A settlement plan to reduce chronic overcrowding in California prisons proposes to invest in more addiction treatment programs, as well as offering community service and other alternatives to incarceration, the San Francisco Chronicle reported May 20.

The California corrections system and prisoners, advocates, law enforcement and state officials are working with appointed court referees in an attempt to craft a solution to the overcrowding situation before a federal lawsuit goes to trial. The proposed settlement calls for prison populations to decline over the next three years, according to Los Angeles attorney and former judge Elwood Lui, one of the referees. "The idea is to make use of techniques to divert prisoners," he said.

The plan calls for placing parole violators in treatment programs instead of returning them to prison; having some low-risk offenders serve their time in county jail or on probation; electronic monitoring; and offering reduced sentences to inmates who complete drug treatment, vocational training and educational programs.

"It reduces the prison population by reducing crime -- putting people in programs rather than in prison," said Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Center.

"We're reviewing this as a potential compromise framework for resolving the prison overcrowding crisis and as an effective solution to protecting public safety," said Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.