California Prisoner Reduction

Reporting from Sacramento -- A panel of three federal judges, saying overcrowding in state prisons has deprived inmates of their right to adequate healthcare, tentatively ruled Monday that the state must reduce the population in those lockups by as many as 57,000 people.

The judges issued the decision after a trial in two long-running cases brought by inmates to protest the state of medical and mental healthcare in the prisons.

Although their order is not final, U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt effectively told the state that it had lost the trial and would have to make dramatic changes in its prisons unless it could reach a settlement with inmates' lawyers. - Los Angeles Times

Get the non-violent offenders out!

CLM Prez Denounces Cuban Conditions

Havana, Aug 4, 2008 / 01:04 pm (CNA).- The president of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, has again denounced the inhuman conditions in which political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are held in Cuba.

In a brief statement, Paya described the suffering of the prison population in Cuba, including a lack of medical care, poor nutrition, crowded conditions, censorship, invasive searches, and mistreatment by prison guards.

He said the lack of medical attention leaves prisoners vulnerable to illness and disease. Likewise, Paya said the lack of adequate nutrition results in many prisoners contracting “digestive problems and severe stomach infections.”

Other mistreatment suffered by both common and political prisoners includes overcrowding in cells and the lack of potable water. “The plumbing is in very bad shape, and blockage in the lines as well as water leaks in the walls are commonplace, especially in prison cells that are located on the lower floors of the buildings,” Paya said.

Hey, kind of sounds like the USA! Kidding...or am I?