Politics & Government

San Diego DA Backs Gov. Browns Prison Overcrowding Plan

The governor's proposed plan to ease overcrowding at prisons while avoiding too many early releases has been met with approval by many.

San Diego’s District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis released a statement in support of Governor Jerry Brown’s legislative plan to meet the court-ordered state prison benchmarks designed to ease prison overcrowding.

“The San Diego County DA’s Office joins our colleagues across the state who believe this blueprint complies with the federal judicial mandates, without releasing inmates early. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to protect public safety and keep our neighborhoods safe while long-term strategies to address prison overcrowding and prisoner realignment are developed.”

In 2009 a ruling by a panel of three appellate court judges’ set a specific cap on the inmate population that required the state to either find new homes for some 10,000 prisoners or let them go, according to a Reuters News Service report.

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Brown has proposed a $315 million plan to lease space from county jails and other facilities. According to Reuters, Republican leaders joined Brown as he announced the bill. Supporters say the proposal will reduce California's prisons to 137.5 percent of capacity, as required by the court, and avoid the controversial early release of thousands of inmates, Reuters wrote.

You can read the entire Reuters report online.

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-- Patch Staff


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