It was 1981 and then-Gov. Jerry Brown had a problem. California’s 12 prisons were bulging at the seams with more than 28,000 inmates, thanks largely to tougher sentencing laws he signed, and he was told to expect another 20,000 more inmates within a few years. Brown to Launch Major Prison...
California Closes Prison That Trains Firefighters
SACRAMENTO — A decade after prison crowding forced California to realign its criminal justice system, the population in what once was the nation's largest state correctional system has shrunk to the point where officials announced Tuesday they will close one of two inmate firefighter training centers. The California Correctional Center...
Walters: Prison Officials Goofed and People Died
Gov. Gavin Newsom has unilaterally decided to eliminate California’s death penalty for capital crimes even though it remains in the law. Newsom declared a moratorium on executing any of the 700-plus occupants on San Quentin Prison’s death row, saying, “It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a...
Biden Orders End of Federally Run Private Prisons
President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered the Department of Justice to end its reliance on private prisons and acknowledge the central role government has played in implementing discriminatory housing policies. In remarks before signing the order, Biden said the U.S. government needs to change “its whole approach” on the issue...
Out-of-State Inmates May Have Claimed $42M in California Job Benefits, Analysis Shows
More than $40 million in California funding intended to help people left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic probably went to inmates in out-of-state jails and prisons, it was reported Tuesday. The state has acknowledged that its Employment Development Department was bilked out of hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19...
COVID-19 Infections Hit Record High in California Prisons
Inside California’s prisons, coronavirus cases have exploded, reaching 3,861 active cases last week — the highest so far. Yet the state has slowed its early releases of inmates, raising questions about overcrowding as the infections spread through the prisons. Over the summer, jails and prisons released thousands of inmates through...
Cut San Quentin Prison Population by Half, Court Orders
SACRAMENTO — A California appeals court has ordered state corrections officials to cut the population of one of the world's most famous prisons to less than half of its designed capacity, citing officials' “deliberate indifference” to the plight of inmates during the coronavirus pandemic. State prison officials said Wednesday that...
California Aims To Phase Out State-Operated Youth Prisons
SACRAMENTO — After years of fruitless debate, California now is on the verge of phasing out its state-operated juvenile prison system, a move hailed by reform advocates and criticized by counties that would assume responsibility for some of the state's most violent criminal youth. The bill state lawmakers sent to...
Newsom: Shrink Prisons to Help Cut Budget
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to significantly shrink the footprint of California's prison system, partly because of massive budget cuts prompted by the pandemic but also because of philosophy. The revised budget he sent to state lawmakers this week envisions closing two state prisons in the coming years;...
Report: Racial Disparity in Prisons Narrows Across US
SACRAMENTO — Racial disparities have narrowed across the U.S. criminal justice system over 16 years, though black people are still significantly more likely to be behind bars than white people, new federal figures show. Racial gaps broadly declined in local jails, state prisons, and among people on probation and parole,...