The state has submitted a plan to U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson.  It includes the reforms contained in legislation Governor Schwarzenegger signed this month:  building more than 50-thousand new prison and jail beds, new rehabilitation programs, and housing at least eight-thousand inmates in other states. 

“This basically is making a statement to the court that the state has put their act together.”

That’s Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton.  He says the plan also includes some fine-tuning of parole practices, which should reduce the inmate population.  He says he’s confident the judge will see the state’s made its best effort:

“We have a good plan laid out here and we expect the court to feel very good about it and we feel good about it.”

Judge Henderson ordered the state to come up with a plan to address overcrowding, or face a court-imposed cap on the inmate population.