If The Supreme Court Doesn't Intervene, California Will Be Forced To Release Nearly 10,000 Inmates

Reuters/Lucy NicholsonSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown is making one final bid to delay a federal court order requiring the state to release nearly 10,000 inmates by year's end to improve conditions in California prisons.

The administration on Wednesday asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to delay the order forcing the state to immediately take steps to further reduce its prison population.

If he refuses to intervene, the state has said it will begin freeing inmates to comply with the lower court order, which is intended to improve care for sick and mentally ill inmates.

Kennedy oversees appeals from western states.

He is a Republican appointee who sided with the court's four Democratic-appointed justices in 2011 to cast the deciding vote requiring the state to reduce its prison population to about 110,000 inmates.

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