California Prisons To Fall Short Of Court Mandate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California prison officials project they will fall short of meeting the initial goal established in a federal court order to reduce the state's inmate population.

In a court filing Tuesday, the corrections department said it expects to reduce the population by 9,200 inmates in time for the Dec. 27 deadline, about 800 short of the court mandate.

Prison officials say they expect to meet the second deadline by removing 20,000 inmates by next June. They have until June 2013 to lower the population by about 33,000 inmates, or 23 percent of the current 144,000 prisoners.

They plan to do so primarily by transferring lower-level offenders to county jails.

The federal court ordered the reduction to improve medical care for inmates. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision earlier this year.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)