Early Release
January 31, 2012
Deputies: Realignment parolee caught with stolen property
Deputies said they caught a man who was recently paroled because of realignment after he allegedly stole several items from a Shasta Lake home.
David Weston Allen Jones, 27, allegedly stole several miscellaneous items and clothing from a home on the 4100 block of Willamette Street at around 11 a.m. today, said Tom Short, a sergeant with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office...
LINK - Redding.com
January 26, 2012
Sheriff releases inmates to avoid overcrowding
A recent surge in the population at county jails has prompted Sheriff Bill Gore to start shaving up to 10 percent off jail terms for some inmates to avoid overcrowding.
The number of men held in custody this month in San Diego County swelled to 96 percent of capacity. Most of the increase can be traced to a law Gov. Jerry Brown sought and the Legislature approved last year that allows some lower-level criminals to be sentenced to local jail instead of state prison.
Around Jan. 19, Gore authorized the release of about 260 inmates, most of whom were serving misdemeanor sentences or were nonviolent felons ordered to serve jail time as a condition of probation. The average number being released now is about 35 to 40 a day, he said...
LINK - UTSanDiego.com
January 17, 2012
Oft-released nonviolent offender now accused in mail-theft ring
The accused woman at the center of a recently busted fraud and mail-theft ring has spent the last decade in and out of prison for forging checks.
Tracy Lynn Cross benefited from a state law that allows people who are convicted of less serious, nonviolent crimes to receive one day credit for each day in prison.
As California struggles to reduce its prison population, Cross is just the kind of person who public safety officials talk reassuringly about releasing — a nonviolent offender...
LINK - MyDesert.com
January 14, 2012
Washington: Lawmakers likely to reject prisoners’ early release as money-saver
With lawmakers showing little interest in letting hundreds of prisoners out early to save money, Washington State Reformatory's future as a medium security prison appears less in doubt.
Gov. Chris Gregoire put forth the idea of releasing inmates early, and, as those beds emptied, the state could close one unit at the reformatory and convert three others into less costly minimum security facilities. Roughly $12 million could be saved in this budget.
Lawmakers are giving her proposal a cold shoulder so far in a session that runs through early March...
LINK - HeraldNet.com
January 7, 2012
Early Release Possible For Inmates As Local Jails Fill
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...
LINK - LakeElsinore-Wildomar.Patch.com
January 4, 2012
County seeks input on realignment
After months of wrestling with public safety realignment, the county’s Probation Department is asking the public for its thoughts on how best to implement the state’s budget-balancing plan that shifted low-level state prisoners to local jails and parolees to local supervision.
Probation Chief Stuart Forrest and a mix of other stakeholders like judges and those in law enforcement, health and education have been meeting for months even before realignment officially began in October. They hoped to meet the switch head on with a smooth transition. Now, with the process a reality, the collective known as the Community Corrections Partnership is holding a town hall meeting prior to the final draft of the county’s own plan coming together in February...
LINK - SMDailyJournal.com
December 9, 2011
County officials hope to offer health treatment, prevention information to early-release prisoners
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...
LINK - RedlandsDailyFacts.com
December 9, 2011
First group of released prisoners hit the streets
The early release of 150 San Bernardino County jail inmates due to the state's prisoner realignment law generated mixed reactions among law enforcement and educators.
But the county's sheriff said Friday that it's a necessity at a time of serious overcrowding in the wake of the new law.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday that it planned to release the inmates between Friday and Wednesday because the county's jail populations are nearing capacity...
LINK - SBSun.com
December 8, 2011
Early Jail Releases – More Serious Crime?
It’s becoming more difficult to keep accused criminals locked up.
It’s bad now, and may only get worse.
Fresno County is getting state inmates. The county was supposed to get 560 inmates in the first year of prison realignment. They got 600 in the first two months.
Some of those who are released early are committing more serious crimes.
39-year-old James Whitaker had been arrested for a series of burglaries. He was released after just a few hours in the Fresno County jail. Four days later, he allegedly held up a bank...
LINK - CBS47.tv
September 13, 2011
CDCR to release thousands of female prisoners early
Drastically redefining incarceration in California, prison officials are about to start releasing thousands of female inmates who have children to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.
The move, which could affect nearly half the women held in state facilities, will help California meet a court-imposed deadline to make space in its chronically overcrowded prisons. The policy could be extended to male inmates in the near future, administrators said Monday.
Mothers who were convicted of non-serious, non-sexual crimes — and have two years or less remaining on their sentences — could start going home as early as next week, prisons spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. The women would be required to wear GPS-enabled ankle bracelets and report to parole officers...
LINK - LATimes.com
July 24, 2011
Pressley, Bowler on parole reforms
The Bee's editorial spoke to the pathetic lapses in parole supervision. Unfortunately supervision is just one part of the process. While parolee supervision stays in the news – a state prison parolee who had his ankle monitor removed by his parole agent in an attempt to save money was involved in a home invasion and shootout in a Rancho Cordova neighborhood – the real issue is the lack of rehabilitation for our inmate population. Is this a harbinger of things to come under Assembly Bill 109, the new state law that transfers parolee supervision to California's counties?
The trials and tribulations of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Its missteps and its continuation of failed parole policies have cost state government and particularly CDCR the support of the electorate...
LINK - SacBee.com
July 16, 2011
U.S. Supreme Court ruling threatens state fire camps
The U.S Supreme Court ruling requiring California to reduce its prison population has thrown the future of the state's decades-old inmate firefighter program into question amid a budget crisis that already has Cal Fire struggling with staffing cuts.
In May, the court ordered California officials to cut by roughly 33,000 the number of inmates in the state's prison system over the next two years. The decision stems from a finding that crowding has led to inadequate physical and mental health services for inmates.
To address the problem and comply with the ruling, Gov. Jerry Brown put forth "realignment" -- a plan to transfer certain nonviolent convicts to county jails and other community-based facilities around the state. Under realignment, many of the more than 4,000 offenders who make up California's 200 inmate crews would be moved out of the state system...
LINK - PE.com
July 13, 2011
CDCR to ask Court for more time next week?
Next week, California is expected to ask a federal court for more time to comply with its order to reduce the number of inmates in the overcrowded prison system.
It's not the first time the state has asked for a delay, but it may be the first time the request actually includes a plan to fix the problem.
This spring, the Legislature and the governor agreed to divert new inmates to county jails, rather than sending them to state prisons. Last month, Democratic lawmakers came through with the missing piece of the plan: Money to pay for it...
LINK - TheReporter.com
July 11, 2011
How prisoner release could benefit California - op-ed
Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito appealed to fear with their dissents to the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 23 decision ordering California to shed more than 30,000 inmates from its bloated system.
Alito predicted a “grim roster of victims” resulting from willy-nilly early release of prisoners; Scalia imagined tens of thousands of “happy-go-lucky felons” on the loose, many with “intimidating muscles” developed while “pumping iron in the prison gym.” It is true that the court’s decision places the state in a bind, yet it should be an opportunity to carry out proven reforms that will make California’s criminal justice system more just and improve public safety.
The current system, which holds more than 150,000 people in quarters meant for 80,000, is failing both inmates and taxpayers. Although California spends billions on incarceration, its recidivism rate is the second highest in the nation: 58 percent of released inmates return to prison within three years. The Pew Center on the States reports that 40 percent of these returns are for violations of parole rules such as missing appointments with a parole officer or failing a drug test -- not for new crimes...
LINK - Bloomberg.com
July 4, 2011
Local law enforcement readies for state inmates
In just three months, Superior Court judges will start sending low-level felony offenders to county jail, instead of state prison, and law enforcement officials here are bracing for the event.
Some say the state’s decision to require local jails to house and supervise certain nonviolent criminals — one of the cost-saving measures used to balance the state budget by July 1 — is the biggest change to the local criminal justice system in at least 25 years.
“This is a major shift in public safety in the state of California,” Sheriff Bill Gore said. “And it’s happening so fast.”
Gore and other county leaders have been meeting for months to figure out how the plan will work. One thing is certain: They’ll have far less funding than they had hoped for...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com
July 4, 2011
Three Strikes changes possible
The luckiest woman in California may not be the Alameda secretary who recently won $93 million in the lottery, or the Marin woman who survived a Maui shark attack.
By some accounts, she's Kelly Turner, a 42-year-old former thief once doomed by the state's tough Three Strikes Law to spend 25 years to life in state prison for writing a bad check for $146.16. Retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell, now San Jose's independent police auditor, got the courts to release her after Turner spent 13 years locked up. She's believed to be the only female "third-striker" ever to get out early.
"She's turned her life around," Cordell said...
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
July 1, 2011
Court gives CA strict deadline to reduce prison population
A three-judge court that has ordered California to reduce its prison population issued strict deadlines Thursday for what will amount to a reduction of 37,000 inmates in two years.
The special panel of federal judges set June 27, 2013, as the deadline for compliance, paying little heed to the U.S. Supreme Court's call for flexibility. In May, the high court cited California's cash crisis in suggesting that officials might need more time to resolve the overcrowding problem...
LINK - LATimes.com
June 23, 2011
CA state Senator Doug LaMalfa on early prisoner release
The formula for releasing prisoners and cutting cops is not a smart one.” Attorney General Jerry Brown, Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2009.
I agree, and I trust that now-Governor Brown will stand behind those words. For without a doubt, the principle responsibility of government is to protect its citizens from those who would do us harm.
Yet, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that California must somehow reduce its prison population by approximately 33,000 inmates, and the first question becomes: Which ones?...
LINK - SiskiyouDaily.com
June 15, 2011
Fate unclear for Calif. inmate firefighting crews
State officials in California are concerned that a move to save money and reduce the state's prison population will have major consequences during firefighting season, jeopardizing a program that puts 4,300 state prison inmates on the front lines of wildland blazes each year.
The inmate crews provide a vital work force in a state where wildfires burn hundreds of homes and tens of thousands of acres in a typical year and have become even more important as budget cuts have reduced the number of seasonal firefighters employed by the state.
It's the largest such program in the nation, with inmates making up nearly half of California's wildland firefighters. But it's endangered by Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shift responsibility for tens of thousands of lower-level offenders from state prisons to county jails to save the state money and to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a lower court in ordering California to reduce overcrowding in its prison system...
LINK - SFGate.com
June 7, 2011
CDCR: 3-Judge Court Order Requiring Reduction in Prison Crowding
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today submitted a report to the federal Three-Judge Court updating it on prison crowding reduction measures that the state has taken, or plans to take, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on May 23, 2011. This decision requires California to reduce inmate crowding within its 33 adult institutions to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two years, or by May 24, 2013.
“California has already reduced its prison population significantly over the past several years. Today, we have the lowest crowding levels in California’s prisons since 1995,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “Our goal is to meet the Court’s order by continuing to reduce prison crowding while still holding offenders accountable...
LINK - CDCRToday.BlogSpot.com
June 6, 2011
CDCR policy - release criminal aliens without parole hold?
Criminals find their way to Colorado prisons from Mongolia, Iraq, the Czech Republic, the Fiji Islands and 75 other nations.
Those foreign inmates will likely be eligible for deportation as soon as their sentences are complete. In the meantime, they are among the fastest-growing segments of the state's prison population and a growing drain on already-scarce resources at the Department of Corrections.
Since 2005, the number of Colorado's foreign-born inmates has increased 51 percent to 1,953...
LINK - DenverPost.com
June 4, 2011
Delano, Coalinga public CCFs set to close (over 1,100 beds vacant)
California has a huge prisoner surplus. Meanwhile, the state is shedding low-cost inmate beds.
Huh?
"It just doesn't make sense," said Delano City Manager Abdel Salem.
Some 594 beds at the city-owned Delano Community Correctional Facility are headed for mothballs when a state contract ends in August. About 87 workers will be laid off, worsening the city's 38 percent unemployment rate...
LINK - Bakersfield.com
May 31, 2011
“Three-strikes” opponents see hope in SCOTUS ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week requiring California to cut its prison population by more than 33,000 inmates within two years could boost efforts to modify or repeal the state’s three-strikes law, which some say keeps nonviolent offenders in prison for far too long.
The law, approved by voters and the Legislature in 1994, significantly increased prison terms for repeat offenders with previous convictions for violent or serious felonies as defined by state law, putting some behind bars for life.
Opponents of the three-strikes law have argued for years that it is overly harsh and keeps people in prison decades after they stop being dangerous — because of age, medical problems or both — exacerbating the state’s prison overcrowding problem...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com
May 31, 2011
Promoting private prisons in CA, but getting the facts, analysis wrong
On May 23, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata, affirmed lower court rulings that ordered California to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent, or to 109,805 from 143,436 prisoners within two years. (California’s prisons are designed to house a population of just under 80,000.)
The decision was based on evidence that prisoners were being deprived of basic medical care caused by overcrowding. The Court noted, for example, that there were high vacancy rates for medical care (20 percent for surgeons) and medical health care (54.1 percent for psychiatrists). And the state had not budgeted for sufficient staff and, even if vacant staff positions were filled, there is not enough space for them. The Supreme Court ruled that the state had violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments.”
Governor Jerry Brown’s response to prison overcrowding is to shift low-risk inmates from state-run prisons to counties as set forth in Assembly Bill 109 signed into law last month. But, of course, the legislature and counties must find the money to move inmates to county facilities, many of which are already overcrowded, to comply with the Supreme Court decision without putting criminals back on the street. AB 109 will be at best a short-term solution to California’s overcrowded prison system...
LINK - FogCityJournal.com
May 31, 2011
New 6,100-bed prison plans shelved in wake of SCOTUS decision
As the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California officials last week to significantly reduce prison overcrowding, a proposal to build a new 6,100-bed state prison in Adelanto sits on hold, according to city officials.
Officials from the High Desert city had been in discussions with the state for a couple years to build a new prison on a 226-acre site near Highway 395, according to City Manager Jim Hart. But those talks stalled when the state elected a new governor in November.
Gov. Jerry Brown's administration has told Hart that resources are focused on the state's budget, Hart said...
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
May 31, 2011
Woodford, Krisberg: “Don’t fear the prison (release) decision”
In his dissent from the majority in the recent Supreme Court decision requiring California to reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates, Justice Antonin Scalia warned that "terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order."
But Californians shouldn't panic. The state won't have to throw open the prison doors to meet the court's order if it embraces very modest sentencing reforms.
Prudent ideas for reducing the prison population have been advocated by various task forces, including ones led by former Gov. George Deukmejian, by former Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and by a national panel of corrections experts convened by the Legislature. The California Department of Corrections has already submitted a plan to the federal courts detailing how it expects to make the necessary prison population reductions...
LINK - LATimes.com
May 24, 2011
Q&A with CDCR’s Matt Cate on SCOTUS decision to reduce CA inmate population
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that California must reduce prison overcrowding, potentially by releasing tens of thousands of inmates to correct the persistent violation of inmate rights. Soon after the ruling, some lawmakers and officials began predicting that chaos would overrun the streets as inmates were released en masse to comply with the ruling. The Prison Law Office’s Rebekah Evenson, who helped litigate the suit, disagreed:
What we have seen over the past years is that a number of high-level officials in California government and officials from states all over the country have demonstrated that there are many safe and effective ways to reduce prison populations without increasing crime. So we’re very hopeful that this is going to be taken as an opportunity to take this positive step forward to not just fix what’s wrong in California’s prisons but to start to address the public safety aspects as well...
LINK - KALWNews.org
May 24, 2011
Reaction to Supreme Court ruling on Calif prisons
Response from some California officials to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Monday that the state must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding.
- "As we work to carry out the Court's ruling, I will take all steps necessary to protect public safety." - Gov. Jerry Brown.
- "These offenders will be returning to our communities perhaps sooner than we'd planned." - Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione, president of the California State Association of Counties, urging state lawmakers to make sure counties have the money to provide public safety and rehabilitation services.
- "If we don't do it smart, we could have all those people come back for additional crimes. We may ultimately have to build more prisons anyway, but I don't think we want to get cornered into that box." - Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association...
LINK - SacBee.com
May 3, 2011
Early-release program already costing local govt million$
The state's early release of non-violent prisoners has cost Los Angeles County about $10 million over the last 15 months, according to a new report.
The state's decision to save money by granting low-level prisoners "non-revocable parole" and letting them out of jail before they had served their entire sentence has put a burden on the county's Mental Health and Sheriff's departments, according to the report from county Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka.
He calculated that between Jan. 1, 2010 and March 25, 2011, the county's Department of Mental Health spent about $9.56 million to serve early release prisoners who had been dropped by the state's Parole Mental Health facilities...
LINK - DailyNews.com
March 3, 2011
Three Strikes, CCPOA, Prison Overcrowding and Early Release
Roney Nunez positioned and repositioned his wheelchair just so, reached down with his right hand and began scratching at the linoleum floor, focusing intensely on the task.
Why was not apparent.
Oblivious to the world outside, Nunez didn't gaze up at the half-dozen people gathered on the other side of the steel and hardened glass door to his cell, 4½ feet by 11 feet.
"He doesn't know who he is, or where he is," Dr. Joseph Bick told me as he offered a glimpse into the complexities of the Vacaville state prison, the California Medical Facility, where he is chief of medicine...
LINK - SacBee.com
October 18, 2010
CDCR admits “flaws” - non-revocable parolees causing problems
...At the time of his arrest, Diaz was the beneficiary of "non-revocable parole" status. California categorizes thousands of parolees as NRPs each month if they meet certain key criteria and are deemed "non-serious and nonviolent" offenders.
NRP status can change a parolee's life dramatically, and often for the better. Parole officers stop monitoring them. They are free to travel. And unless they commit another crime -- and are rearrested, retried and reconvicted -- the state can't send them back to prison for routine technical violations of any kind.
The law's proponents argue it is a commendable attempt to give nonviolent felons a chance to thrive after prison.
Critics contend the law is defective and even dangerous, and has enabled scores of violent criminals to roam free and unchecked across California, committing crimes that might never have happened if they had been under active parole supervision...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
October 15, 2010
Crime Victims United of CA sues Gov to block early inmate releases
Representatives from a crime victims advocacy group argued in court Friday that a new law allowing the release of some prison inmates before they complete their original sentences violates victims’ constitutional rights.
Lawyers for Crime Victims United of California asked a judge to impose a preliminary injunction barring the state from continuing an “early release program,” which the group claims puts dangerous criminals back on the streets.
But state officials maintain that the law, which went into effect Jan. 25, targets only those inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses who complete specific programs. Criminals such as sex offenders and gang members would not be eligible...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
September 4, 2010
Sixth inmate accidentally released; prison officials search for solution
What do six inmates at Delaware County’s George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornbury have in common?
They were all accidentally released ahead of time — the sixth just this past Tuesday.
According to officials at the prison, Gary Tagland, 21, of Cherry Hill, N.J., was brought to the county-owned facility Aug. 26 on a bench warrant stemming from an arrest last year...
LINK - DelcoTimes.com
June 3, 2010
El Monte police jail parolee after chase, crashes; suspect had been released under new guidelines
He was treated for minor injuries and booked into jail at the El Monte Police Department.
Estrada was released from prison under the state's new "non-revocable parole" status, officials said, meaning he did not have the traditional oversight given to parolees in the past. The program began in January as a way to reduce the state's over-crowded prison population.
Parolees released under this status cannot be returned to prison for simple parole violations, but must commit a new crime to be re-arrested, according to parole officials. The program is limited to convicts considered non-violent and "low-risk..."
LINK - SGVTribune.com
May 24, 2010
Schwarzenegger’s Non-revocable parole causing trouble for police?
...Most people don't realize "non-revocable parole" went into effect in California on Jan. 25. This law authorizes the state to release thousands of "non-violent" offenders from prison without placing them on traditional parole. In other words, a parole agent will not check up on them and they cannot be returned to prison unless they commit another crime. The intent was to ease the overcrowding, reduce the budget and allow agents to concentrate on more violent offenders.
Proponents say only non-violent prisoners are being released on the streets of our communities. A non-violent parolee is defined as a person who was not sent to prison for a "serious felony," who did not commit a serious disciplinary offense while in prison, who is not a member of a prison gang, and someone Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determined was not likely to re-offend.
Three of the parolees I mentioned earlier were on parole for "non-violent" offenses. The guy who was crawling out of the basement window was on parole for dealing drugs. The man who robbed the two boys at Tokay High was on parole for possession of stolen property. The woman who hid on the roof was also on parole for possession of stolen property. The suspect who tossed the gun was on parole for burglary, which, according to the penal code, is a "serious" offense. He was convicted of burglary after he entered an empty house and took a computer...
LINK - LodiNews.com - Opinion/Column
May 1, 2010
Schwarzenegger’s early release law modified by Senate, heads to Assembly
State lawmakers moved Thursday to repeal much of a new program that allows the early release of county jail inmates.
The state Senate voted unanimously to roll back the program after lawmakers expressed concerns about its possible effect on public safety. They cited news reports of a Sacramento man who was arrested on suspicion of attempted rape within hours of his early release.
The provision for county inmates was one of many sweeping changes that lawmakers approved last year to save money and address overcrowding. It was put in place as California, under pressure from federal courts to reduce its prison population, began sending to county jails and local reentry programs thousands of offenders who would normally go to state prisons...
LINK - LATimes.com
April 21, 2010
Editorial: Voters Agenda: Sensible parole policies needed amid tough-on-crime talk
Beware candidates touting new "tough on crime" policies – and hold on to your wallet. Year after year, this state spends a steadily increasing portion of its budget on the prison system – without increasing public safety. Yet candidates in each election cycle try to appear ever tougher.
Here's one area where California is an anomaly among the states: Since 1979, those who complete their prison sentences are placed on a three-year period of post-sentence supervision, called parole.
California stands virtually alone in paroling all prisoners. Most states reserve parole for the most serious offenders. New York, Florida, and Texas place about one-third of prisoners in parole supervision...
LINK - SacBee.com
April 21, 2010
A Neighborhood Braces for an Influx of Parolees
...This year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will cut $250 million in funding for adult rehabilitation programs, including $50 million for parole operations. Places like the Freedom House are among the casualties of the state's cuts, which refocus limited resources on parolees with a higher risk of recidivism.
But the majority of inmates set to be released under the state's plan to reduce its prison population will be low-risk offenders. The state plans to reduce its prison population by 6,500 in the next year and as many as 40,000 in years to come under a program known as non-revocable parole. They will not be supervised by parole officers.
As a result, service providers say, those parolees will lose eligibility for programs like the California New Start program, which helps parolees find jobs. A parole officer's referral is required...
LINK - VoiceofSanDiego.org
April 16, 2010
Corrections Dept. admits inmate release mistake
California is reversing course tonight after releasing several hundred potentially violent inmates with absolutely no supervision. Now the Department of Corrections is trying to track them down -- something that may prove easier said than done.
A new law allowed the California Department of Corrections to release more than 6,600 low-risk inmates on unsupervised, non-revocable parole. But the agency now says about 500 of those need to be supervised after all.
Its software program that helps assess the risk of them committing another crime has been upgraded-now taking into consideration an inmate's previous county convictions...
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
April 12, 2010
Critics say new California parole policy is costly, dangerous
On a Wednesday morning last month, Nicole Clements walked into her Sacramento parole agent's office about 9:40 and signed a one-page document.
The "Notification of Non-Revocable Parole Requirements" spelled out the rules for the 37-year-old Clements, who had been on parole for identity theft and has a history of arrests or citations for drug, theft and other crimes.
"You do not have a parole agent," the document states. "You do not have a requirement to report to a parole office..."
LINK - SacBee.com
April 10, 2010
Guest View: Early release places all at risk
Chelsea King now joins Polly Klass, Bill Reagan and thousands of other Californians who have been and will be the victims of ill founded, short sighted sentencing and parole policies. Decisions of governors, legislators, ivory tower criminal justice intellectuals and particularly the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) are major factors in criminality.
The 1977 Determinant Sentence Law gave us Richard Davis who raped and murdered Polly Klass in 1993. In 1992 Senate Bill 92, a parole reform bill, gave us a rash of victimization that included the murder of Bill Reagan on the streets of Sacramento. Current policies give us Chelsea King.
History repeats! Contemporary experts and CDCR leaders pronounce their bright ideas "good for public safety," then run for cover and cover-up while legislators who voted for these policies are "born again" crime fighters when the predictable victimization occurs...
LINK - RedBluffDailyNews.com
April 5, 2010
East Bay braces for influx of released prisoners
Bracing for an influx of newly released prisoners, East Bay leaders are working with social services groups to prevent the former inmates from returning to lives of crime.
The concern has reached a critical point because state legislation has relaxed restrictions on parolees and led to the early release of prisoners considered low risk. The state sought the changes to save money and to ease prison overcrowding and health care problems.
The state aims to decrease the prison population by tens of thousands over the next two to three years...
LINK - InsideBayArea.com
March 27, 2010
Amid budget crisis, state makes parole easier
California's budget crisis and overcrowded prisons have led to a new reality for thousands of convicted felons: Parole is getting a lot easier - no more random drug tests, travel rules or requirements to check in with an officer.
Restrictions have been relaxed for nonviolent criminals like burglars, drug offenders and swindlers under a new law that aims to shrink the prison population by reducing the number of minor parole violations that send ex-cons back to prison.
In response to the changes, the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office on Friday released a new office-wide policy regarding new offenses committed by parolees...
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
March 24, 2010
California, in Financial Crisis, Opens Prison Doors
The California budget crisis has forced the state to address a problem that expert panels and judges have wrangled over for decades: how to reduce prison overcrowding.
The state has begun in recent weeks the most significant changes since the 1970s to reduce overcrowding — and chip away at an astonishing 70 percent recidivism rate, the highest in the country — as the prison population becomes a major drag on the state’s crippled finances.
Many in the state still advocate a tough approach, with long sentences served in full, and some early problems with released inmates have given critics reason to complain. But fiscal reality, coupled with a court-ordered reduction in the prison population, is pouring cold water on old solutions like building more prisons...
LINK - NYTimes.com
March 16, 2010
Redding council may contest early prison releases
Redding City Council members tonight will consider sending a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him not to release 19,000 unsupervised prison inmates.
"It's really wrong and bad business," said Redding police Chief Peter Hansen of the proposed early releases.
In September, the state Legislature passed an emergency measure calling for the early release of more than 19,000 nonserious, nonviolent inmates as a way to help balance the state's budget and comply with a court-mandated order to stave off overcrowding...
LINK - Redding.com
March 16, 2010
Calif prison receiver seeks release of ill inmates
The federal receiver who runs California's prison health care system said Tuesday he will ask state lawmakers to approve four bills to control spiraling costs - including proposals to restrict prisons' use of prescription drugs and outside medical specialists and to parole the sickest and costliest inmates.
J. Clark Kelso is set to announce the plan Wednesday amid calls from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers for him to cut $811 million from his budget next year to bring California's spending on inmates closer to what it costs in other states.
Kelso told The Associated Press he needs all four bills to cut about $350 million. He is looking for other ways to make up the rest of the roughly 40 percent cut to his budget...
LINK - SacBee.com
March 10, 2010
Parolee with 19 arrests underscores dangers of new parole law, L.A. police union says
The union representing Los Angeles police officers said Wednesday that a parolee with 19 arrests and four convictions underscores how laws meant to ease prison overcrowding could pose a serious -- and ongoing -- threat to public safety. Ezra Hooker Sr. was arrested Jan. 5 after allegedly pointing a rifle at a prostitute and leading LAPD officers on a high-speed chase on South Los Angeles freeways.
During the pursuit, which LAPD investigators said hit 100 mph, Hooker threw a brick at officers and discarded a rifle before crashing his car. Hooker was found to be wearing body armor at the time of his arrest, police said.
Sources familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about Hooker's criminal record, said the 43-year-old South L.A. resident had 19 prior arrests dating back to the 1970s, including murder and manslaughter. He served time in state prison for narcotics and gun possession.
LINK - LATimes.com
March 10, 2010
New at L.A. County Jail: inmates serve half sentences
“I already didn’t feel safe in my own neighborhood,” says lifetime Sherman Oaks resident Ron Sorrentino. “Now this … it’s not good.”
L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca released 343 nonviolent offenders from the county jail system this week, well before they had served their full sentences. The Sheriff’s Department says that budget cuts have forced changes to a longtime policy requiring inmates to serve at least 80 percent of their time before release. Now, those jailed for crimes such as check kiting, petty theft, and drunk driving will serve just 50 percent of their sentences.
Law enforcement is crying out louder than citizens like Sorrentino, analysts say...
LINK - CSMonitor.com
March 4, 2010
State prison cuts could backfire, report says
Recent cuts to California prison programs could result in more former inmates returning to prison and an increase in prison crowding, according to a draft state report.
The report from the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board, charged with overseeing rehabilitation programs, appears to contradict contentions by state prison officials who have said the budget cuts would not affect recidivism rates and will make prison programs more effective.
The report warns that the $250 million cut from inmate programs this year "may well mean that the hoped for reduction in recidivism will not be achieved any time soon," and that without those reductions "it seems likely that California will be unable to get control of the inmate population crisis..."
LINK - SFGate.com
March 1, 2010
New legislation to prevent Governor’s early inmate release plan from impacting counties
A state Assemblyman has introduced legislation to ensure that a recently enacted law allowing the early release of nonviolent offenders would only apply to state prisons, not county jails.
The original law, a cost-saving measure that officials expect will allow about 6,500 state prisoners to be released early over the next year, has caused confusion at the local level and prompted several lawsuits. Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, said his proposal will make it clear that the early release provision is only meant to alleviate overcrowding at state prisons.
"It's not meant to apply to local inmates, period," he said. "We are dealing with a state crisis."...
LINK - SFGate.com
February 25, 2010
Gov says he “vastly overstated” criminal alien commutations from 8,500 to just 850?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration said Tuesday that the governor will not commute the sentences of thousands of illegal immigrant inmates even though majority Democrats sent him a budget bill this week that assumes he will do so.
As part of a special session on the state budget, the Legislature on Monday sent Schwarzenegger bills that Democrats said would solve roughly $2.3 billion of the state's $19.9 billion budget deficit.
One proposed reduction was $182 million in the next fiscal year based on Schwarzenegger commuting the sentences of illegal immigrant inmates and handing them to federal officials for deportation...
LINK - SacBee.com
February 25, 2010
California prison health care cuts—a closer look
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats are backing an $811 million cut to prison medical costs in 2010-11, contained in a bill the Legislature sent the governor Monday. Democrats have included that cut as part of their $5 billion budget solution.
The $811 million cut wasn't based on California's needs or sophisticated analysis. It comes from applying New York's per-inmate cost of $5,757 to California's prison population, which the governor considers more appropriate than California's current cost of about $11,000 per inmate.
But the cut is not as severe as it might first seem. Schwarzenegger in his budget also proposed increasing the prison medical budget by $519.1 million this fiscal year and adding $532.2 million in 2010-11, a total of $1.05 billion from now until June 2011...
LINK - SacBee.com
February 20, 2010
Early releases from county jails in California likely to continue
With the number of inmates released early from county jails across the state surpassing 2,000, there are growing signs that the controversial program will continue unabated.
On Thursday, an Orange County judge rejected a request by the Orange County sheriff's deputies union to immediately halt the early releases from that county's jail, saying that decision should be in the hands of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.
Beginning Jan. 25, counties started releasing inmates before their terms expired, responding to a new state law designed to reduce the state prison population...
LINK - LATimes.com
February 18, 2010
CA Atty Gen issues legal opinion on Gov’s early release program
Riverside and San Bernardino counties have dropped their 3-week-old policy of applying retroactively a new jail-time reduction law. The interpretation had resulted in the early release of 805 inmates between the two counties.
Officials in both counties said they would not attempt to recall any of those released, citing the handful of remaining days in most cases, and the cost.
The turnabout came Tuesday after a bulletin from state Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office said the law, which took effect Jan. 25, should only be applied to those sentenced after that date…
LINK - PE.com
February 15, 2010
Calif. early release program draws fire
A debate about public safety is raging as cash-strapped California plans early releases for more than 6,000 prison inmates in 2010 to save money, observers say.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration says legislation creating the early releases will make the state safer, while law enforcement and victims' rights groups claim the upcoming offender population shift from inside to out is a high-risk move, the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported Monday.
Changes in parole practices will safeguard the public, state officials said….
LINK - UPI.com
February 12, 2010
Early county inmate releases illegal, says Sac judge
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department announced Wednesday that it has stopped allowing inmates to get out of jail early for good behavior.
Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said the decision came in response to a judge's finding earlier Wednesday that a government code section on the books since 1976 that allows local jurisdictions to grants the "good-time" credits "does not apply to County Jail inmates."
"If you're sentenced to do six months, you have to do six months," Curran said….
LINK - SacBee.com
February 9, 2010
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Assn files lawsuit over early inmate releases
A hearing on a temporary restraining order that would stop Sacramento County from releasing non-violent inmates early has been postponed until Wednesday.
A judge continued the proceedings on Tuesday because he hadn't received all the paperwork yet.
Last Friday, the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff's Association filed a lawsuit to stop Sacramento and other counties from releasing non-violent prisoners early under a new state law. They contend the law applies only to inmates in state prisons, and the Sacramento County is violating the law through the early releases…
LINK - News10.net
February 9, 2010
Gov’s early inmate release plan causing trouble in Orange County
Orange County Sheriff officials are continuing to release jail inmates early under a new law even while lawmakers and law enforcement officials around the state scramble to block or modify the law.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento have called for repealing and modifying parts of the law – including an assemblyman who helped author the law.Meanwhile, the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association filed a lawsuit trying to get a state order to block the early release of inmates in county jails.
In Orange County, officials were among nearly 20 counties in the state that decided to apply the law retroactively, releasing the first inmates the same day the law went into effect. About the same number of counties have decided that the law does not apply retroactively. Others are assessing the law's impact…
LINK - OCRegister.com
February 6, 2010
Former CDCR head Jeanne Woodford speaks about early release, inmate population reduction
SHERIFFS AROUND California, including in Contra Costa County, are raising legitimate concerns about efforts to reduce the state prison and jail populations. Any significant population reduction, they worry, will push counties to the brink financially and threaten public safety. I share their apprehension.
There can be no doubt that the prison population must be reduced. California simply cannot afford, nor does public safety require, locking up 170,000 people in state prisons on any given day (500 percent more than in 1980).
A federal three-judge panel has come to that conclusion. And several states, including New York, have experienced even greater falls in their crime rates than has California, while simultaneously reducing their prison populations…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
February 5, 2010
Valley legislators oppose early release, Stockton-area prison hospitals
California's leaders continue to struggle with what to do about the state's 33 overcrowded prison facilities and bulging county jails.
This week, Sacramento County authorities released hundreds of low-level inmates early in response to legislation last year designed to reduce the state's prison and jail populations. There has been no similar release of jail inmates in San Joaquin County.
On Jan. 25, a new law took effect that requires county jails to release nonviolent, misdemeanor offenders on "good behavior" after serving half their sentences.
One of the inmates released early in Sacramento County was arrested 12 hours later on an attempted-rape charge…
LINK - RecordNet.com
February 5, 2010
Early inmate release returns spousal abusers, prostitutes, car theives & drug offenders to comm
A new state law allowing for the early release of inmates includes those who have been convicted of crimes ranging from misdemeanor spousal abuse, vehicle theft, and felony assault with force likely to produce great bodily harm.
Inmates doing time for misdemeanor assault and battery, prostitution or embezzlement also stand to benefit under the new law – in addition to lower-level drug and DUI offenders.
The new law, which went into effect Jan. 25 and has resulted in the early release of nearly 300 inmates in Orange County, applies only to "low-risk" offenders, but the category is broad…
LINK - OCRegister.com
February 5, 2010
Our View: Feeling safe about prisoners’ early release
It's not just Californians - or even Californians with a weather eye on our state's budget mess - who are bothered by the fact that we spend too much to lock up too many in our prisons.
And it's not just progressives who worry about the side-effects of locking up hundreds of thousands with very little effort made to "rehabilitate" them.
It's no less a personage than Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. While he's sometimes seen as aligned with a moderate wing on the high court, it was Kennedy, after all, who wrote the recent ruling allowing big business to go back to contributing cash in big ways to political campaigns. So he's no Tom Hayden…
LINK - PasadenaNews.com
February 5, 2010
Assemblyman Hagman calls for freeze of inmate releases
Last week, the state began implementing the worst law in 2009 that aims to cut the state's prison population by about 6,500 inmates over the next year. This law was part of the 2009 budget package that I strongly opposed, yet it passed through with a Democratic majority and was unfortunately approved by the governor. The stated goal of this plan was to reduce overcrowding and save money in the Corrections budget.
Since this plan was first introduced, I have had no doubt that this new policy would jeopardize our public safety. Unfortunately, this has already proven to be too true.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department released hundreds of prisoners earlier than scheduled in order to comply with the new standards. The inmates were classified as "non-violent" offenders, some of whom had even earned "good behavior credits." Less than 24 hours later, one of these inmates, Kevin Eugene Peterson, was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual battery, false imprisonment and violating the terms of his probation…
LINK - ChinoHills.com
February 4, 2010
Early inmate release in the O.C. - almost 300 in first week!
County officials have released nearly 300 inmates early under a new state law that reduces the amount of time inmates serve behind bars, officials said.
Passed by the legislature in September, the law – which caught some local officials off guard – allows "low-risk" inmates to earn credits for good behavior and completing other programs to reduce their sentences. In state prisons, the inmates may earn up to six weeks for each year served, saving the state about half a billion dollars, officials said.
In county jails, said Deputy County Council Nicole Sims, the law allows inmates to have their sentences cut by up to half….
LINK - OCRegister.com
February 3, 2010
Gov’s early release inmate arrested for rape 12 hours after early release?
One of the inmates the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department released early as part of an effort to reduce the state's prison population was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted rape, less than 24 hours after getting out of jail, The Bee has learned.
Kevin Eugene Peterson got out of jail Monday night after serving about two months on a four-month sentence for violating probation on a prior felony conviction. Peterson was arrested 12 hours later, around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, on suspicion of an attempted rape involving a female counselor at the 1300 block of North C Street, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said. He was booked into the Sacramento County jail at 3:21 p.m. Tuesday on suspicion of attempted rape, sexual battery, false imprisonment and violating the terms of his probation.
"Our greatest fear has occurred almost immediately after the early release of these inmates," said Christine Ward of the Crime Victims Action Alliance. "We are certain that we will see more of this as more inmates are released from jails and prisons."…
LINK - SacBee.com
February 3, 2010
Ventura County forced to released over 100 inmates so far under Gov’s early release legislation
Ventura County jail officials have begun releasing many inmates earlier than previously expected, to comply with a new state law that gives nonviolent offenders more time credits for good behavior.
Since the law took effect Jan. 25, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department has released 188 inmates early under its provisions, sheriff's officials said Wednesday. That figure represents almost 13 percent of the average total inmate population in county jails. Of the 188, 113 were released on the first day the law took effect.
The law also led to the early release of 22 people in the Ventura County Probation Agency's Work Furlough program, said Chief Probation Officer Karen Staples. The program allows certain inmates to work during the day and return to custody at night…
LINK - VCStar.com
February 2, 2010
That didn’t take long - early released parolee returns to jail for new crime
The Sonora Police Department has arrested a man who was one of the first to be released early as part of the state's recent cost cutting measures. Tuesday morning at 11:41am, Jimmy Lloyd Lindsey of Sonora was arrested for DUI in the 1100 block of Mono Way.
Lindsey now has five D.U.I. offenses dating back to 2005. Following Lindsey's arrest he was transported to Tuolumne County Jail and booked for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.
The new NRP program is a non-supervised version of parole, where the parolee does not report to a parole agent and cannot have a parole hold placed on them for violating the law….
LINK - MyMotherLode.com
January 30, 2010
More local, state lawmakers critical of Gov’s early inmate releases
In the growing furor over the early release of thousands of inmates by the cash-strapped corrections system, Assemblyman Ted Lieu on Friday accused officials of trying to deceive the public by defending the plan.
Lieu sent a letter to Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, "demanding that CDCR stop misleading the public."
"In my over 15 years of public service, including serving on active duty to defend our country, I have never before seen this scale of deception and misleading statements being made by a California governmental agency to the media," said Lieu, D-Torrance…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
January 28, 2010
Parolee release siphons into county
About 200 unsupervised parolees are anticipated to be returned to Butte County gradually this year under a state plan to save money and reduce prison overcrowding.
That was the assessment Chico police chief Mike Maloney said he received during a meeting with other law enforcement and parole officials prior to the new prison reduction measures going into effect Monday.
"We haven't been given a lot of detail about what is happening and it's implication, but the release of that many unsupervised parolees causes us significant concern," Maloney said…
LINK - ChicoER.com
January 28, 2010
LA County Sheriff Lee Baca critical of Gov’s early release law, Gov’s proposed budget
OUR economic problems and California's budget crisis have impacted every level of government: state, county and city. Painful cuts have been and will continue to be made in all areas. Inevitably up and down the state, counties and local governments are looking at another year of reduced budgets and additional cuts. I write this to share with you what impacts these cuts will have on public safety and on our communities.
Legislators wrote and passed Senate Bill 18 (SBX3 18), which took effect Monday. This measure was written as a way for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to decrease its budget by cutting the amount of time sentenced inmates serve in prison by increasing sentencing credits for jail and prison inmates. It also removes certain prisoners who would normally be released on a supervised parole, meaning the parolee would have a parole agent and a detailed program of re-entry, and places them on unsupervised parole, better known as summary parole…
LINK - DailyNews.com
January 27, 2010
O.C. officials wary of state prisoner release
State officials this week began releasing the first of 6,500 inmates from state prisons — a move designed to save the state money.
Orange County law enforcement officials said the move is merely shifting the burden to local governments.
The move will allow low-risk offenders and those convicted of nonviolent crimes to earn credits in prison to reduce their time served – up to six weeks for each year served. Credits earned by prisoners for such things as fighting forest fires and completing drug and alcohol programs…
LINK - OCRegister.com
January 27, 2010
Sen. Tom Harman, Atty Gen candidate on Gov’s early release plan
In his recent State of the State address, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed our fiscal deficits. He lamented that the budget for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has doubled on his watch.
Moreover, the governor is tired of California being a donor state. Recent estimates suggest that California gets back 78 cents for every tax dollar sent to Washington. His answer?: "We need to work with the federal government to build a more fair and equitable financial relationship."
I couldn't agree more. One obvious place to start has been staring California in the face for years — illegal immigrants in our prisons. While in Washington D.C. this week, Schwarzenegger should be sure to include this important issue in his discussions with federal leaders…
LINK - DailyPilot.com
January 26, 2010
REGION: Hundreds of jail inmates freed
A few hundred convicted criminals walked out of county jails Monday, their time behind bars cut short as part of a new law that aims to save money and thin California prisons.
In San Diego County, about 260 inmates left jail with their sentences shaved by as much as two months under the new law, which went into effect across the state on Monday. About 30 had been held at the Vista jail.
In Riverside County, about 127 jail inmates were released, officials said…
LINK - NCTimes.com
January 26, 2010
Cate calls inmate early release plan “a win-win” and “a landmark achievement”
A new law aimed at reducing the state's inmate population took effect yesterday and had an immediate effect in San Diego County, where about 260 nonviolent offenders were released.
The convicts here — all doing time for offenses such as drug possession or petty theft — were let go under a provision that forces local officials to retroactively recalculate how they shorten sentences for good behavior and other credits.
Local law enforcement and court officials reviewed the files of 1,600 inmates, including those in county jails, to determine who should get out early, said Lisa Rodriguez, a deputy district attorney. Those convicted of serious, violent or sex crimes aren't eligible for the accelerated credits, Rodriguez said…
LINK - SignOnSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
January 25, 2010
Prison Plan Reduces 30,000 Less Inmates Than Estimated
Instead of reducing prison overcrowding by 43,500 inmates, Schwarzenegger administration policy changes and legislation signed in October to thin the state's inmate population will only result in a 13,400 decrease in inmates over two years, the Legislative Analyst said in a report issued January 25.
That total is well short of the maximum number of inmates set two weeks ago by a federal three-judge panel which ordered the state to lower its prison population from roughly 168,000 to 128,000. California is appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the budget plan he presented January 8, the GOP governor proposes sending persons with no prior violent offenses who are convicted of various property and drug felonies to county jails for up to 366 days. Schwarzenegger says that would reduce the number of state prison inmates by 15,100 – when fully implemented…
LINK - CaliforniasCapitol.com
January 25, 2010
California inmate release plan begins
The state's controversial plan to reduce its prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year begins today, with victims and law enforcement groups once again warning it will increase crime.
"We are concerned for the public's safety," said Christine Ward, director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance in Sacramento.
"We understand that this is a move by the Legislature to help relieve prison overcrowding and save money in the budget. But we're very disappointed that public safety seems to have taken a back seat to other issues."
The idea, which opponents label an "early-release" plan, was hammered out last year during contentious budget talks…
LINK - SacBee.com
January 22, 2010
Police union concerned about releasing felons early from state prisons
The union representing Los Angeles police is concerned that releasing thousands of felons early from state prisons Jan. 25, including some 5,000 who are expected to return to the Los Angeles area, will jeopardize public safety.
The court-ordered plan to reduce the prison population will result in convicted felons being released into communities "without any supervision," according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
"The county of Los Angeles will be dramatically impacted, with over 5,000 felons to be released to our city," LAPPL President Paul M. Weber said in a statement. "What concerns law enforcement is that unlike the current program, where released inmates have been placed on parole, restricted from certain types of activities, or provided various community-based rehabilitative resources, these inmates will be completely unsupervised…"
LINK - DailyNews.com
January 20, 2010
High Court rejects state’s prisons edict appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Schwarzenegger administration's attempt Tuesday to dismantle a judicial panel that wants California to improve inmate health care by making its prisons less crowded, but set the stage for a possible ruling on the panel's authority to lower the prison population.
The high court's brief order agreed with inmates' lawyers that the state had acted prematurely in appealing an August 2008 ruling by a three-judge panel. That ruling found that overcrowding in the state's 33 prisons, which hold nearly twice their designed capacity of 80,000, was the chief cause of a medical care system that violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The panel ordered the administration to submit a plan that would reduce the inmate population by 40,000 in two years. State lawyers appealed, arguing that the panel was illegally established, had exaggerated the health care problems and misidentified their cause, and lacked authority to order prisoner releases…
LINK - SFGate.com (San Francisco Gate)
January 20, 2010
Gov to release 6,000 inmates starting next week!
Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that postponed the early release of 40,000 California prisoners, another 6,000 convicts are expected to be set free early from state prisons starting next week, alarming public safety officials and local leaders.
The 6,000 are to be released under separate legislation that is not affected by the Supreme Court's decision Tuesday.
The court rejected the state of California's challenge of a special judicial panel's order to release the prisoners early under an overcrowding lawsuit filed by the Berkeley-based nonprofit Prison Law Office…
LINK - DailyNews.com
January 20, 2010
Prisoner release plan halted pending review
A federal court order to release 40,000 inmates to relieve prison crowding in California was delayed for up to a year on Tuesday, pending a final review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justices turned down a challenge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration to the court order that forces the state to reduce its prison population. The action opens the door for another appeal by the state.
A three-judge federal panel last summer ordered the state Department of Corrections to reduce the prison population by about 40,000 inmates over two years in order to provide inmates with a constitutional level of health care. At issue for the Schwarzenegger administration is whether the judicial panel exceeded its authority in ordering the release of inmates…
LINK - SBSun.com (San Bernadino Sun)
January 19, 2010
Governor claims victory over 3-judge panel with stay from US Supreme Court
01/19/2010 GAAS:43:10 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by Gov. Schwarzenegger's Legal Affairs Secretary Andrea Lynn Hoch on U.S. Supreme Court Decision
Governor Schwarzenegger's Legal Affairs Secretary Andrea Lynn Hoch today issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision:
"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision today is a win for the state because it guarantees there will be no early release of prisoners while the Three-Judge Panel's latest order is appealed. Given the more recent January 12 order by the Three-Judge Panel, it is no surprise that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to wait and consider the entire case upon our appeal, which we will file today. We fully expect the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Three-Judge Panel's prisoner release order."
January 15, 2010
Alleged Coachella Valley killing shows the risk of early release plan
California's early prisoner release program amid Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Draconian" $1.2 billion cuts to prisons jeopardizes public safety.
These cuts are part of Sacramento's cost-saving strategies — but at what cost? Sunday's Valley section of The Desert Sun covered the recent murder of a Coachella Valley resident — the murder suspect is a convicted burglar who was supposed to be serving an eight-month sentence but was released in July after serving only 50 percent of his time.
When questioned, parole authorities could not account as to why the murder suspect was released back into the community…
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
January 12, 2010
3-judge panel approves Gov’s prison population reduction plan
A panel of three federal judges has approved a court-ordered plan submitted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reduce overcrowding in California prisons, under a decision released today.
Schwarzenegger has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn last year's decision by the federal judges presiding over a pair of lawsuits by inmates who said overcrowding violates their rights to adequate medical and mental healthcare.
In the meantime, the governor was required to submit a plan showing how, if the state loses, he would reduce the inmate population by up to 40,000 over two years. His first plan was rejected by the judges in October because it did not meet the required population targets or timeline…
LINK - LATimes.com
December 16, 2009
Police chief op-ed: career criminals to be released under Schwarzenegger plan
…Many have forgotten the importance of the criminal justice system to include our prisons. California prisons are filled with Clemmons types. Many are suffering from mental illness and drug addiction and refuse to be rehabilitated. When they do get out, we rely on our police officers to stand between them and us.
When someone like Clemmons is willing to kill four police officers in broad daylight, how much easier is it to kill four innocent citizens?…
LINK - Times-Standard.com
December 8, 2009
Inmate lawyers side with Schwarzenegger’s early release plan in federal court
Lawyers for California's sick inmates said Monday they like the Schwarzenegger administration's plan for reducing the prison population and urged a three-judge federal panel to let state officials decide what methods to use.
The plan calls for a reduction in the population of 33 adult prisons to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two years, thus meeting the requirement of the panel's Aug. 4 order.
"Rather than ordering the state to utilize particular population reduction methods, the court should leave to the state the discretion and flexibility to choose which methods it uses to accomplish the reduction," the inmates' attorneys said in their response to the plan…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 7, 2009
Riskier inmates may serve in fire camps?
A quick look at Pomona native Adam Salas reveals a quirky smile peering out from under a helmet as he and the rest of a firefighting crew inspect their chainsaws at the Oak Glen Conservation Camp.
But a second glance stumbles upon the words "CDCR Prisoner" stamped on his orange uniform and gang insignia tattooed on his eyelids, hands and neck.
Salas, 23, had never been outside Pomona until he made a terrorist threat during an argument about two years ago. That threat landed him in Tehachapi State Prison, and later Oak Glen. From there, he was dispatched to fight fires in Santa Barbara, Madera and Mariposa counties…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
December 7, 2009
Governor’s prison plan draws mixed reviews
Lawyers for California's prison inmates on Monday supported Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's overall plan to reduce overcrowding in the state's 33 prisons, but asked a federal court to order state prison officials to meet strict deadlines to ensure they shed nearly 40,000 inmates from the system over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the plan drew fire from Republican lawmakers and some counties, including Santa Clara County, which is worried about the impact of releasing state prison inmates into local jails…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 4, 2009
Press On: Just say no to early prison releases
Whatever happened to "You do the crime you do the time?" In America it doesn't work that way anymore. We, as a society, are soft toward criminals and it often comes back to haunt us.
Just ask former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He commuted the sentence of Maurice Clemmons in 2000. Clemmons had 95 years left on a 108-year sentence when Huckabee commuted his remaining prison time. Six days before Clemmons killed four police officers in Washington, he made bail for the rape of a child. Pierce County Washington police spokesperson Ed Troyer said, "The only motive that we have is he decided he was going to kill police officers." Fortunately, two days after Clemmons killed the four officers, a Seattle police officer was able to shoot and kill Clemmons before the killer was able to shoot him…
LINK - Record-Bee.com
November 24, 2009
CA Law Enforcement officials opposed to Gov’s re-newed early release plan
The planned reduction of 40,000 state inmates over the next two years to relieve overcrowding has lawmakers and law enforcement officials concerned over the impact on public safety.
Officials and law enforcement officials are sounding concern over the Schwarzenegger administration's proposed compliance with the federal judges' order aimed at providing a more constitutional level of health care for prison inmates.
The plan comes as communities are dealing with reductions in law enforcement budgets because of the state fiscal and global economic crisis…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
November 13, 2009
State offers new prison plan
California Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate announced late Thursday that the state has a plan to reduce the prison population that will satisfy a judicial panel of judges, but the three federal judges have to be willing to issue orders the state sees as illegal.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can reach the population goal the judges are seeking only with changes in state laws or federal court orders waiving laws now on the books, Cate said at an evening press briefing.
The Legislature already has turned thumbs down on some of the changes, such as increasing the monetary threshold for grand theft, offering alternative custody options for low-level offenders, and limiting sentencing options to county jail for certain offenses…
LINK - SacBee.com
ALSO SEE: CDCR.CA.GOV - Stamped Filing of New Prison Reduction Plan (130 pages)
November 12, 2009
Governor to submit plan to reduce prison crowding
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tonight will give federal judges a road map to reducing state prison overcrowding that involves waiving some state laws so sentencing regulations can be changed and new private prisons built.
But the governor also will disavow those solutions as illegal, said Oscar Hidalgo, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
An initial plan that Schwarzenegger submitted was rejected three weeks ago by the three judges, who threatened him with contempt of court for failing to meet their demand for a proposal to reduce the inmate population by 40,000 prisoners over two years…
LINK - LATimes.com Blogs
November 11, 2009
Editorial: “Keep public’s safety uppermost”
Officials from Chino and Chino Hills have protested state plans to house mentally ill prisoners at the California Institution for Men since 2005, when a proposal surfaced to build a facility for 1,500 such inmates at the Chino prison complex.
Three months ago, Mayors Dennis Yates of Chino and Peter Rogers of Chino Hills expressed public safety concerns about the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's plan to convert the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino to a prison for 1,200 adult inmates.
Now the Corrections Department's plans are in writing in the form of a detailed long-range plan filed with a federal district court to provide new medical and mental health treatment beds under a court order…
LINK - SBSun.com
October 22, 2009
Court rejects governor’s plan to solve prison overcrowding
A federal court on Wednesday rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to solve California's prison overcrowding crisis, giving the state three weeks to devise an alternative or risk an order that seizes control of how more than 40,000 inmates are released from the prison system over the next two years.
In a seven-page ruling, a three-judge panel found the governor's plan for reducing prison overcrowding inadequate. The judges said it failed to comply with their August order requiring the state to come up with a proposal to remove about one quarter of the more than 150,000 inmates now crammed into California's prisons.
Schwarzenegger and chief prison officials in September responded to the August order with a plan that would only reduce the inmate population by about 20,000 inmates over the next three years, less than half of what was sought by the judges. State officials maintain their plan balanced the need to reduce prison overcrowding with public safety concerns…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
October 13, 2009
Bill enables state to reduce inmate population
Prisons will be reduced by about 20,000 inmates over the next two years now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill under pressure from federal courts to reduce prison overcrowding.
The plan combines previous reform efforts performed administratively by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the implementation of recently passed legislation, construction of new housing as well as a significant expansion of out-of-state transfers.
The 20,000 figure is about half the amount of inmates that were requested to be released by a panel of three federal judges in August…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
September 28, 2009
Opinion: “Reason prisons’ costs up varies”
A recent audit says that the state's prison inmate population fell 1 percent in the past three years —- and prison costs jumped 32 percent.
Part of the problem is correctional officer wages, according to the report that state Auditor Elaine Howle released earlier this month. It also criticizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with its $10 billion annual budget, for lacking "the data necessary" to figure out how overtime and other factors heap on costs.
But as Corrections Deputy Director Dave Lewis said, "The problems we face are more complex than data." The department accounts for 10 percent of the general fund, so "it's a lightning rod for criticism," he said, whenever there's money trouble…
LINK - NCTimes.com
September 16, 2009
Editorial: California takes a small step on prisons
AS CALIFORNIA lawmakers careened toward adjournment of their latest session on Friday, they finally took a step — albeit a small one — toward reforming the mess that is the state's prison system.
They sent a bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that cuts prison spending by an estimated $1 billion and lower the inmate population by 16,000. It includes a needed shift in the parole system with huge caseloads for parole agents being cut so they can focus more on potentially violent offenders. Assuming Schwarzenegger decides to sign it, the bill is not nearly enough, but it is a start.
Lawmakers caved into pressure from law enforcement advocates and sent a watered-down version that should have gone much further…
LINK - InsideBayArea.com
September 10, 2009
Parolee gets out early for good behavior, returns to raping elderly women
A 39-year-old parolee convicted 20 years ago of violently raping elderly women was sentenced to more than 100 years behind bars Thursday for an attack with an eerily similar method.
Ernest C. Moore was 19 when he was convicted in the bloody attacks on two older Asian women, one 66 and the other 84, in Los Angeles in 1989.
Both women were watched as they gardened in their yards in the same neighborhood, which included mostly Asian families. Both women had their heads covered and were bound with household items and held at knife-point before both were raped and one was sodomized…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
September 8, 2009
San Bernardino adopts new law to restrict parolee housing
The City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt a new law aimed at restricting group homes for parolees at a time when city officials are dreading the potential of a major release of inmates from state prisons.
City Attorney James F. Penman, who has long supported restrictions on parolee housing, proposed the law to the council.
The new law, which was passed as an urgency item by a 5-1 vote, prohibits the establishment of any new group homes for parolees, probationers or sex offenders inside city limits…
LINK - SBSun.com
September 8, 2009
Ex-cons pose health risks when released into community
If tens of thousands of inmates are released from state prison over the next two years, they'll bring their HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis infections with them back to their communities, health officials say.
The state prison system's health care delivery is so bad, it was deemed unconstitutional by federal judges, who could find no other fix than to order the reduction of the prison population. But because of cuts to already-slim services for ex-cons, there's no guarantee that the sickest parolees will be much better off on the outside.
"It's almost set for failure to just release people with no resources," said Jessica Flintoft, a policy director for re-entry in San Francisco…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
September 6, 2009
Prisons impasse costs taxpayers $3.3 million a day
Deadlock in the California Legislature over prison cuts is costing taxpayers millions per day as lawmakers debate changing tough-on-crime policies that have sent prison populations and costs soaring.
Democrats, who control the Legislature, are divided over exactly how far to go in easing punishment or supervision of low-level offenders, while focusing resources on dangerous criminals.
The fiscal crunch grows by $3.3 million per day because the state budget anticipated that a deal on how to cut $1.2 billion from prisons would be struck in July, not mired in politics for months…
LINK - SacBee.com
