LISTEN: "Your Call": What are the best ways to reduce California's prison population

By Ali Budner

On today’s Your Call, we’ll talk about prison overcrowding in California. Under a federal court mandate, California is required to reduce its prison population by nearly 10,000 inmates. Governor Jerry Brown wants to spend $315 million over the next year to house inmates in private and county jails. But critics prefer alternatives like paroling elder prisoners. How should the state deal with overcrowding in prisons? Join the conversation and call in with your questions on the next Your Call with Holly Kernan, and You.

Guests:

Diana Zuniga, statewide organizer for Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)

Jeffrey Callison, press secretary at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

W. David Ball, assistant professor of law at Santa Clara University; and co-chair of the Corrections Committee of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section

Resources:

Californians United for Responsible Budget (CURB)

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

CURB: Prison crowding: Gov. Brown can thank Supreme Court for political cover

LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown signs legislation to reduce prison overcrowding

Huffington Post: Can Theater Help Solve California’s Prison Overcrowding Crisis?

Huffington Post: For-Profit Prisons are Big Winners of California’s Overcrowding Crisis

Capital Public Radio: California Gets More Time to Address Prison Overcrowding

Social Science Research Network: Tough on Crime (on the State’s Dime): How Violent Crime Does Not Drive California Counties’ Incarceration Rates – And Why it Should

Social Science Research Network: Normative Elements of Parole Risk