Brown's Transformation of California Prisons Largely Unnoticed in Gubernatorial Race

The state's approach to criminal justice has gone in a new direction under Gov. Jerry Brown, driven in part by a court order to improve inmate health care and reduce the state's prison population. The problem dates back to 1990 and a lawsuit over the quality of mental health care for inmates. Underlying it all: too many prisoners and too few cells. In 2011, the Legislature passed the most fundamental reform of California's criminal justice system in more than a generation. It was called "realignment," and it transferred responsibility for tens of thousands of low-level criminals from state prisons to county jails and probation officers. How has realignment worked so far, and how hasn't it?