Page 28 - State Prisons News Today

Majority of the country. some implications -- they would be comical if they werent so tragic, like in the state of california going to prison for life because of stealing $3 pair of socks. some states have safety valves. when we look at federal prison population increasing by 800% over the last generation or so, state prisons its even more dramatic. >> i was a federal prosecutor right after these laws got enacted. i loved it. we had all the power. we could charge some guy with three strikes law ...

The state of california tried to solve its own prison overcrowding by passing a bill called ab 109, backed by the governor jerry brown. it called for a realignment of where criminals serve time, low-level offenders and especially parole violators would no longer come to state prisons. they would instead go to county jails but in san jakeem county, they are in order to control the overcrowding. according to the sheriff, the state dumped its problem on the county, and the county is now dumping cri...

Either move them around mof them out of state or move them out and let them go by the end of the year, five months away. heres where it gets uncomfortable and frightening. the law requires convicted sex offenders to go to local instead of state prisons. apparently those prisons are real overcrowded, too. these offenders are arrested for parole violations and often spend about i dont know, 24 hours behind bars before they just end up released again because theres no space. cnns investigative corr...

Low level offenders and especially parole violators would no longer come to state prisons. they would instead go to county jails. but in san joaquin county, a jail is already under a court order to relieve its own overcrowding. according to undersheriff john piccone, the state dumped its problem on the county and the county is now dumpingal cs on the streets. >> so no matter what the state or the governor says are the countys duties in terms of handling these parole violators, you just have no r...

Thats a goat. the court ordered california governor jerry brown to reduce the states prison population by 30,000 people. after partially complying with that order, brown asked the court to block the requirement on the remaining 10,000 prisoners. and today he was rebuffed. the supreme court of the united states refused to let california delay the release of thousands of inmates from state prisons to relieve crowding. its a blow to the states barbaric and seemingly lawless mass incarceration syste...

May soon be heading out of state prisons in california. the supreme court has declined to block a court order that california governor jerry brown set the inmates free by the end of the year. a three-judge panel has found the states prisons are dangerously overcrowded and it says that brown must bring the number of inmates down. he may still appeal that though. >> from behind bars fallen nfl star aaron hernandez is declaring his innocence in writing. in a letter to a fan, the former new england ...

And dominique is live in los angeles with the details. >> not many people are comfortable with this in california, and the state got less than five months to reduce the prison population by the 10,000. californias governor, jerry brown, repeatedly warned that more releases could set more felons free, and then the court refused to grant the states reprieve based on the progress being made on prison overcrowding, and the ones that we have left in state prisons here are the most severe and most vie...

Extremely powerful. you have to understand, theres a national lobby now pushing to sustain these prison systems and to build them, essentially. because they have become part of the economic engine in states like california. >> that strikes me as so important. victoria, this idea that the people who are working there now constitute the majority of those state workers. i just kept thinking, im sorry, didnt i just hear a supreme court ruling telling california to shed prisoners? the next thing i kn...

Today, however, a very different war rages in san antonio, as two rival gangs shed blood in a power struggle to control a wide range of criminal activity, including drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking. and this turf war has expanded from the streets to inside the walls of san antonios bexar county jail. >> traditionally the mexican mafia, an outgrowth of a prison gang, had been a controlling gang here in san antonio, but here lately because members of the mexican mafia are getting older a...

Though the inmates lives are tightly controlled, even the most routine activities can suddenly turn deadly. >> make sure youve got everything out of your pockets. >> weve got 47 going out on chains and they have all got to be bagged and ready to go by 9:30. so usually the chain mornings are rush, rush. >> every day a number of brushy mountain inmates are transported either to court or to other state prisons. correctional officers call this transportation process going out on chain. >> what we do...