Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

SACRAMENTO – Today, Sen. George Runner (R-Antelope Valley), as a representative of the California Senate, testified before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court in its case against the California prison system’s alleged prisoner overcrowding.

“There is no question that California’s prison system has problems, but under no circumstances do the problems warrant the early release of prisoner,” said Runner, who has led the charge in prison reform in the State Legislature. “Other solutions exist – solutions that Republicans have introduced in recent times – that would not endanger our communities.”

Runner’s testmony will help the federal government’s three-judge panel (that was created in 2007) decide whether to place limits on California’s prison population. At the heart of the issue is deciding whether the prison system’s delivery of health care to prisoners is constitutional.

Runner affirmed to the court that indeed California does meet the scrutiny of the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment to prisoners.

“California prisoners are afforded adequate health care,” Runner said. “In fact, the mortality rate for California prisoners is lower than that of the general public.”

Runner also testified that California’s prison population has decreased in the past years, making it one of the lowest per capita populations of the 50 states.