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 COURT FINDS BOARD OF PAROLE HEARINGS STILL NEEDS TO WORK TO REDUCE BACKLOG OF LIFE PRISONER PAROLE HEARINGS August 20, 2001 -- The Marin County Superior Court issued an Order denying the Board of Parole Hearing's request to dismiss a case brought to remedy a backlog of life prisoner parole hearings (In re Lugo, formerly In re Rutherford). The Court found that although the Board had agreed to eliminate the backlog by September 2007, the Board has never made good on that promise. Indeed, during the 13 months prior to May 2010, the Board did not come close to meeting its goal of having not more than a 5 percent backlog of hearings. PRISON LAW OFFICE ISSUES DEMAND ASKING THAT THE CDCR CEASE PRACTICE OF RACIALLY DISCRIMINATORY LOCKDOWNS IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS. July 14, 2010 -- California prisons violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by imposing lockdowns on groups of prisoners based solely on race. They impose these lockdowns without conducting individualized security risk assessments for the prisoners they lock down. The Prison Law Office has asked the CDCR to cease this practice. Read demand letter here. Read copy of press release here. PRISON LAW OFFICE DIRECTOR PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA'S PRISONS May 4, 2010 -- Prison Law Office Director Donald Specter has authored a law journal article describing the current state of California's prisons. Read the article: D. Specter, Everything Revolves Around Overcrowding: The State of California's Prisons , Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 22, No. 3 (2010). APPEALS COURT CONFIRMS FEDERAL RECEIVER'S AUTHORITY TO REFORM CALIFORNIA'S PRISON HEALTH CARE SYSTEM April 30, 2010 -- In a decision filed in Plata v. Schwarzenegger, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected California's attempt to end judicial control of its prison health care system. The state had argued that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (the PLRA) prohibited the federal district court from appointing a Receiver with extensive power to reform unconstitutional prison health care condictions. Read the Ninth Circuit opinion. NEW JAIL AND PRISON CREDIT LAWS TAKE EFFECT February 2, 2010 -- Effective January 25, 2010, several new laws took effect which will grant additional sentence credits to jail inmates and state prisoners. Detailed information about the new laws is available in an information letter on New Sentence Credit Laws (updated 4/2/10). FEDERAL THREE-JUDGE COURT ORDERS CALIFORNIA TO REDUCE PRISON OVERCROWDING, BUT STAYS THE EFFECT OF THE ORDER WHILE U.S. SUPREME COURT APPEAL IS PENDING. July 26, 2010 -- There continue to be new developments in the efforts to reduce the severe overcrowding in California's state prisons. On January 12, 2010, a federal three-judge court issued an Order that would require California to reduce its prison overcrowding to 137.5 percent of design capacity, in accord with a plan submitted by the state on November 12, 2009. (Currently the prisons house over 160,000 prisoners, which is nearly twice as many as the facilities are designed to hold.) However, the federal three-judge court stayed the population reduction order, meaning that it will not take effect, until the U.S. Supreme Court decides an appeal that the State will be filing in the case. Briefing is in progress. However, the United States Supreme Court is not expected to decide the appeal before early 2011. We will update this information when there are further major developments on this issue. The recent population reduction order is the result of lengthy litigation. The matter was initiated when federal judges who oversee California's prison medical and mental health care systems ordered that a three-judge court be convened to consider placing limits on California's prison population. The orders were issued after the judges concluded that California prisons are unable to provide constitutionally-adequate medical care (Plata) and mental health care (Coleman) due in part to severe overcrowding. View the Plata v. Schwarzenegger Order and the Coleman v. Schwarzenegger Order. A trial in front of a federal three-judge court began on November 18, 2008. On August 4, 2009, the three judges found that overcrowding is the primary cause of unconstitutional conditions in California's prisons, such as the system's inability to provide competent and timely health care for prisoners. The judges also found compelling evidence that reducing the prison population is the only way to address the problems. The judges issued a 184-page order for the state to come up with a plan to reduce the prison population by up to 40,000, to 137.5% of the system's design capacity within two years. On September 18, 2009, the State filed a population reduction plan. The three-judge court rejected that plan because it failed to make the necessary reductions. On November 12, 2009, the State submitted a revised plan. Included in the state's plan are changes adopted by recently-passed legislation, "SB xxx18," which takes effect in January 2010. The plan calls for increasing the prison system's capacity in various ways, diverting some felons to county jails or home detention, reducing revocations of probation and parole, and granting some prisoners additional sentence credits. The State's plan and SB xxx18 are both summarized in our information letter (updated July 26, 2010).
For more detailed background information on the Plata and Coleman cases, visit our Major Cases page.
SACRAMENTO COUNTY SETTLES CASE TO IMPROVE JUVENILE DETENTION CONDITIONS December 2009 -- Sacramento County officials have signed two agreements to settle a lawsuit demanding that they remedy inhumane conditions in the county's juvenile halls. The agreements provide a blueprint for transforming juvenile detention from a punitive environment to one where the focus is on protection and rehabilition. Pursuant to one Consent Decree, the Probation Department will make various changes including putting reasonable limits on the population levels in its facilities and adopting policies to end the illegal use of excessive force. In a separate Settlement, the Office of Education agreed to make improvements in the juvenile halls' education programs. A Sacramento Bee article discusses the lawsuit and settlement with the Probation Department. The lawsuit against Sacramento County was initiated in a Complaint filed on August 28, 2006. A Third Amended Complaint was filed in the case on September 1, 2007. The suit is part of a large-scale effort to improve conditions in California's juvenile halls. REPORTS ON REFORMING CALIFORNIA'S JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
July 28, 2010 -- The Special Master in the Farrell v. Cate case has released the Fifteenth Quarterly Report, with appendices A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Farrell is a lawsuit brought to remedy abysmal conditions in the California Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the state's lock-up units for young offenders. For more information on the case, or to review prior expert and special master reports, please visit the Major Cases page. FEDERAL COURT DENIES THE STATE'S MOTION TO TERMINATE MEDICAL CARE RECEIVERSHIP AND STOP CONSTRUCTION OF PRISON MEDICAL FACILITIES March 24, 2009 -- The federal judge overseeing the Plata v. Schwarzenegger class action case issued an Order denying the State's motion to terminate the appointment of the Receiver who is overseeing efforts to remedy unconstitutional medical care conditions in California's prisons. The judge expressed a lack of confidence that the State would provide constitutionally-adequate medical care or maintain improvements made under the Receiver's supervision. The judge also denied the state's motion to terminate the Receiver's plan to construct improved medical care facilities. For background information about the Plata case, see the Major Cases page. PRISON LAW OFFICE RELEASES REPORT ON REFORM OF CALIFORNIA'S JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM PURSUANT TO SENATE BILL 81. January 6, 2009 -- Senate Bill 81, which became law in August 2007, made sweeping changes to California's juvenile justice system by imposing strict eligibility requirements for commitment to state juvenile facilities and channelling resources into county juvenile systems. A new Report released by the Prison Law Office examines how counties are adapting to the changes, ways in which implementation could be improved and shortcomings in the legislation. PRISON LAW OFFICE SUMMARY OF PROPOSITION 9 (MARSY'S LAW) November 5, 2008 -- Proposition 9, which affects the rights of prisoners and parolees, was was passed by California voters on November 4, 2008 and took effect on November 5, 2008. For more information about Proposition 9, please review the Prison Law Office's Proposition 9 Information Letter (updated 11/09). NEW EDITION OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE PRISONERS HANDBOOK AVAILABLE NOW! July 18, 2008 -- A new version of The California State Prisoners Handbook (4th ed. 2008) is ready for distribution. This 1,100-page volume discusses in plain language the case law, statutes and regulations governing a wide variety of legal topics of interest to California prisoners and their advocates. It also includes numerous sample forms, model pleadings and resources lists. In the Fourth Edition, the text has been fully updated and many parts of the book have been expanded or revised. Here is the order form that you can use to purchase the book. SAN JOAQUIN JUVENILE HALL AGREES TO REFORMS June 19, 2008 -- Officials responsible for San Joaquin County's juvenile hall have agreed to make numerous improvements in conditions to ensure the safety and humane treatment of wards housed in that facility. The agreement is set forth in a Consent Decree filed in a taxpayer lawsuit brought as part of a statewide effort to address serious problems in the juvenile halls. Learn more about the case from this Press Release. You can also read the original Complaint in the lawsuit, which was filed on April 25, 2006.
STATE PRISONS ORDERED TO IMPROVE DENTAL TREATMENT September 8, 2006 -- An Amended Stipulation and Order filed in the class action lawsuit Perez v. Tilton on August 21, 2006 requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide adequate dental care for state prisoners. Pursuant to this federal court order, the CDCR must implement new procedures and policies to ensure that prisoners receive competent and timely dental treatment. Compliance will be monitored by the prisoners' attorneys and their consultants, as well as independent court-appointed experts. NEW LAWSUITS FILED TO END INHUMANE AND ILLEGAL CONDITIONS IN COUNTY JUVENILE HALLS September 5, 2006 -- A statewide drive to end illegal and inhumane conditions in California county juvenile halls started with the filing of a Complaint in San Francisco County Superior Court on April 19, 2006. The lawsuit seeks court orders requiring the state authority responsible for being a watchdog over juvenile halls -- the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) -- to fulfill its duties and take action to correct intolerable conditions. Such conditions include severe overcrowding, lack of access to school programs, endemic violence, excessive use of force by staff, and virtually non-existent mental health care. You will need Acrobat Reader to view some of these documents. |
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