You've heard about this thing called "realignment," right? Because the Supreme Court ruled that California's prisons were too ridiculously overcrowded, prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes are getting "realigned" and sent back to city and county jails, and in essence getting paroled in a hurry. San Francisco's about to get a few busloads totaling 700 cons as of October 1, and at this week's Board of Supervisors meeting they introduced a piece of legislation that addresses just what the city and county are going to to do about this. more ›

OK, so, to be clear, we're all for having criminals do their time, regret their crimes, and we believe that many of them can be rehabilitated and return to society as respectable citizens who deserve a chance to prove themselves. That being said, California is about to face a major opening of the floodgates of paroled prisoners, per the Supreme Court, and everyone is understandably nervous that a few bad apples are likely to end up in the bushels that appear on our doorstep in the coming months. Enter Supervisor and sheriff candidate Ross Mirkarimi, darling of the Progressives, who along with a committee of law enforcement folks and legal advocates would like San Francisco to roll out a more welcoming welcome mat than the rest of the state, by protecting ex-cons from discrimination when they try to seek jobs and housing here. more ›

The Supreme Court today issued what amounts to an injunction against the State of California and its prisons, ordering the state to release 30,000 prisoners from the overcrowded system. The 5-4 majority opinion in the case of Brown v. Plata, No. 09-1233 affirms an earlier order by a three-judge special federal court, made in 2009, requiring the state to reduce its prison population to 110,000, which would be 137% capacity. The current prisoner population is 140,000, down about 20,000 in the last two years. (We're also hearing that the number of prisoners has gone down only 9,000 since the cap was first ordered, and 37,000 is the magic number now. In any event, a lot of prisoners!) more ›

Despite pending legal action from Marin County trying to block the project, the Department of Corrections went forward to begin reviewing nine bids they received from contractors for Phase 1 of a $356 million death row complex at San Quentin. The complex will house 1,152 condemned inmates in 768 cells, and part of the controversy over the project and the bond funding it has to do with prison overcrowding and whether or not it's legal to house two death row inmates in a single cell. more ›

In an effort to ease prison overcrowding, a panel of federal judges "tentatively ruled that California must release tens of thousands of inmates." (Please release Susan Atkins! Please release Susan Atkins! Please release Susan Atkins!) Though a hard number will be decided on later, the plan is to significantly reduce the numbers of inmates in two to three years. According to AP, the judges went on to say that "no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care." Released prisoners will be of the low-risk variety. Serial killer Richard Ramirez, at right, will remain incarcerated. more ›