KAYE: Welcome back. The Supreme Court has ruled that California must cut tens of thousands of inmates from its overcrowded prisons within the next two years. Monday's 5-4 ruling comes with disturbing details of inhumane conditions, and as Justice Anthony Kennedy put it, quote, "Needless suffering and deaths." So, in today's "Big Breakdown," we wanted to give you perspective on this complicated and controversial issue. California has the nation's largest prison system. The state prisons were built to hold 80,000 inmates, but the prison population has increased by 70 percent in the past two decades. So, according to the numbers from the state's Department of Corrections, more than 152,000 inmates are in state prisons. Officials say this is pretty typical. Open spaces meant to be gymnasiums and clinics were transformed into crowded encampments stacked high with bunks like you see there. But prisoners are stacked three deep in six by nine-foot cells designed to hold one. That's the situation. "The L.A. Times" reports that Justice Kennedy, in explaining his decision, spoke of prisoners being held in, quote, "telephone booth-sized cages without toilets." The state has a two-year window to shrink the population by more than 33,000 inmates. State officials have two weeks to submit a schedule to do exactly that. So, how does California go from here to minus 33,000? Well, officials have not fully explained how their ongoing inmate reduction plan will need to be modified to meet the federal order. But with the state facing a massive budget deficit, building new prisons certainly seems unlikely. However, the governor signed a measure in April that essentially shifts and redistributes some inmates from state prisons to county jails and other facilities, but only non-violent, low level prisoners with less than three years left to serve. There you have it. A full explainer on the prison system in California. Black boxes for your car soon to be mandatory for all new vehicles. But should they be? And who should be able to see exactly how you're driving? That is a question for our "Stream Team," next.
California to Cut Inmate Population