California told to ease prison strain

WASHINGTON – A closely divided Supreme Court on Monday cited “serious constitutional violations” in California’s overcrowded prisons and ordered the state to abide by aggressive plans to fix the problem.

In a decision closely watched by other states, the court concluded by 5-4 that the prison overcrowding violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Pointedly, the court rejected California’s bid for more time and leeway.

“The violations have persisted for years,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. “They remain uncorrected.”

The court agreed that a prisoner-release plan devised by a three-judge panel is necessary to alleviate the overcrowding. The court also upheld the two-year deadline imposed by the panel.

“For years, the medical and mental health care provided by California’s prisons has fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements and has failed to meet prisoners’ basic health needs,” Kennedy wrote.

Driving the point home, the court’s majority made the highly unusual if not unprecedented move of illustrating the decision with stark black-and-white photographs of a jam-packed room at one state prison and cages at another.

The court cited, as well, particularly vivid examples of what has happened to inmates as a result of the overcrowding.

“A psychiatric expert reported observing an inmate who had been held in … a cage for nearly 24 hours, standing in a pool of his own urine, unresponsive and nearly catatonic,” Kennedy recounted in one of several similar examples.

Reducing overcrowding doesn’t necessarily mean that thousands of inmates will be let loose. Alternatives include transferring some to other jurisdictions, diverting nonviolent inmates to jails and reforming parole so that fewer violators are returned to prison.

“I will take all steps necessary to protect public safety,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement, adding that “full and constitutionally guaranteed funding” now must be secured to solve the prison problem.

Last month, Brown signed a bill that would shift to counties the responsibility for incarcerating many low-risk inmates.

Up to 30,000 state prison inmates could be transferred to county jails over three years, under the bill.

First, however, state officials must agree on a way to pay for it.

The decision Monday capped a legal battle that began in 1990, when the first of several lawsuits was filed challenging the treatment of mentally ill inmates.

A subsequent suit challenged the treatment of patients with other medical conditions; the two cases were combined for purposes of the court’s decision.