Piece Description

"Prisons In Crisis" is a one-hour radio documentary that highlights some of the major parts of California's current crisis in its prison system and describes how it started--how tough-on-crime legislation and the zero tolerance policies of the 80's and 90's led to more convictions, longer sentences, and an explosion in the prison population. California now has the highest prison population and the highest recidivism rate in the country--prisons are overcrowded, prison medical care and mental health care are in chaos, and its juvenile detention system has been called the worst in the nation. This program describes how the crisis is finally forcing policy makers, politicians, and government officials to reconsider the punitive policies of the past two decades and consider alternative approaches to incarceration and parole.