Los Angeles - A panel of federal judges indicated Monday that they would order the state of California to release up to 58,000 prisoners to relieve extreme overcrowding in the state's penitentiaries.

The panel said that overcrowding in the cash-strapped prison system was unconstitutional, because it causes inmates to die regularly from suicide or lack of appropriate medical care.

The judges said that the system would need to be reduced from double its capacity at present to a maximum of 145 per cent of designed capacity within two to three years, and called on state officials to come up with an appropriate plan.

The state's 33 prisons hold 159,000 inmates, and the judges said they believe the prisons can only safely operate at between 101,000 and 122,000, a potential reduction of 37,000 to 58,000 inmates.

"There is ... uncontroverted evidence that, because of overcrowding, there are not enough clinical facilities or resources to accommodate inmates with medical or mental health needs at the level of care they require," the judges wrote.

"There is no relief other than a prisoner release order that can remedy the constitutionally inadequate medical and mental health care," the panel ruled.

The panel suggested that by increasing sentence reductions for good behavior, turning over low-risk prisoners with little time left to serve to county jails, and relaxing parole, the state could comply with the order without harming public safety. They said the state would save nearly 1 billion dollars a year, money that could be used for local prisoner housing and rehabilitation. (dpa)