RESA Comprehensive Exam Notes

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The Court affirmed a lower court ruling in the Plata v. Brown case, which mandated thatCalifornia reduce its jail population to 137.5% of its design capacity within two years. Thisrepresents a decrease from around 150,000 prisoners to 110,000 inmates. Stated differently,California has been mandated to eliminate almost the same amount of jail infrastructure as NorthCarolina.The lawsuit represents the conclusion of twenty years of litigation, but it is most likely not theend. A class of severely mentally ill prisoners fded the case in 1990. Since then, it has resulted innumerous court-ordered remedial plans, injunctions, the appointment of a special master andreceiver, and, finally, the empanelment of a three-judge court with the authority to order prisonpopulation reductions under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA). The court issuedthe aforementioned population-reduction order following 14 days of testimony. There is "norealistic possibility that California would be able to build itself out of this crisis," according tothe directive, although the state is not required to fulfill the 137.5% objective in any specificway.Reducing the jail population is an unusual remedy, and before such an order may be issued, anumber of prerequisites must be met under the PLRA. The first need is that a judge must havepreviously issued an order for less invasive relief that hasn't worked out after a fair amount oftime has passed. Second, only a three-judge court that has been specifically called for that reasonmay issue such an order. Third, the three-judge court can only issue a release order if it concludesthat "(i) crowding is the primary cause of the violation of a Federal right; and (ii) no other reliefwill remedy the violation of the Federal right" based on clear and persuasive evidence. Using the'least intrusive means necessary," the remedy must be "narrowly drawn" and may "extend no

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further than necessary to correct the violation." The court must "give substantial weight to anyadverse impact on public safety" that any relief issued may have along the road.The Court concluded that the procedural and substantive requirements of the PLRA had beensatisfied and that a population-reduction order was both authorized and appropriate afteroutlining the litigation's history, the unusual level of prison overcrowding in California, andsome of its more unsettling effects, such as high suicide rates, protracted wait times for medicalattention, and inadequate hygiene standards—such as 54 inmates to one toilet. Together with thefour liberal-leaning Justices, Justice Kennedy wrote for the Court in a familiar pattern of difficultdecisions handed down at the close of a term.A couple of North Carolina ties are worth mentioning. First, although it has been some time andthe most of it predates the PLRA, federal courts have already intervened in North Carolina's jailsystem due to overpopulation. The case Small v. Hunt, 98 F.3d 789 (4th Cir. 1996), summarizes alot of the history. In summary, the 1980s saw a sharp increase in the number of inmates, whichsparked a number of lawsuits and, ultimately, settlements that were upheld by the courts viaconsent decrees.In North Carolina a major system used to help with the amount of drug offenders in court is the96-90 which assists first time drug offenders in lessening their convictions resulting in a decreaseof population in jail and prison. Another program that is used very frequently is themisdemeanors confinement program which helps offenders convicted on misdemeanors to lessenthe time they serve by half as well as be held in a local jail instead of a prison.Other programs that tend to help juveniles are the Juvenile Court. It presents that a juvenile withhelp of a court counselors can see the account of a court and no the punishments they can ecieve

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