California must reduce its prison population by nearly 43,000 inmates over the next two years. A three-judge panel made that ruling in early August, ordering the state to come up with a reduction plan by the middle of September.
While many critics focus on what the early release could mean for crime rates in California, health experts have another concern.
As those thousands of inmates return to communities all across the state, they will bring with them their HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis infections.
"In a paradoxical way, they do much better in jail than they do at home," Dr. Dean Winslow of the PACE clinic in San Jose told the Mercury News. "Because they're not actively doing drugs, they're eating three meals a day and they're usually under less stress in jail than on the outside."
Of course, the inmate's health is not the only concern. If an inmate, who likely is homeless and jobless when he or she is released, skips medication, that can cause viral loads to spike, the paper reports.
This makes it easier to transmit the infection, and makes patients more susceptible to other contagious viruses — like swine flu — that can then spread through the community.
With a two year deadline to reduce prison population and possible lawsuits lingering - most believe the issue of prison overcrowding is still several years away from seeing significant change.
