SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials say they can comply with a court order to ease prison crowding if federal judges bypass the state Legislature and pre-empt state laws.
They say the judges could divert thousands of criminals to local jails or house arrest. Those proposals were rejected by state legislators this fall, though the Schwarzenegger administration plans to try again next year.
The judges could also bypass state law to increase the use of private prisons.
The administration is filing the revised plan Thursday after a special panel of federal judges rejected a September proposal because it fell short of their goals to reduce the state's inmate population by 40,000.
The earlier plan would have reduced the population by about 23,000 inmates.
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