California gets two more years to reduce prison overcrowding

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California gets two more years to reduce prison overcrowding

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California won two additional years to reduce overcrowding in its massive prison system under an order issued on Monday by a panel of federal judges, in the latest twist in a decades-long dispute over prison conditions and medical care for inmates. "The state now has the time and resources necessary to help inmates become productive members of society and make our communities safer," Democratic Governor Jerry Brown said in a statement. The court-appointed panel, which oversees prison crowding cases in California, said it was granting the extension to February 2016 because the state had promised to develop comprehensive reforms to its prison system, which houses about 120,000 inmates in facilities designed to hold about 80,000. The extension was a victory for Brown, who has resisted complying with previous orders to reduce crowding, arguing they were unnecessary and could result in the inappropriate release of dangerous inmates.

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