The Umansky Law Firm

The US Supreme Court voted in a 5-4 decision that the state of California must cut its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates because of overcrowded conditions. This, they said, violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The court's more liberal members, plus Justice Anthony Kennedy, voted in the majority, while the court's more conservative justices dissented.

There are currently more than 140,000 inmates in California's prison system right now, but it has been as high as 160,000. Even the ordered reduction to 110,000 is still 137.5 percent of capacity.

The California prison system seems to be broken in many ways. Photographs shown during the majority opinion reportedly contained images of inmates living in gymnasium styled rooms and tiny "phone booth sized cages without toilets" for suicidal inmates. There have been reports of inmates unable to get medical care for things as serious as cancer in a timely fashion, very high suicide rates, and other alarming situations.

The Supreme Court gave California two years to implement the changes and emphasized that this does not have to be done solely through early release. However, Justice Kennedy stated that he does not believe California can build itself out of the problem by implementing new prisons. So, there will be some early release. Justice Anthony Scalia gave a rare oral dissent and this was "perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history." It is Justice Scalia's opinion that this decision is now "gambling with the safety of the people of California."

Justice Kennedy wrote in his opinion that, "A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society."

It's easy and understandable for people to want the worst of the worst criminals locked up forever, and to want them to be miserable for their crimes. However, there are many other inmates in California, as well as Florida, that have been sentenced for non-violent crimes, such as drug charges, who may actually be the ones most hurt by this overcrowding. There is no guarantee that any of these inmates will be released, but we have seen some early release of those who violate terms of their probation or are convicted of drunken driving.

By releasing non-violent criminals and getting them into treatment programs or halfway houses where they can begin to reintegrate into society, we strengthen what we as a nation hold ourselves up to be: A beacon for civilized and democratic societies everywhere.

Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito worry about releasing those who may have become "better" criminals from prisons the juries and judges said they should be in. There may be some merit in this concern. But there are certainly many people behind bars who deserve to be removed from a situation that is more akin to what we see in images of third world countries and dictatorial regimes.

If you have been charged with a crime in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm for a free and confidential case evaluation today.