California's Prisons

• Explain the challenges facing California’s criminal justice system and develop solutions

Question 1

Using the California Politics textbook, explain why California's prisons are overcrowded and "bursting at the seams." Also, discuss two reasons that the California Politics textbook gives to explain why they are chronically underfunded.

Tip: Be sure to separate the reasons for the overcrowding from descriptions of overcrowding. For example, stating that California's prisons are overcrowded because there are hundreds of thousands of people in them is a description of the problem, but not an explanation for why that situation exists.

Your answer to Question 1 should be at least 250 words in length. When you reference a specific argument, please cite the page number where the argument was made.

Question 2

What, if anything, do you believe the California government could do to most effectively solve this problem?

Your answer to Question 2 should be at least 100 words long. After providing your answer to Question 2, please find one classmate with whom you agree or disagree in whole or in part. Address his or her argument. Explain why you agree or disagree and/or what you believe the argument is missing. (If you do agree with the poster, be sure that you still "add something" to the discussion, as opposed to simply restating his or her argument. Avoid simply restating the arguments you made in your post.)