Letter to the Editor: Realignment Aims to Significantly Reduce Inmate Population

Dear Editor:

I am writing to you regarding the ""

I need to point out that the motivation behind Realignment is not the cost-savings to the State of California, it is a U.S. Supreme Court- affirmed mandate to California to reduce our state prison inmate population to 137.5 percent of our design capacity (approximately 110,000) by June 2013.

If California does not reduce its inmate population by then, the court can order a wholesale, early, and unsupervised release of any and all inmates over that limit.

The State has provided to the counties more than $500 million in Fiscal Year 2011-2012, will provide more than $800 million in FY 2012-2013, and more than $1 billion in FY 2013-2014 to help cover the costs of additional custody and supervision.

Dana Toyama

Public Information Officer I

Office of Public and Employee Communication

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation