The Future of the "Big Idea" for Criminals The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has been grappling with an epidemic of overcrowding since the civil lawsuit filed in 2001, known as Plata v. Brown. This lawsuit brought to the attention of the state of California some serious issues regarding their prison system. Plata filed a lawsuit against the state of California because the conditions of the CDCR prisons were unconstitutional and violated the Eighth Amendment right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. This violation was due to the inadequate medical and mental care that inmates received or did not receive due to severe overcrowding. According to the Data Analysis Unit (2013), Weekly Population Report as of November 20, 2013, CDCR had a population of 191,633 offenders under CDCR supervision. The CDCR houses 125,753 of these inmates. California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a contract with three private, for-profit prisons located out of state to house thousands of California inmates. Arizona houses 3,347 inmates, Mississippi houses 2,660 and Oklahoma houses 2,296 inmates. Brown also signed three contracts at for-profit state private prisons with two separate entities. The CDCR supervises 48,544 parolees. These numbers are astonishing. CDCR facilities have reached and exceeded their maximum capacity in all 33 prisons. Three judges issued a ruling on the overcrowding issue that requires California to reduce its population to 137.5 percent of maximum capacity by February 24, 2014. Releasing low-risk inmates will reduce the population enough that there is no immediate concern regarding overcrowding. while the reevaluation of parole terms, conditions, policies and procedures and the implementation of the “Futures for Felons” program statewide will significantly affect the population long term and dramatically