lawmakers are considering a Schwarzenegger proposal to save money for the deficit-ridden state by releasing more than 20,000 inmates before their sentences end.
"For the last two years, we've said something worse than this was inevitable," said Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, referring to this week's prison unrest. "It's just a matter of where and when it's going to hit. In our view, it's a precursor of what's to come."
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Angry Wife (not verified)at 21:12 on July 20th, 2008
I have a loved one currently at CCI Tehachapi serving a 4-year sentence at half time for a non-violent crime. If this law had passed, he would have been elidgeable for release. Instead he is taking up tax dollars to sit in an institution which is at 197.7% capacity, which supposedly responsible for an attack made on a guard by over-crowded inmates in April of this year. He could be paying his debt to society, as well as the restitution, through some type of productive labor. I don't understand how Schwartzzenegger can say that the number of prisoners is coming down!