Orange County is tapping into its reserves to cover a Sheriff's Department budget shortfall blamed mostly on the state's prisoner realignment program.

The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to take $11.4 million from reserves to cover much of the department's deficit...

An Inland Empire lawmaker's bill, aimed at easing overcrowding in local jails by requiring that inmates serving sentences of three or more years automatically go to prison, was voted down in a Senate committee last week.

Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Riverside, introduced Senate Bill 1441 with the intent of amending legislation signed into law a year ago by Gov. Jerry Brown that allowed convicted felons to be sentenced to multiple years in counties' detention facilities, whereas before anyone sentenced to more than a year behind bars went to the penitentiary...

An attempt to allocate money toward recreational equipment at Merced County's juvenile detention facilities hit a wall this week during a Board of Supervisors meeting.

The move would've set aside $15,000 to buy the equipment, which would include an antenna to receive TV channels, pingpong tables, possibly foosball tables and similar equipment.

But such additions to Merced County's juvenile facilities will have to wait because the transfer of funds to pay for it, which required a four-fifths vote, failed on a 3 to 1 vote by the board...

Two men convicted of transporting 35 kilos of cocaine up Interstate 5 were each sentenced Friday to 13 years in "county jail prison," a new Sacramento record for the longest local term under the state's new realignment law.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence G. Brown said the sentences he handed down to David Ciarelli and Richard Wisneski "seems to flesh out and stretch out the contours of correctional realignment."

Brown said he had "no discretion" under the law but to sentence the two Los Angeles County men to county jail rather than state prison...

A state assembly bill intended to alleviate California’s fiscal burden of housing prison inmates has created a new, sub-class of criminal that has the potential to overwhelm law enforcement agencies if the law is implemented without promise of proper funding.

During an April 5 panel held at Mountain View Middle School in Beaumont, several participants discussed the implications of Assembly Bill 109, which essentially stipulated the transfer of criminals from state prison back to their home communities, starting back in October 2011. County jails are being forced to make room for more inmates due to the fact that state prisons will no longer be accepting inmates for misdemeanors and “lesser” offenses — by releasing some of their own inmates...

The dusty West Texas ranch town of Anson, once known for its no-dancing law made famous in the 1984 movie "Footloose," has a dubious new claim to fame: the Jail to Nowhere.

Completed almost two years ago to house 1,100 state convicts who never arrived, the $35 million lockup sits empty at the edge of the town of about 2,300 people. Its promise of creating 195 jobs and a $5 million annual boost to the local economy is just a distant, and bitter, memory for most folks.

"It's been a huge disappointment," said Jones County Judge Dale Spurgin, who has lobbied state officials for two years without success for help to avoid an approaching default on the bonds that were issued to build the lockup....

Trinity County supervisors voted unanimously last week to approve a major reorganization of the county Probation Department, adding five new positions to help deal with a caseload that’s rising much faster than predicted under the statewide public safety realignment plan.

Known as AB 109 and in place since last October, the realignment program changed the sentencing requirements for certain non-serious, non-violent and non-sexual crimes from state prison to county jails to reduce overcrowding in the state facilities. The program also shifts parole responsibilities from the state to the counties for those inmates upon release from prison....

Riverside County supervisors are expected to formally accept Tuesday a $100 million state grant that would help expand jails and plan how to pay the 10 percent match.

The board also will discuss how to pay for the proposed expansion of the Indio jail, which could cost up to $237 million, requiring a $130 million commitment of county cash and smaller in-kind matches...

At more than 50 years old, the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center doesn't look ready for a new era in criminal justice.

Some of RCCC's buildings are decrepit. Some cells have bars instead of secured doors, a relic of construction at older prisons such as Alcatraz.

But look past the tall fences with razor wire and the center's nine jail facilities, and you can see a range of activities aimed at preparing inmates for life after lockup...

Narcotics Detectives with the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Special Investigations Bureau have arrested five subjects following an investigation into the delivery of illegal narcotics into the Santa Barbara County Jail through the U.S. Postal Service.

Narcotics Detectives became aware of the illegal activity after mail laced with methamphetamine was discovered as it was being sent to a subject that was in custody at the Main Jail facility. Through their investigation, it was determined that the girlfriend of the subject in custody was responsible for the methamphetamine laced mail.

Narcotics Detectives subsequently conducted a search warrant last Thursday in the 4500 block of Auhay Drive, Santa Barbara. As a result of the investigation and service of the search warrant, the following five subjects were arrested...

Eleven California counties will be getting millions of dollars from the state to help pay for expanding their jail facilities as responsibility for lower-level criminals shifts from state prisons to county lockups.

State prison officials say $602 million will be handed out for county jail construction or expansion projects.

The awards include $100 million each to Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties...

Sergeant Robert Goyeneche says the atmosphere at the Siskiyou County Jail is getting more  criminally sophisticated, with politics more like what’s commonly seen in state prisons.

County officials say this is  the biggest change they’ve seen since the state’s public safety realignment went into effect nearly four months ago.

Under realignment, parolees (now officially referred to as Post-Release Community Supervision participants, or PRCS) cannot be sent back to state prison unless they commit a new serious felony...

Fresno County Jail inmate Jose Cuevas last week drove a pencil into the neck of cellmate Troy Phillips 22 times, according to Sheriff's Office reports.

While sheriff's officials still are searching for a motive in the attack, it's the latest in an uptick of jail violence that they say likely is tied to new responsibilities handed down by the state...

In the midst of most government budgets continuing to be cut or stabilizing at best, there is one program growing here in Shasta County — a program for county residents convicted of low-level offenses.

This statewide effort reflects a fundamental shift from incarceration in state prisons to incarceration and rehabilitation at the county level. For Shasta County, the impact will be significant. The number of offenders is large. Equally challenging is the necessary change in attitude. For an area like ours where personal responsibility and limited government are strongly held beliefs, creating the appropriate service network and supervision for low-level offenders to build productive lives may, unfortunately, be of low priority...

After being released from Madera County jail, a man assaulted a Chowchilla police officer in a case that highlights the Central Valley's struggle to deal with prison reform.

When Jesus Sotelo, 34, was arrested earlier this month over interference with an officer from the Chowchilla Police Department, he was on parole in Merced.

Chowchilla police booked him at the Madera County Jail. But unlike in the past, when the parole violator would have been shipped back to state prison, Sotelo was released the next day...

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors chair said last week the county will continue to feel Gov. Jerry Brown’s ongoing push to help slash California’s deficit by shifting some of the state’s responsibilities to local governments.

In his State of the State speech, Brown said that last year California was facing “a structural deficit” of more than $20 billion.

“It was a real mess,” he said. “But you rose to the occasion and together we shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs, and transferred key functions to local government, closer to the people..."

While Yolo County officials have more figures concerning prison realignment, the full effects won't be known for at least several more months, if not years.

Chief Probation Officer Marjorie Rist presented the latest update on AB 109 to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Prison realignment, which was implemented in October, transfers the state's responsibility for non-violent, non-sexual and non-serious inmates to county jurisdictions.

As of Dec. 11, Yolo County had 89 parolees on post-release community supervision, said Kevin O'Connell, a probation department data analyst. This is 16 more than expected...

California prison officials have failed to monitor and protect hundreds of disabled parolees in county jails, some of whom have been denied such basic aids as canes and wheelchairs and aren't allowed to file grievances, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland said she first pointed out the state's failure to meet the needs of parolees with disabilities in a ruling more than a decade ago. But officials have done little to comply and are now trying to duck responsibility, she said.

There is "overwhelming and disturbing evidence" that disabled inmates are being "denied access to housing, programs and services" because of the state's violations of disability laws, Wilken said...

The Los Angeles County Probation Department has not fulfilled seven federally ordered reforms at its youth camps.

A report released late last week by federal monitors found that the agency still needs to improve staffing levels at some of its 14 camps, improve how it identifies youths who have mental problems and do a better job of evaluating and treating youths with medical problems, among other issues.

The probation department, which houses and works to rehabilitate about 2,200 of the area's most troubled youths, has been under federal oversight for almost a decade. As part of a 2008 deal, federal officials threatened to take over the department unless it complied with 41 reforms...

A Republican lawmaker who opposes shifting supervision of many felons from the state to counties voiced concern Wednesday over the arrest of a Sacramento man this week on sexual assault charges a month after he was released from state prison.

Aaron Suggs had been designated a non-serious, nonviolent felon when he was released from state prison Dec. 8 after serving a sentence for drug possession. That designation resulted in his supervision, upon release, being assigned to the Sacramento County Probation Department rather than state parole agents under a program adopted by the state last year to cut its costs...

County parole departments in California are in the third month of trying to integrate former prison inmates into county probation systems. Such inmates are classified as non-violent, non-serious, non-sex-offenders.  So far, Sacramento County has processed 700 of them, including one man, Aaron Suggs, who was arrested this week for sexually assaulting a woman and robbing her in her home.  

Suggs was released to Sacramento County Probation as a non-serious offender under the state's new "re-alignment" policy.  He had been in prison for drugs. 

Alan Seeber is with Sacramento County probation.  He says the state's classification of some parolees is flawed...

The plan to move inmates from overcrowded state prisons into county correctional situations is still a work in progress.

This Tuesday night, a countywide town hall meeting in Redwood City will address what's been done so far in San Mateo County, and request public input on where we should be going.

"Yes, it will be two-way discussion," says San Mateo County Chief Probation Officer Stuart Forrest. "Now that we have more specifics of expectations and assumptions surrounding this population, we've begun working on the local plan."

AB 109, signed by Governor Jerry Brown last year, pushed so-called "low-level" inmates out of state prisons, and into the hands of counties throughout California...

Even though more than 1,000 jail beds sit empty in Santa Clara County, a new report is calling for a $104 million jail expansion and overhaul that would require millions of dollars more each year to staff.

While any expansion defies logic at first glance, counties across California are lining up to revamp their jails as thousands of nonviolent inmates who would have been sent to state prison are locked up in jails under the state's massive new realignment plan to relieve prison overcrowding. And the competition for limited state funds is fierce, leading Santa Clara County to worry it might lose out to others whose lockups are jam-packed...

As California begins shifting supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated. And mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate — and often costly — treatment.

"At the start, every day ... there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "There was somebody we didn't know what to do with."

In some cases, he said, released inmates have had to be immediately transferred to hospitals or residential centers for psychiatric care...

The state’s prison inmate population is shrinking, but the number of convicted criminals housed inside Riverside County jails is growing, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

“As of January 5, 2012, the Sheriff's Department's jails are housing 735 inmates who would have been sent to state prison for felony court convictions or violations of their state parole,” according to a Friday news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

Federal courts have forced California to reduce its inmate population as a way to better care for those incarcerated in what is the nation’s largest prison system. The state has been blasted by the courts for overcrowding and lack of inmate health care in its prison system...

The wave of inmates arriving in Orange County jails as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the state correctional system slowed in December, as local law-enforcement officials continued to adjust to increased responsibility for confining and monitoring convicts.

After two months of inmates arriving faster than expected in Orange County jails, the number of newly sentenced prisoners and those sent away for parole violations began to taper off last month, said Cmdr. Steve Kea of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

In an effort to ease crowding in the California prison system, state officials in October began requiring county law-enforcement agencies to house more nonviolent, non-sex-offender inmates in local jails...

Plumas County’s public safety system is already feeling the effects of the state’s Assembly Bill 109 inmate realignment.

The number of prisoners and parolees in the county’s corrections system has been steadily rising since AB 109 went into effect Oct. 1.

Inmates considered to be “non-violent,” who were formerly sent to state prisons, are now the responsibility of the counties...

Even without a formal invitation to apply for up to $100 million in state money, county officials still hope the plan for a new 576-bed jail in Redwood City can still quality for the construction funds if other counties drop out.

Circumstances haven’t changed since San Mateo County learned in late October it ranked low compared to other competing counties but could be different after next month’s deadline for complete applications, said Assistant Sheriff Trisha Sanchez.

If higher ranking counties don’t submit applications or further down the road aren’t ready with matching local funds or a site, San Mateo County might move closer to qualifying...

Two months into a “realignment” program that diverts some state prisoners to local custody, San Luis Obispo County is seeing slightly more than the expected number of inmates.

Many prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes began serving their sentences in county jails Oct. 1 as a result of the state’s ongoing multibillion dollar deficits and a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring the state to lower its prison population by 30,000...

By this coming summer, most of the beds in the Calaveras County Jail will be occupied by inmates who would previously have been in state prisons, Calaveras County District Attorney Barbara Yook said last week.

Yook said she estimates that 40 of the jail's 65 beds will be occupied by offenders who would have served that time in prison before realignment - a process under which California is reducing its state prison population.

Yook made her remarks Friday in Angels Camp during a workshop on a variety of criminal justice issues for representatives of local media outlets....

The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health wants to connect with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisoners immediately after their release to get a handle on cases of tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis.

"We want to address treatment and prevent it from spreading and becoming a widespread community issue," said Trudy Raymundo, interim public health department director.

Health department officials hope to connect with prisoners released under the provisions of AB 109 at the three Day Reporting Centers to be established in Rancho Cucamonga, the High Desert and San Bernardino...

What started as the dubious drug bust of a beloved, elderly Mill Valley merchant — a case that rattled many in this bucolic burb — is morphing into a clash about vegetarian rights. Dave McDonald, 70, of Mill Valley, has been a vegetarian for 42 years. But when he was jailed recently for 99 days on drug-related charges (most of which were later dropped), McDonald was denied vegetarian meals.

He refused to eat anything that he did not know was animal-free, and as a result, his weight plummeted nearly 50 pounds to 155...

The Probation Department, not the Sheriff's Department, will supervise the thousands of parolees to be released in Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors has decided.

The agencies had presented competing plans to oversee the parolees, while the county's chief executive had proposed a compromise that would divide authority for the former prison inmates.

The supervisors this week decided that the Probation Department had the experience and expertise to handle the expected influx of some 8,000 parolees...

Alameda County’s incarceration system may struggle to support the coming influx of inmates this July as California shifts the supervision of its prisoners from state to local facilities in order to meet a court-ordered prison population reduction strategy.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that overcrowding in California’s 33 prisons has caused conditions that amount to “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling ordered California to reduce its prison population by 32,000 over the next two years.

A process called “realignment” could satisfy this mandate by keeping future inmates convicted of nonviolent, nonsexual, non-serious crimes in county jails instead of sending them to state prison.  In the meantime, some current inmates will be permanently shifted from federal prisons to local jails. These inmates will serve out their entire sentence in local jails, while other inmates with low-offence violations will be released early to ease the burden on the penal system...