Supreme Court Screws the Public

(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state of California to release 46,000 convicted felons, claiming the prisons are too crowded. Writing for the majority in a 5-4 decision, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated,

"For years, the medical and mental health care provided by California's prisons has fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements and has failed to meet prisoners' basic health needs."

Looking for the constitutional requirements for mental health and medical care of inmates, I was unsuccessful. Maybe a reader or Justice Kennedy, on the offhand chance he reads my blog, could enlighten me.

Nevertheless, one must presume that the public will be endangered by the massive release of tens of thousands of convicted felons into cities and towns of California. No compensatory measures for protection of the public have been mentioned.

Additionally, it would be difficult to dispute the contention that the motivation of law enforcers and prosecutors is negatively affected by the decision to release convicts before their sentences are completed. If an ugly court-mandated swath of keystrokes will put criminals back on the streets, one must suspect that police and prosecutors will be less inclined to pursue tough cases.