A package of money-saving prison measures that lawmakers will debate today includes creation of an appointed commission with broad powers to rewrite sentencing guidelines.

The state's police chiefs and district attorneys associations slammed the sentencing commission proposal, saying it would give an unelected body authority to transform sentencing laws.

But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who usually sides with the police chiefs and district attorneys, backs the commission idea, said spokesman Aaron McLear…

State corrections officials are proposing to make massive budget cuts ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by reducing the number of ex-convicts on parole by more than 25% and allowing prison inmates to shorten their sentences by completing rehabilitation programs.

The plan, outlined this afternoon by Schwarzenegger's corrections chief, Matthew Cate, resembles past proposals offered by the department that have met with strong opposition from local law enforcement officials and have ultimately been withdrawn.

But in a concession to those groups, Cate said his agency would propose legislation enabling police to search former prisoners and seize their property without a warrant for at least three years after their release, even if they are not placed on parole…

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a radical move to cover the state's expected $11 billion shortfall in next year's state budget: early release for as many as 22,000 of the convicted felons now serving their sentences in California's prisons.

Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, has rightly complained that this strategy is being undertaken without enough thought. It has the potential to jeopardize the safety of our communities and end up putting some fairly dangerous characters back on the streets.
Yes, locking people up is expensive. But so is letting them out to commit crime. Even if most of these convicts were nonviolent offenders, simply letting them go without strict evaluation doesn't seem wise…

Car thieves, forgers, scam artists, drunken drivers and some drug dealers might never serve a day in prison - even for repeat crimes - under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposals to reduce California's inmate and parolee population, corrections department and law enforcement officials said. It's one of the many potential consequences of abruptly upending the prison system to save a projected $400 million in corrections department costs over the next 18 months…