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Page Number: 44.0

38 

BROWN v. PLATA 

Opinion of the Court 

those  courts  fashion  injunctive  relief  to  remedy  serious
constitutional  violations  in  the  prisons.    These  questions 
are  difficult  and  sensitive,  but  they  are  factual  questions
and  should  be  treated  as  such.  Courts  can,  and  should, 
rely  on  relevant  and  informed  expert  testimony  when
making factual findings.  It was proper for the three-judge
court  to  rely  on  the  testimony  of  prison  officials  from 
California and other States.  Those experts testified on the
basis  of  empirical  evidence  and  extensive  experience  in 
the field of prison administration. 

The three-judge court credited substantial evidence that
prison  populations  can  be  reduced  in  a  manner  that  does 
not increase crime to a significant degree.  Some evidence 
indicated  that  reducing  overcrowding  in  California’s  pris-
ons  could  even  improve  public  safety.    Then-Governor 
Schwarzenegger,  in  his  emergency  proclamation  on  over-
crowding, acknowledged that “ ‘overcrowding causes harm
to  people  and  property,  leads  to  inmate  unrest  and  mis-
conduct, . . . and increases recidivism as shown within this 
state and in others.’ ”  Juris. App. 191a–192a.  The former 
warden  of  San  Quentin  and  acting  secretary  of  the  Cali-
fornia  prison  system  testified  that  she  “ ‘absolutely  be-
lieve[s]  that  we  make  people  worse,  and  that  we  are  not
meeting public safety by the way we treat people.’ ”10  Id., 
at  129a.  And  the  head  of  Pennsylvania’s  correctional 
system testified that measures to reduce prison population 
—————— 

10 The former head of correctional systems in Washington, Maine, and 
Pennsylvania,  likewise  referred  to  California’s  prisons  as  “ ‘crimino-
genic.’ ”  Juris.  App.  191a.    The  Yolo  County  chief  probation  officer
testified  that  “ ‘it  seems  like  [the  prisons]  produce  additional  criminal 
behavior.’ ”    Id.,  at  190a.  A  former  professor  of  sociology  at  George
Washington  University,  reported  that  California’s  present  recidivism 
rate  is  among  the  highest  in  the  Nation.    App.  1246.    And  the  three-
judge  court  noted  the  report  of  California’s  Little  Hoover  Commission,
which  stated  that  “ ‘[e]ach  year,  California  communities  are  burdened
with  absorbing  123,000  offenders  returning  from  prison,  often  more 
dangerous than when they left.’ ”  Juris. App. 191a.