Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Supreme Court Rules California Must Release 46K Prisoners
Photo by Tim Pearce, Los Gatos via Flickr
()
California can stall no more, says the Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 ruling that affirms the state's proposed prisoner release plan is among the actions needed to address the system's overcrowding, according to the Sacramento Bee. The court believes that conditions in California prisons reflect "serious constitutional violations," which must be tended to expediently.
Those violations represent what the court hails as "cruel and unusual punishment." Among the troubled conditions cited were the prison system's medical and mental health care, as well as they physical overcrowding.
As part of the ruling, California must release 46,000 prisoners over a period of two years, which was the plan crafted by a prior three-judge panel, and which was the plan today's Supreme Court ruling upheld. State officials have been scrambling for a solution in the interim, asking for more time to find alternatives to a release. Notes the Sacramento Bee, "Alternatives include transferring some to other jurisdictions, diverting nonviolent inmates to jails and reforming parole so that fewer violators are returned to prison."
Justice Antonin Scalia, in his dissenting opinion, called the ruling affirming the planned inmate release 'perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history." Notes Justice Samuel Alito in his dissenting opinion: "I fear that today's decision, like prior prisoner release orders, will lead to a grim roster of victims." Alito's concerns today echo concerns from 2010, when then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass pitched an early-release program aimed at saving the state $1 billion.
Support for LAist comes from
The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, is viewable via the LA Times.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist