Judges order state to release nearly 43,000 prisoners in next two years

California’s prisons are so overcrowded that the state is violating inmates’ constitutional rights, three federal judges ruled today in a decision imposing a cap on the prison population that will force the state to release nearly 43,000 prisoners over the next two years. The 185-page opinion also accused the state of fostering “criminogenic” conditions, compelling former prisoners to commit more crimes and feed a cycle of recidivism. The effect of the judges’ ruling in two inmate challenges to their conditions dovetails with early-release proposals aired during last month’s heated budget debate in the state Legislature as lawmakers sought to close a $26.3-billion deficit. The ruling by three federal judges stems from challenges by two inmates alleging that the state’s network of 33 prisons is so overcrowded that they are denied adequate health care and treatment of mental illnesses...LATimes