California Protests Court Order for Inmate Reduction in Prisons

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is protesting a federal judicial order to provide a timeline for releasing prison inmates to ease overcrowding at state prisons.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the state filed legal papers late Friday calling the demand for a timeline unwarranted and requesting a suspension of previously ordered prison crowding limits.

A three-judge panel has given California until June 2013 to decrease its prison population to 137.5 percent of capacity or 112,000 inmates.

The state has said it will likely not meet that target date and expects to lower the population to only 145 percent of capacity.

The government says the lower capacity will not allow the state to save money by bringing back 9,000 inmates housed out of state.