California's Prisons Only For Single Ladies Now

California is dumping nearly half of all women inmates in state prisons back into society, or at least into “house arrest.” The criteria is “Mothers who were convicted of non-serious, non-sexual crimes and have two years or less remaining on their sentences.” The inmates are being released, of course, because the courts declared the overcrowding of prisons way out of bounds. (30,000 must get transfered to county jails or released home — some will go to treatment programs or halfway houses.) The bill that helped plan the release of inmates very carefully included the phrase “primary caregiver” of children, so as to be gender-neutral — although, somehow, there are no plans yet to release men. Prepare for thousands of children to be ripped from foster care settings and reunited with their moms, who are unable to leave the house except for school or work. That sounds awesome, having a mom who’s always home. (Although I guess if you’re an angry teen, you can just run out and your mom can’t follow!) But really: see you again soon, courts! I truly look forward to the lawsuit where childless women still in prison sue the hell out of California.