SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California began identifying certain vulnerable inmates as needing special protective housing starting in the late 1990s and created so-called Sensitive Needs Yards for those inmates beginning in early 2002.
However, an Associated Press investigation found that the yards have developed their own problems, helping to push California’s inmate homicide rate to double the national average.
The AP found that male sex offenders make up about 15 percent of the state’s prison population but accounted for nearly 30 percent of the 78 California prison killings reported by corrections officials since 2007.
___
WHAT ARE THEY?