Prison Overcrowding And California s Correctional System

Prison overcrowding has caused many complications to California’s Correctional System. To resolve this issue, â€Å"[o]n April 5, 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 109, the ‘2011 Realignment Legislation Addressing Public Safety’†¦, which†¦ shifted responsibility from the state to the counties for tens of thousands of offenders,† (Abarbanel et al., 2013, 1). This law was put in action was because of overcrowding in state prison and it was affecting a variety of crucial programs that were necessary for inmates to have, such as mental and health services. These problems are not new to the correctional system for there was a cases that influence the movement for realignment, such as Plata Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, Madrid v. Gomez, Estelle v. Gamble, and Brown v. Plata. Overall, these cases had an issues with overcrowding and the violation of the eighth amendment for cruel and unusual punishment for having inadequate mental and health care assistance. Plata Coleman v. Schwarzenegger (2009) To deter crime in California, law makers create stricter laws with hasher punishments. The problem with this solution is it creates mass incarceration which will eventually lead to an over population correctional facilities and other complications. â€Å"†¦[T]he first decade of the 21st century the system was experiencing a crisis due to a rigid determinate sentencing system, prosecutorial punitiveness, and the†¦ harsh â€Å"three strikes† law,† (Simon, 2013, 2). 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