Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that determined overcrowded conditions in the California prison system constituted cruel and unusual punishment and ordered the state implement steps to release 38,000 to 46,000 prisoners.

David Fathi, director of the ACLU's National Prison Project, said in a statement:
The Supreme Court has done the right thing by acknowledging what even the state itself has not disputed — that the egregious and extreme overcrowding in California’s prisons contributes to a failure by the state to keep its prisoners safe by providing the basic levels of medical and mental health care mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Today’s decision crystallizes the urgent need for California to invest in meaningful parole and sentencing reforms and alternatives to incarceration, especially for low-level, non-violent offenders. Reducing the number of people in prison not only would save state taxpayers half a billion dollars annually, it would lead to the implementation of truly rehabilitative programs that lower recidivism rates and create safer communities.

Unfortunately, this decision will not have any bearing outside of California, but it does call attention to the massive prison state that the United States has become. 

The ACLU has long been working on this issue, check out Combating Mass Incarceration.