Steven Greenhut Asks Why California Won’t Release Innocent Men from Prison

California Gov. Jerry Brown and the state
legislature have been cutting down on prison
overcrowding to comply with a federal court order, thus
leading to a “realignment” policy that moves inmates from state-run
prisons to county jails and a policy that may result in
some early releases. Whatever one thinks of the governor’s handling
of this matter, it’s hard to understand why he hasn’t pursued his
prison-reduction efforts by harvesting some low-hanging fruit –
i.e., releasing from prison those inmates who almost certainly are
not guilty of the crimes for which they’ve been convicted. The
governor, after all, has the power to grant clemency and pardons.
Why not act on the evidence surrounding the
so-called California 12? After all, explains Steven Greenhut,
11 of them have secured their exoneration.

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