Longer sentences and tougher sentencing laws, especially for drug crimes, have made overcrowding the rule in California prisons. With 162,000 prisoners and 33 prisons, this is the largest prison system in the free world, with a budget larger than that of the University of California. Harsher treatment has also been the rule for at least two decades. Weights and other bodybuilding equipment popular with prisoners were banned. New prison designs are more sterile and controlling.
Lockdowns are more frequent.
And there have been alleged abuses of the system that have contributed to tensions and violence. Guards were accused of staging fights among inmates and then shooting at them. This prison surveillance video from Corcoran prison shows one of those incidents. The U.S. Attorney brought criminal civil rights charges still pending against eight guards. These defendants used their authority to sponsor blood sports.