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CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRESS ROOM | |
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| Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 54 Dore Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Tel: (415) 621-5661 | Fax: (415) 621-5466 |
Overcrowding at one state prison forced dozens of inmates out of their cells and under the stars.
It was the first time that prison officials can recall where inmates at the California Institution for Men had to be placed in an exercise yard because of lack of space.
"It's not something that we want to do," said Lt. Tim Shirlock. "It's something the officers and supervisors on duty had to do to adapt to the intake and do the best job they could."
The overcrowding problem is largely due to a severe housing crisis in California prisons and the flood of new inmates being processed at CIM, the state's largest reception center. The prison also is undergoing a renovation that meant as many as 76 cells, which can hold 152 inmates, were unavailable.
As of last week, the prison's population was 6,609 - twice the number it is designed to accommodate.
On Thursday, the prison received more inmates from county jails and other prisons than expected. Forty-two prisoners were given bedrolls and put outside where they were watched by an officer in a nearby gun tower. The problem was resolved the next morning.
The move is not unprecedented at California prisons, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Prisoners at the women's prison in Tehachapi slept in tents for months after the prison was damaged in an earthquake in 1952, Thornton said.
"In very extreme situations, it has happened before," she said.
California's prison population topped 170,000 this past week, nearly twice the system's intended capacity. The department is looking at "every option" for reducing its population, Thornton said.
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