The California s Prison System - 990 Words

California’s prison system is facing a number of infrastructure changes as a result of a judicial decision that came down from the United States Supreme Court, Governor of California et al v. Plata et al. California’s prison system was deemed inadequate and dangerous due to severe overcrowding which led to â€Å"needless suffering and death† (Rogan, 2012, 262). The court ruled that the State must reduce the number of inmates in California’s thirty-three state prisons. This ruling came about after two class-action lawsuits were filed, Coleman v. Wilson in 1990 and Plata v. Davis in 2001 (Rogan, 2012, 261). These lawsuits were filed by inmates that claimed they received poor medical and mental health care within the State’s prison health care system (Vicini, 2011,1). The evidence presented in these cases showed several shortcomings in California s prison health care system (Rogan, 2012, 264). These shortfalls were a result of severe overcrowding within California’s thirty-three state prisons. At its peak in 2006, California’s prisons were filled with approximately 172,000 inmates. However, these prisons were designed to hold about 80,000 individuals (Vicini, 2011, 3). At that point, State prisons were filled at 215% over capacity. Because of overcrowding, prison inmates faced chronic and severe shortages in basic medical and mental health care services (Vicini, 2011, 1). Despite attempts by the CDCR and the legislature to reduce the prison population between 2006 and 2011, theShow MoreRelatedPrison Overcrowding And California s Correctional System1651 Words   |  7 PagesPrison overcrowding has caused many complications to California’s Correctional System. To resolve this issue, â€Å"[o]n April 5, 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 109, the ‘2011 Realignment Legislation Addressing Public Safety’†¦, whichâ₠¬ ¦ shifted responsibility from the state to the counties for tens of thousands of offenders,† (Abarbanel et al., 2013, 1). This law was put in action was because of overcrowding in state prison and it was affecting a variety of crucial programs thatRead MoreSecurity Threat Groups/Gangs in Prisons Essay1480 Words   |  6 PagesHead: SECURITY THREAT GROUPS/GANGS IN PRISONS Security Threat Groups/Gangs in Prisons Nicole Sage Kaplan University CJ130-03 Nancy Thode January 18, 2011 Security Threat Groups/Gangs in Prisons In our prison systems today, many different gangs pose a threat to our correctional staff and other inmates. In the United States, gangs exist in forty of the fifty states. These gangs bring violence, drug trafficking and racial unrest to our correctional system. The Aryan Brotherhood was formedRead MoreFinancial Contingency Planning1732 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ Financial Contingency Planning: Sources of Funding AJS/522 May 12 2014 Adam Eaton Financial Contingency Planning: Sources of Funding California has the largest prison population in the United States and some countries around the world. For over 40 years, the incarceration levels have risen. The prison rates have risen 700 percent since 1970, today it is estimated that one in 100 adults are incarcerated. Who pays the bill for this large increase, tax payers have and will continueRead MoreThe Problem Of Prison Overcrowding998 Words   |  4 PagesPrison overcrowding has been seen as an issue since the early 1990’s in California. It all began when California began to aggressively increased sentencing in the late 1980’s and 1990’s in response to a nationwide fear about crime rates. During this time period California â€Å"enacted more than 1,000 laws that increased sentencing in a five-year span to settle these fears† (Fuchs). The effect of these laws resulted in a high prison population when California prisons reached a number of 173,000 by 2007Read MoreHow The Cuts Should Be Legal1713 Words   |  7 Pages Kristie Cass Political Science 10 December , 2014 Make The Cut Reduce Spending in California s prison system . When we as state are spending more to house a single convicted felon for a year than we are spending to educate one student per year it clearly is time to reevaluate the budget . It is time to make cuts that not only will save taxpayersRead MoreThe Problem Of Prison Overcrowding1572 Words   |  7 Pagessociety to stir up continue to expand every day. Some of these issues include the educational system, healthcare laws, unemployment and economic situations, not to mention the ongoing water drought crisis†¦all of which are major dilemmas in California. One major dilemma, however, is often ignored. Over the past 30 odd years, California’s prison population has grown by 750 percent (â€Å"California’s Perpetuating Prison Crisis†). As this percentage perpetuates to make substantial gains, inmates are sufferingRead MoreIncarceration Of Americ The United States1487 Words   |  6 PagesIncarceration in America The United States has the largest prison population in the world. The U.S.’s path to our over population has been decades in the making. â€Å"The United States makes up about 4 percent of the world’s population, and it accounts for 22 percent of the world’s prison population.† (Lopez). Prison over population is a growing concern within our society creating and contributing factors include longer sentences, rising costs, prison gangs, rapes, racism and mental health issues. As theRead MoreThe Treatment Of The Mentally Ill1581 Words   |  7 Pagesin a prison cell to be forgotten. Despite the success of Dorothea Dix in solving the problems with adverse conditions in the prison system, we have come full circle and are currently back where we started over a century ago. There has been so much focus put on housing the mentally ill, we have all but forgotten about any type of treatment plans to help the overall growing problem. The handling of the mentally ill in the prison system was on a collision course with the Court. Most of the prison systemsRead More235764916 CJA 394 Week 1 Criminal Justice Overview Paper SAMPLE page only1665 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ Select one of the following issues: †¢ Racial profiling †¢ Prison overcrowding †¢ The war on drugs †¢ Increased use of technology †¢ Cultural diversity Write a 1,050- to 1,705-word paper addressing how your selected issue affects the criminal justice system as a whole. †¢ Describe some of the change(s) the criminal justice system as a whole has made in response to the issue you selected. †¢ Include your opinion on whether the changes are sufficient. Should more changes be made, and if so, what changesRead MoreSecurity Threat Groups And Prison Gangs1665 Words   |  7 PagesSecurity threat groups and prison gangs are responsible for a lot of the crimes that occur in prison. Well-organized and highly structured prison gangs who have leaders and influences have been around decades. Gangs in prison can be described as groups whose activities pose a real threat to the safety of the institutional staff and other inmates and also to security of the correctional institution (Beth, 1991). These gangs always have strong leaders and use that leadership role to their advantage