Les Jones

Judge orders California to release 40,000 prisoners

Saturday, August 8th, 2009 | Economics | Permalink | No Comments |

Wall Street Journal - California Scrambles to Prepare for Inmate Release:

California state and local officials, already reeling from budget cuts and public-safety layoffs, are struggling with a federal order to release about 40,000 inmates to reduce prison overcrowding and bracing for the impact on their communities.

State officials have said they will appeal the decision, but as a contingency are cobbling together proposals to comply with the order. At the same time, cash-strapped local governments in places such as Los Angeles and Fresno are grappling with how to monitor and support thousands of released inmates at a time of scaled-down police forces and underfunded social-services programs.

Isn’t it about time we legalized pot? The state would get desperately-needed tax revenue that many people would be thrilled to pay. They’d also stop wasting money prosecuting and imprisoning people for doing something that our last three presidents, at least one one vice president, and at least one presidential candidate and one vice-presidential candidate have all admitted to doing.

Tags: california, drugs