Supreme Court To Consider Overcrowding In California Prisons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appears ready to endorse an order calling on California to move thousands of inmates out of its overcrowded prisons so that those who remain get adequate health care.

KNX 1070's Jon Baird Reports

The justices heard an extended argument Tuesday in a case over long-standing violations of constitutional rights in a state prison system that last year averaged nearly a death a week that might have been prevented or delayed with better medical care.

The state's 33 adult prisons hold more than 144,000 inmates. The facilities were designed to hold about 80,000.

A federal court has ordered the population cut to around 110,000 inmates within two years, but the state calls the reduction too much, too soon.

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In:
• Prison
• California
• Health Care