HIDDEN HAZARDS: The Impacts of Climate Change on Incarcerated People in California State Prisons

THE CURRENT POLITICAL CONTEXT California has been on a gradual trend toward decarceration since 2010. The state has substantially reduced its prison population over the last decade, including through court orders, legislation, executive action, and ballot initiatives.

COURTS In the 2011 Brown v. Plata case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled California prisons were seriously overcrowded, which prevented incarcerated people in California from having access to “lifesaving medical and psychiatric care”.155 The court ordered a reduction in the prison population to a maximum of 137.5% of design capacity, resulting in a significant reduction in the prison population.

The Plata case is ongoing and a federal receiver was appointed to oversee the medical care and mental health care of incarcerated people. 156 SUPPORT IN THE LEGISLATURE There is political will for prison population reductions and prison closures.

Assembly Bill 109 (2011) “shifted to counties the responsibility for monitoring, tracking, and incarcerating lower-level offenders previously bound for state prison.” 157 After the passage of AB 109, there were concerns among the general public about increased crime and jail overcrowding. The concerns, however, did not bear out, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). As noted by PPIC, “the county jail population did not rise nearly as much as the prison population fell, reducing the total number of people incarcerated in California.” 158