The NAACP Legal Defense, Education Fund and the Three Strikes Project at Stanford School of Law want some 2,000 prisoners, who are eligible for shorter sentences under the state’s three-strikes law released.
According to the NAACP, “federal judges must order California to expedite Proposition 36 hearings for those 2,000 eligible inmates and at the same time make parole or probation services available to those felons when they are released.”
Despite California voters’ approval of Proposition 36, the reform has “no longer effectively reduced the prison population,” according to Paige St. John of the Los Angeles Times.
Lawyers for both organizations recognized California’s prison population started climbing again. In the brief to the court, they argued vehemently that the state must take the leadership role in releasing inmates eligible under Proposition 36.
According to Paige St. John, lawyers from both groups argued before federal judges “were [the state] invested in finding a durable solution to the prison crisis in California, one would expect to find some leadership on their part in this crucial area of reentry.”
St. John reports, “One thousand prisoners have already won release.” However, 2,000 eligible inmates are waiting review of their cases.
Los Angeles County has the poorest rates of hearing cases. Only 17 percent of those inmates eligible for Proposition 36 have had their cases reviewed.
Jeffrey Callision, a representative for the corrections department contends, “The NAACP request goes beyond the state’s role.”
Callision believes, “It is the inmate’s responsibility to petition the courts, and it is for the judges to determine whether they should be re-sentenced.” According the report, “CDCR does not advocate for or against any petition.”
