Not every county uses the state penal system equally. When comparing the number of offenders being sent into packed cell blocks, by similar sized counties, great disparities are identified in a new study produced by California Watch.

San Bernardino, for instance, sent three times as many felony offenders to the state prison system as Alameda county, despite similar sizes and number of violent crimes. Expanding the field from two counties to a statewide picture, 18 counties sent as many prisoners out as did the other forty.

The disparities can be attributed to policy decisions made and enacted by various local law enforcement agencies.

However, the report is not without its critics.

From California Watch:

California has too many inmates, the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly everyone else agrees.

Orange-jumpsuited felons pack cell blocks, and row after row of bunk beds claim countless square feet in gymnasiums and other correctional buildings in the state’s 33 prisons.

The burden of paying for this system falls on all Californians.

Read the full article here.