Every day, I will highlight some completely incredible statistic or fact that those of you who are interested in mass incarceration and the PIC might be interested to know. Today’s crazy fact of the day comes from the California Prison system.

California’s prison system incarcerates approximately 155,500 men and women in 33 prisons that were designed to house roughly half that many. California has the nation’s largest and the world’s third largest prison system. That’s right… California’s prisons are so overcrowded that the courts have ordered the governor to release 40,000 inmates.

For more about California’s overcrowded prisons, read Donald Specter's article about the state of California's prisons.