And well established as a thing that happens at all times in California, but the real major culprit of that type is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, not the private prison industry.
> California's real problem is MASSIVE prison population
It's been declining for nearly a decade, and despite California being the largest-population state, it's got a smaller prison population than Texas. But, yes, the prison population is too high.
> Prison overcrowd is a feature of CA prison system.
This is true, though that has also been reduced as prison population has.
> I wish they ordered their priorities right and built enough prisons to house the population safely.
Better would be to reduce the prison population to the level that can be safely housed in the existing facilities. California's problem is too many prisoners, not too few prisons.
One alternative would be to reduce sentences for those crimes, but good luck getting the public to vote for any politician who would propose such a thing.
See https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html for some interesting stats on US prisons.
There's no reason to have over half a percentage of point of the entire population in prison. Almost no other country in the world does this.
Capping incarceration rates not only prevents prison overcrowding, but is a forcing function for policy changes that actually lower crime, as well as alternative sentencing options for non-violent crime (which almost always have better outcomes.)
But we also have other side of the equation - politicians willing to expand definition of "crime" to placate people's fears and emotions combined with prosecutors willing to throw the book to make and example and build a career on it, all while not appropriately funding the prisons.
California's real problem is MASSIVE prison population, where you have to BECOME a RACIST to survive the prison gangs. Prison overcrowd is a feature of CA prison system.
I wish they ordered their priorities right and built enough prisons to house the population safely.
This is one single step in a series of steps to get anywhere positive. Knowing their Governor and his political expedient past, I am skeptical.