If ever there's a time when it would be appropriate for a government to practice civil disobedience, the ongoing theater of the absurd between federal judges and the state of California over the state prison system just may be it.

Federal judges hearing cases regarding medical care and overcrowding in California's prisons have threatened to order the release of tens of thousands of prisoners if the state doesn't begin spending the billions of dollars on improving prison clinics ordered by the federal courts and their appointed prison overseer.

In the current economic meltdown, the state simply doesn't have that money -- a reality the federal judges seem blithely indifferent to. So now residents throughout California face the prospect of having their communities flooded with convicted criminals who haven't finished serving their sentences. Based on projections of 40,000 prisoners being released early over the next three years, North San Diego County and Southwest Riverside County could expect to see several thousand new parolees each.

The governor should respectfully refuse to carry out such an order from the federal judges.

His first obligation is to the people of his state. Keeping the communities of California safe is one of the most important roles with which he was entrusted.

Defying a court order is not to be undertaken lightly. Respect for rule of law is what allows all of us to live together in relative peace. If we all start ignoring lawful orders, anarchy is likely to be the result. One need look only a few dozen miles south to see what happens when an entire swath of society (in Mexico's case, the drug gangs) decide they no longer need obey the elected government and its appointees.

At the same time, it's not as if defying federal intrusion into state issues is without precedent. In passing a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana use, state voters clearly thumbed their collective noses at federal law.

And none of this is to suggest that state officials are blameless in the prison mess.

By any definition, our prisons are overcrowded, with more than 150,000 prisoners being held in facilities designed for 80,000.

And as the North County Times illustrated in a November series of articles titled "The Revolving Door," California's parole system is the worst in the nation at keeping ex-cons productively in society after release.

But simply releasing criminals from a broken prison system into a broken parole system is no solution at all.

Where's the larger justice in exposing the entire citizenry to additional crime because some judges think prisoners' rights are not fully protected behind bars?

A sober re-examination of our state's approach to crime is long past due. Our prison system is, as mentioned, incapable of rehabilitation. I realize many of us have little patience for warm, fuzzy talk of rehabbing criminals, but the cold reality is that if we don't give people hope for a decent life playing by the rules, then a kid who's a criminal at 17 will still be a criminal at 57.

Defy the judges now, but we still need to fix what is so obviously broken.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at jtrageser@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5408.