Swarzenegger Orders Transfers

After moving less than 400 California inmates to out-of-state prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered thousands more involuntarily transfered to states with room in their lockups. The governor wants to move 5,000 inmates to relieve dangerous overcrowding in the state's prison system, the largest in the country. Despite the conditions, few inmates have volunteered to leave California.

Now they will be forced. The Republican governor said in a statement released this afternoon: "Our state has a prison overcrowding crisis. The safety of our correctional officers is threatened, we have the highest recidivism rate in the country because there is no room for rehabilitation, and we face the possibility of court ordered early release of felons. I am asking the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to begin the involuntary transfer of prisoners because it is in the interest of all Californians and our public safety.....The transfers could begin within two weeks, but appeals could delay cases for up to 10 weeks. Prison guards said some inmates would turn violent if forced to transfer. "This is lighting a match to an already tense powder keg," Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association"

State of Emergency by California