Brown asks for delay in inmate cap

September 17, 2013

Hoping to rehabilitate rather than just move inmates to out-of-state prison systems, Gov. Jerry Brown Monday asked federal judges to allow a three-year delay to the prisoner population cap that was ordered in 2010. (Los Angeles Times)

In a late-night court filing, Brown’s lawyers said state officials will move more than 2,500 prisoners from state lockups and into private and local facilities.

As part of the plan, Brown would set aside $150 million for drug abuse treatment and other rehabilitation efforts. His new plan reflects compromise between his administration and warring lawmakers.

“For prison population reduction measures to be effective and lasting, they cannot be unilaterally imposed,” the governor’s lawyers said in a late-night filing, arguing that “state prisons are just one part of the larger, interconnected criminal justice system.”

Should federal justices decline the offer, the state will propose spending $315 million to move as many as 7,500 prisoners to other facilities, some as far away as Mississippi.

Judges have shown impatience with the slow pace Brown’s administration has maintained to comply with their order.