Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf
Page Number: 38.0

32 

BROWN v. PLATA 

Opinion of the Court 

Plata  Receiver  stated  that  he  was  determined  to  achieve 
a  remedy  even  without  a  population  reduction,  but  he
warned  that  such  an  effort  would  “all  but  bankrupt”  the
State.  App.  1053.  The  Coleman  Special  Master  noted 
even  more  serious  concerns,  stating  that  previous  reme-
dial efforts had “succumbed to the inexorably rising tide of 
population.”  App.  489.    Both  reports  are  persuasive  evi-
dence  that,  absent  a  reduction  in  overcrowding,  any  rem-
edy might prove unattainable and would at the very least 
require vast expenditures of resources by the State.  Noth-
ing  in  the  long  history  of  the  Coleman  and  Plata  actions 
demonstrates  any  real  possibility  that  the  necessary  re-
sources would be made available. 

The  State  claims  that,  even  if  each  of  these  measures 
were unlikely to remedy the violation, they would succeed 
in doing so if combined together.  Aside from asserting this
proposition,  the  State  offers  no  reason  to  believe  it  is  so. 
Attempts  to  remedy  the  violations  in  Plata  have  been 
ongoing  for  9  years.  In  Coleman,  remedial  efforts  have 
been ongoing for 16.  At one time, it may have been possi-
ble to hope that these violations would be cured without a 
reduction  in  overcrowding.  A  long  history  of  failed  reme-
dial  orders,  together  with  substantial  evidence  of  over-
crowding’s  deleterious  effects  on  the  provision  of  care, 
compels a different conclusion today.

The  common  thread  connecting  the  State’s  proposed
remedial  efforts  is  that  they  would  require  the  State  to
expend  large  amounts  of  money  absent  a  reduction  in 
overcrowding.    The  Court  cannot  ignore  the  political  and 
fiscal reality behind this case.  California’s Legislature has
not been willing or able to allocate the resources necessary
to  meet  this  crisis  absent  a  reduction  in  overcrowding.
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  it  will  begin  to  do  so  now, 
when  the  State  of  California  is  facing  an  unprecedented 
budgetary  shortfall.    As  noted  above,  the  legislature  re-
cently  failed  to  allocate  funds  for  planned  new  construc-