Are California Jails A Death Sentence?

PushBlack
June 26, 2019

Back in 2011, California was ordered by the Supreme Court to fix a major problem: prison overcrowding. Since they were ordered to decrease the prison population by almost 50,000, they came up with a slick plan. 

Their idea? To send more people to JAIL instead! 

Almost 200,000 people in California have been sentenced to jails instead of prisons in the last eight years, thanks to the reforms California has been making to its prison system. But what was supposed to be helpful has proven inhumane. The jail conditions are terrible, after all.

In some cases, prison can be much worse than jail, but it’s not this simple in California. Whether it’s food, healthcare, or how you’re treated by guards, jail can be TORTURE. Jail deaths have increased significantly since California implemented its reforms.

Deaths in jails increased by 26% after they started receiving those who would have been prison inmates. Racial disparities that affect Black people for the worse still have Black Californians dangerously being cycled through this deadly system.

If states that are trying to reform and fix their prison problems want to make a difference, they have to focus on the racist system that keeps people confined in the first place. They can’t just look for shortcuts. California is learning this the hard way!

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