California plans to release prisoners to reduce overcrowding...
Calif. to release 76,000 inmates early to cut prison population
OT: this does not apply to Krah as he has not been tried or sentenced due to his lawyer’s requested delays.
CA is under court order to lower its prison population which is at 151% of maximum capacity, they appealed all the way to SCOTUS who upheld the order.
This expansion of release for “good time credit” was the result of Proposition 57, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, approved by a majority of California voters 5 years ago.
The US has the highest prison rate in the world at 724 per 100,000, #2 is Russia at 581 per 100,000. For perspective, at 145 per 100,000, the imprisonment rate of England and Wales is at about the midpoint worldwide, China 118 per 100,000.
Criminal justice responses to the coronavirus pandemic
The spread of Covid in prisons caused states,
nationwide, to change policy to release prisoners earlier, including some states continuing reconsideration of “3 strikes”, that gave people like Leandro Andrade, an Army vet and father of 3, life (with a possibility of parole at 87 years old) in a CA prison, for stealing 5 children’s video tapes, his case went before SCOTUS and they upheld CA’s life imprisonment of Andrade for the petty theft charge as not cruel or unusual punishment.
Cases Show Disparity Of California's 3 Strikes Law
From the link to NBC embedded in your link to the OANN article:
“The new rules take effect Saturday but it will be months or years before any inmates go free earlier.”
“Under the change, more than 10,000 prisoners convicted of a second serious but nonviolent offense under the state's “three strikes” law will be eligible for release after serving half their sentences.“
“The same increased release time will apply to nearly 2,900 nonviolent third strikers, the corrections department projected.”
“Also as of Saturday, all minimum-security inmates in work camps, including those in firefighting camps, will be eligible for the same month of earlier release for every month they spend in the camp, regardless of the severity of their crime.“
“The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which will lead to safer prisons,” department spokeswoman Dana Simas said in a statement.“
“California has been under court orders to reduce a prison population that peaked at 160,000 in 2006 and saw inmates being housed in gymnasiums and activity rooms. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court backed federal judges’ requirement that the state reduce overcrowding.“
“The population has been declining since the high court's decision, starting when the state began keeping lower-level felons in county jails instead of state prisons. In 2014, voters reduced penalties for property and drug crimes. Two years later, voters approved allowing earlier parole for most inmates.”
