California Prisons, Hunger Strikes and Overcrowding

A federal court has forced California to reduce its prison population by diverting more low-level offenders to county jails. But the state still has 9,600 too many prisoners, and they need to be moved out of crowded prisons by the end of the year. That may force the state to release as many as 1,000 prisoners before they have completed their sentences. At the same time, there are still hundreds of prisoners on hunger strike in protest against the Department of Corrections' use of solitary confinement. Paige St John has been following both of these stories for the Los Angeles Times.