Zimbabwe: America's trendsetter state?

What does a Third-World country do when it can no longer afford to house and feed its criminals? It has to let them go:

President Robert Mugabe has pardoned 1,500 inmates, more than 10 percent of the prison population, as Zimbabwe struggles to provide them with food and water, an official said Wednesday.

Mugabe granted amnesty to 1,544 prisoners, mainly women and juveniles, as well as people with terminal illnesses, said the permanent secretary in the justice ministry David Mangota.

"The Zimbabwe Prison Service has faced challenges in... provision of prisoners' rations, clothing and bedding, toiletries and transport among others," Mangota told the official New Ziana news agency.

"As a short-term relief option... a proposal to have a general amnesty was granted to inmates," he added.

So it only makes sense that this almost-Third-World country would have to respond the same way to the same problem:

The Sacramento Bee reports that the inmate release from prison measure could save the cash strapped state as much as $1.2 billion. About 27,300 prison inmates could benefit from the early release program, if the Democratic majority of the California legislature gets its way ...

Well, at least we're not facing currency devaluation like Zimbabwe.

Uh-oh...