California prison conditions

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that the living conditions in overcrowded California prisons threatened inmates' health and violated constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment.
PBS Newshour's Marcia Coyle explains the ruling here. 7:34 min, transcript, .mp3
On NPR's All Things Considered, Nina Totenberg reports here. 4:59 min, transcript, .mp3
The name of the case is now Brown v. Plata, but was previously Schwarzenegger v. Plata. Arnold Schwarzenneger was the original petitioner as Governor of California, but was replaced by the current governor, Jerry Brown.
Presentations by opposing counsel, Carter Phillips and Paul Clement, two of the most able Supreme Court practitioners, can be found here (9-10 min each, no transcripts). The recordings of the oral arguments themselves, with Donald Specter (not Paul Clement) arguing for the respondents, can be found at this Oyez site (1h20min, transcripts).
Justice Scalia wrote a dissent and delivered rare oral remarks when the opinion was announced. The recordings of the oral announcements will be posted later on the Oyez site.
The Court's opinion is unusual because it includes three photos taken inside the prisons.
With this ruling, the Supreme Court has begun to release opinions in the most contentious of this term's cases before its summer break which starts at the end of June.

What aspects of the American legal system are unique? New York Times legal correspondent Adam Liptak was interviewed on NPR's program, Fresh Air, May 8th about his series of articles in the NY Times describing parts of the American justice system which are unique, in particular high U.S. incarceration rates, bail bonds for people accused of crimes, punitive damages, and life sentences for juveniles. 25 min. no transcript

Is Guantanamo going to be closed soon? NPR's All Things Considered (June 23) has these reports - "Deciding the Future of Guantanamo" and "Military Lawyer Questions Guantanamo Hearings" here - the second story has a lot of text to help you.

Law in Action's fall series opens Oct. 3 Law in Action, on BBC's Radio 4, begins its fall season October 3rd. The recording will be available for one week at the programme's site In the first week of the series, Clive Coleman talks about the growth in the prison population, rehabilitation of offenders, and the bigger question - does prison work? Also mentioned is a story that was much in the news in England - the scandal of the cleaner and the judges, and finally whether, in divorce cases, the the "mistress" or the "other man" should continue to be named in court.