Convoluted laws cause of prison crowding

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Convoluted sentencing laws a key reason for California prison crowding

When California adopted its criminal sentencing code 30 years ago, a state appeals court marveled that it was virtually incomprehensible, comparing it to income tax forms and insurance policies.

The appellate judges wondered if the Legislature had used “some long departed Byzantine scholar to create its seemingly endless and convoluted complexities.”

Since then, California has added more than 1,000 felony sentencing laws and more than 100 other changes that can lengthen prison terms.

As a result, the state's prisons are so dangerously jammed that there is a possibility federal courts could cap the population, potentially forcing the early release of some inmates.


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