Prison Overcrowding Left To Feds

Sacramento, CA — Governor Jerry Brown’s administration and inmate’s attorneys have failed to reach an agreement on the most efficient way to reduce overcrowding in California prisons. That has left the decision on whether to extend an April 18th deadline to meet the population cap up to a panel of three federal judges.

The panel will have 30 days to decide whether to grant the state an extension to meeting the nearly 10,000-inmate reduction cap ordered by the court. The California prison population has been reduced by 6,000 but a dispute remains on how to reduce it by another 4,000 inmates by April 18th.

The judges ruled that both parties will have until January 23rd to file their arguments for granting the extension. Then they will have until January 28th to file rebuttals.