California to Submit a Plan to Relieve overcrowding with Safety

"SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today will file a comprehensive plan with the federal three judge panel that reforms the prison system over several years and eventually could exceed the panel’s order to bring the operational capacity to 137.5 percent of combined design capacity of the state’s 33 prisons."
See http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/2009_Press_Releases/Sept_18.html

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HOSPITAL CONCERNS: (El Centro Hospitals & CENTINELA prison)

"With 170,000 inmates, California's prison system is the largest in the U.S. and is dangerously overcapacity by about 190%. In February, a federal court demanded that the state reduce that population by 45,000, to 130,000, after finding that the correctional system could not provide adequate medical and mental health care to such a large number of prisoners.

Although the state has appealed that ruling, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday announced a more modest plan in an effort to appease that will reduce the inmate population by 18,212, in part with transfers to other state prisons and private facilities, commuted sentences, and early release of old and sick inmates."

SEE http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/239355/topic/WS_HLM2_LED/Sicker-Older-Inmates-May-Wind-up-on-California-Hospitals-Doorsteps.html