Prison Ruling

So I was talking with a friend,which is how I get a lot of my ideas for classes, and one of the things we were discussing are the moral dilemmas that politicians are faced with everyday.  For example, consider the recent 5-4  Supreme Court decision to tell CA to cut their prison population by 30,000.  A large part of the reason it is so large is because of the mandatory sentencing as well as getting rid of parole.  So should that be eliminated or should we make people live in large gyms close together (or see video above from Al Jazeera)?  Here is a graphic that shows each CA prison and how much overpopulated they are (many are over 200% overpopulated). Do you agree with the Supreme Court's view that it is a violation of the 8th amendment and should we care in light of the fact that law abiding citizens are worried about retirement benefits and making ends meet?  The list could go on, but it does give the kids an insight into how difficult decision making can be.