Re "Legal war ahead over inmate cuts" (Page A1, Jan. 9): Gov. Jerry Brown deserves huge credit for realigning jurisdiction for low-level offenders to counties. But it is hard to believe there are not 9,000 prisoners who could safely be paroled in order to satisfy the court-ordered population cap.
It's a poor use of taxpayer dollars to incarcerate prisoners incapacitated by age and poor health. Rather than continue the endless litigation, Brown should craft a geriatric parole policy and expand medical parole.
It's not easy to implement rationale sentencing laws and parole policies when lawmakers exploit horrific crimes in crafting knee-jerk sentencing laws without regard for the impact on the prison population or the drain on the state's budget.
It's astonishing that Brown believes the state can manage its prisons without federal courts when he engages in the "tough on crime" rhetoric which created the problem in the first place.
-- Jim Lindburg, Sacramento
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