TorilMUD Forums

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24scotus.html

Interesting case. Does the Supreme court function to resolve problems or to determine matters of the law? Is it capable of doing either?

Btw, the language used in the title of the article and in my thread subject can be misleading. The order is to reduce the prison population to 137.5% of capacity. This can also be interpreted as adding capacity to the prison system.

It is an interesting question... I'm not sure I like the court getting involved here, but I think its at least within the realm of reasonability... but i could be wrong.

Fact is, california has for numberous years ignored the conditions of their prisons... failed to significantly increase capacity or fund the system better. We place these individuals in state custody and do have an obligation to treat them humanely...

I dont know whether i agree with the standard of humane, but if you do find the standards inhumane, and california has failed to address the issue year after year... then the only remedy left is probably to order them to release prisoners (or order them to raise taxes and transfer more money to the prison system). Doesn't mean they can't rearrest them when they have capacity again... but they have to be released because the state is incapable of taking care of them. Its like the opposite of CPS!

Still it is ... an unprecedented use of judicial power in terms of scale.

Personally, I think it's inhumane when prisons reach 150% capacity, or really, any number above 100% for a sustained period of time.

Perhaps California could consult Joe Arpaio about how to run their prison systems on a shoestring budget. Although, I get the feeling California has already mastered fuzzy bookkeeping.

Joe's prison may yet be found to be inhumane. I don't know, being out in 120 degree weather even with shade... doesn't seem very humane to me. We don't have to keep it 68 degrees airconditioning... but more than 100 certainly doesn't seem very humane.

Hah, Joe's prison is definitely inhumane. But so was my un-airconditioned dorm in Texas during most of the year. I remember sleeping on the sidewalk outside with half the other students because the 104 degree heat during the night was cooler than the 110 degree residual heat inside the building.

It was livable. But a few swamp coolers and rooms for those having trouble with the heat was perfectly fine for maintaining humane conditions. The Maricopa county jail does have an air conditioned structure and I don't think that a significant number of prisoners have died there (in comparison to more expensive jails elsewhere).

Honestly, my solution for California would be a tent city somewhere not in a desert. I'm sure they have enough small-time, non-violent offenders to stick in surplus tents and wear pink underwear.

The problem is the state has taken custody of these people. If we allow the state to treat people inhumanely... what prevents them from treating the next group of people inhumantely?

I would rather see us take away their citzenship and deport them to a friendly country... say give South Africa 100k per head and drop them off. They can reapply for citzenship after their sentence is up! Course they won't get accepted, but they can reapply.

lol you know i could almost agree to that, maybe turn africa into another prison colony. Personally when you attempt to take away someone rights (i.e. the victims of the crime) I am more than okay with you losing some civil liberties.

Some constitutional hurdles in stripping people of citizenship and extraditing them to the highest bidder. But I have to say that in theory I think it's an excellent idea. :)

So do the Australians!

Australia 2.0

i was gonna suggest australia, but i want to go there some day, ship em to africa, i dont want those criminals stealing my wallet while im scuba diving on the great barrier! On second thought i might just try to get deported if australia was the prison island!

LOL, but getting your citizenship back might be a bitch.

meh if im livling in australia i might be okay with that :)

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/ ... pe=article

Time to buy my ticket to China!

Makes me think some of you nutsacks with 15 level 50 chars are really Chinese prison guards.

Corth wrote:Makes me think some of you nutsacks with 15 level 50 chars are really Chinese prison guards.

LOl!