A three-judge federal panel* announced a decision on Tuesday imposing a cap on the prison population that will force the state to release nearly 43,000 prisoners over the next two years.

The specter of 27,000 prisoners being released early for budget savings was bad enough, as we have been warning about for the past three months. The number 43,000 is simply staggering and wholly unacceptable.

This dangerous decision cannot go unchallenged. The LAPPL calls on Attorney General Jerry Brown to immediately appeal Tuesday’s ruling. The decision is an intrusion by federal courts into the affairs of the state that will lead to a major degradation of public safety while further eroding the state’s precarious economy.

*It is noteworthy that one of the judges who wrote this opinion was Stephen Reinhardt, the most reversed judge in the nation by the U.S. Supreme Court. He is frequently reversed 9-0, meaning that his rulings are far outside the bounds of reason and precedent. While we are not predicting a 9-0 reversal, we believe the Supreme Court will find Judge Reinhardt’s logic to be as poor in this case as in his numerous other reversed cases.