Timeline: Brief History of California Prisons
on October 3, 2011
The California prison population has increased more than 500 percent in the past three decades. Since 1980, spending on prisons has risen from 3 percent of the state’s budget to more than 11 percent. As legislators scramble to mend the increasingly costly and problematic prison system, the federal government has demanded change. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court, citing inhumane conditions, ordered for the release of thousands of state inmates. Here is a brief look at some of the factors that have led to this point.
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