Prison Litigation Reform Act Case Analysis

One of the most recent significant changes to California corrections is the passing of Assembly Bill 109 (AB 109) by Governor Jerry Brown in April of 2011. The realignment is a program that was created as a result of overcrowding in state prisons, and it served to redirect non-violent offenders to county jails and put them under the supervision of county probation officers instead of sending them to state prisons. It “…shifted responsibility for people convicted of certain non-serious, nonviolent or non-sex felony offenses from state prisons and parole, to county jails and probation…” as an alternative (CalRealignment.ORG). AB 109 was primarily the result of a U.S. Supreme Court upholding a lower court’s ruling in Brown V. Plata. The court mandated California to reduce state prison overcrowding because the conditions in these prisons were so bad. The conditions were so terrible, especially when it came to certain

Over the past years, it have been obvious, that jailhouse lawyers have increased the number of lawsuits filed by prisoners. In the year of 1980, prisoners filed 12,395 petitions of civil rights claims and in the year of 2000, prisoners filed 24,463 petitions of civil rights claims, in the Federal Courts, by State prisoners.(Mays & Winfree Jr, 2005, pp.304). Jailhouse lawyers have helped inmates file these petitions against the Federal Courts, in the favor of other inmates challenging their conditions of confinement. The conditions of their confinement seems to be, prisoners way for wanting to receive a sentence reduction, sometimes, a release from prison. On the other hand, prisoners tend to use jailhouse lawyers to file petitions that

As of 2015, 2.7% of adults in the United States were under correctional control, the lowest rate since 1994, however that is still roughly 6.7 million adults (Kaeble & Glaze, 2016). While the correctional population has declined, correctional facilities in the United States are still grossly overcrowded, with many facilities at or surpassing capacity. A report in 2010 by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation showed that on average, facilities were at 175% capacity (Brown, 2010). However, as of midnight on October 31st, 2017 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported that their facilities, on average, were 132% occupied (Brown, 2017). Not only is prison overcrowding a burden on the facilities themselves, but also on the inmates. Prison overcrowding, that is, housing more inmates than the facility can humanely facilitate (Haney, 2006), places a strain on all resources throughout the correctional facility, including on the healthcare that’s offered, educational programs, and most dramatically on the physical space available to house inmates (Ekland-Olson, 1983).

County jails are not equipped to “manage the influx of more prisoners, and for longer periods of time, as well as provide ‘evidence-based’ rehabilitative programs,” which has serious implications for confinement conditions and for the overall success or failure of Realignment (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 47). Even before the Realignment Act, California jails were struggling with “crowding, court-ordered ordered caps on their populations, antiquated facilities and few programs” (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 48). Counties are limited in their ability to address these concerns because of county-level budget cuts.

addressed the violation of inmates rights to adequate health care. Believe it or not, "prison

The U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged the growing distress, deeming California’s state prisons unconstitutionally crowded. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled out that California’s 33 state prisons have become too overcrowded to the point where there are no sufficient medical and mental health care available (Realignment AB 109, 2013). The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the 33 state prisons are violating constitutional exclusions, under the Eighth Amendment, against unfamiliar punishment and brutality, says the American Legislative Exchange Council, an American organization producing model policies for state legislators (ALEC, 2010).

In 2011, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Assembly Bill (AB) 109 into law. The purpose of this historic legislation, was to enable California to finally close the revolving door policy for lower-level convicted felons coming in and out of the state’s 33 prisons. AB 109 was also the key piece of legislation for California’s solution to abide by a federal court order. The order mandated the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to reduce the amount of inmates in the state’s prisons system to 137.5 percent of capacity by 2013 (Caudill 2015).

In the 2011 case of Brown v. Plata Judge Kennedy stated that the prisons in California were beyond overcrowded which lead to lack of proper medical and mental health care, which violated the cruel and unusual clause of the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Brown v. Plata, 2011, 1). It stated that California prisons were built to house approximately 80,000 inmates but by the times it went to the Supreme Court it had nearly doubled the original number (Newman and Scott, 2012, 548). It also stated that a prison which deprives prisoners of adequate medical care is an inadequate living facility for any human (Brown v. Plata, 2011, 13). Failure to comply with adequate medical services would cause inmates physical torment which in return would violate the cruel and unusual punishment clause (Newman and Scott, 2012, 549). As a result of overcrowding and lack of proper mental and medical health care the State of California was ordered to reduce their prison population by one-third by May 2013 (Owen and Mobley, 2012, 47).

Since 1984, the California Penal System has been forced to undergo drastic changes resulting from increased legislation aimed at increasing the severity of retribution to offenders leading to an exponentially increasing prison population. In the 132 years between 1852 and 1984, the state of California built twelve prisons, but has since supplemented the prison system with 21 new facilities. In 1977, the California Department of Corrections was responsible for 19,600 inmates. California’s inmate population now stands at 160,655, an increase of close to 800%.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the

The United States Supreme Court ruled that prison overcrowding in California was equivalent to cruel and unusual punishment. This decision recharged a long-standing disagreement among scholars and politicians as to whether or not courts should intervene to protect make changes. Some believe this is a matter or the well-being of those unable to make decisions for themselves. Others believe this is not a top priority and by forcing states to improve state institutions, the already costly industry will have cost increase. The journal also discusses the economic effects reform has had. Concluding that they have made positive changes at a slightly higher expense. The changes made by the state made the facilities closer to “humane” by court standards. (7)

less than one year ago Governor Jerry Brown signed a package of legislative bills that will be used as a means to help the California correctional department. The faculty within his offices have described this as a legislative push used to lower recidivism through rehabilitation in both the adult and juvenile systems of corrections. According to Governor Jerry Brown, one of the biggest issues that the state of California has struggled with for years is the harsh prison sentences that have driven high cost and increased recidivism. One of the primary focuses of this bill is to lower the prison sentences for convicted offenders. Two other bills that were recently signed will be used to provide an earlier parole for both young and elderly prisoners.

Have you been in so much pain that you were immobilized and physically unable to work yet denied any medical treatment? This happens to be the story of G.W. Gamble, a prison inmate injured while serving his prison sentence. In 1973 Gamble was unloading cotton bales from a truck in accordance with his prison labor assignment. During a routine shipment unloading, a “6.00 pound” cotton Bale (later determined to be 600 pounds, fell onto him, causing him to severely injured his back. Gamble struggled with pain for weeks continuously, visiting the doctor at every chance and receiving painkillers at every visit. The pain came to a point where it was too much for Gamble to handle and thus he refused to work even after threats were given. After he continued to refuse, officials placed him in a solitary work confinement cell and denied him any further medical visits, treatments, or medication until he began work again (Legal Information Institute). The 8th amendment states in the U.S. Constitution “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (National Constitution Center), and in Gamble 's eyes the actions taken by the prison officers were in direct violation of his 8th amendment. This led gamble to writing a letter to the Supreme Court of the United States and was accepted for review, thus marking the beginning of case 429 U.S. 97 (1976) Estelle v. Gamble, (Estelle being the Director of Texas Department of

Prisons and jails remain skeptical of the differences revealed between stabilizing the constitutional rights of prisoners and the function of the actual facility. Constitutional rights kept by inmates must be balanced against security concerns of the prison. However, these constitutional rights can be disregarded for security purposes if the situation presents itself. The Supreme Court developed a test consisting of four questions to indorse the constitutional rights of inmates and the valid needs of prison administrators. (Collins, 2007) This test is known as The Turner Test.

Although inmates may not have full Constitutional rights while incarcerated, they are entitled to basic human rights, freedom and dignity. U.S. penal systems have been reformed at the beginning of the 1960’s. The reason for this reformation is to prevent inhumane treatment, provide inmates with religious freedom, and due process (Smith, 2010). The U.S. Supreme Court