Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

According to CNN, federal judges are close to ruling that California must decrease the number of inmates incarcerated in its overcrowded prison system by 40%. The judges are stating that the gross overcrowding of the prisons violates the prisoners' Constitutional rights, because it makes the prisons unsafe.

The court is allegedly requesting that the reduction be carried out over a 2- or 3- year period of time. They are also saying that the inmates who would be released would be very low-risk offenders, who could be placed into rehabilitation programs. [SIDEBAR:...Where they probably should have been in the first place.]

Reportedly, some of California's governmental officials, including Governor Schwarzenegger, vowed to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme court if they are mandated to free approximately 58,000 inmates.