How does the prison overcrowding problem affect California?
Health: Prison overcrowding does not just impact prisoners’ health and safety, but also the health and safety of California’s communities. California’s failure to develop a comprehensive public health approach to address drug abuse, addiction and mental illness threatens the health of millions of state residents. Tens of thousands of nonviolent offenders with addiction and mental health problems enter the criminal justice system each year, where care is typically inadequate. At the same time, overcrowding exacerbates the spread of communicable diseases, which are brought back into the community as inmates are released. Safety: Prop. 5 will reduce the number of nonviolent offenders entering California prisons each year with effective diversion programs and by ending the parole system’s practice of cycling nonviolent offenders in and out of prisons for minor violations. These changes will mean less overcrowding, better opportunities for rehabilitation, and decreased transmission of disea
