A new report released today finds L.A. County's Men's Central Jail, the largest and most violence-plagued in the nation, can be shut down by the end of 2013.
By Allen Hopper, ACLU of Northern California at 11:01am
The Golden State has a problem. An addiction problem. California is addicted to incarceration. We've hit rock bottom, and it's time for an intervention. To help the state break the addiction, yesterday the ACLU of California sent a 12-step plan to every county in the state, as part of a larger ACLU comprehensive public safety realignment report. The report urges a fundamental shift in criminal justice policies toward smart on crime alternatives to incarceration.
The people of California are speaking and they’re saying that they don’t want any new prisons. A poll released this week by The Los Angeles Times and USC demonstrates what criminal justice reform advocates have been saying for years: people would rather have shorter prison sentences for non-violent offenders than foot the bill for rising prison costs.
