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California riots while Texas prisons long ago desegregated

The above photo from the LA Times depicts the aftermath of race riots at a prison unit in Chino, CA:It was the kind of explosive violence threatened throughout the state's 33 prisons, which are packed with nearly twice as many inmates as they were built to hold. The destruction wreaked here has served to intensify pressures throughout the penal system as at least 1,100 Chino inmates have been moved to other prisons.California and Texas run the two largest prison systems among states, but thanks (in retrospect) largely to the legacy of federal judicial intervention in the 1970s and '80s, we've done a better job with many of the problems that give California the most trouble - particularly overcrowding and racial integration.A case in point arises from the Chino riots, apparently sparked because the state threatened to breach longstanding racial segregation among prisoners...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 13, 2009 (boomark / email).