Cutting CA prison sizes leads to more problems

2012-08-28 15

The United States Supreme Court has ordered that 30,000 low-level prisoners from California's over-crowded state prisons be moved to county jails.

County jail officials however, say that transferring prionsers from state facilities is only placing further strains upon the cash-strapped local jails. A lack of state funds means that county jails have had to make major cuts to mental health care, basic medical care, and even close down entire wings of their facilities.

Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds reports from a county jail in Santa Ana, California, where officials say the facility will run out of room for new inmates next year.