Redding police arrested a Shasta County parolee for the second time in three months Tuesday after he failed to register as a sex offender.

The Department of Corrections issued a warrant Feb. 18 for the arrest of 26-year-old Jacob Matthew Dulaney. A warrant for his arrest was issued Nov. 30 for failing to register as a sex offender.

He was initially caught Dec. 4 when a witness called the police after seeing Dulaney’s photo in the Record Searchlight, according to dispatch logs...

Nearly 400 state prisoners eventually could return to Shasta County after three federal judges this week ruled to release a quarter of California's inmates.

Saying overcrowding and poor health care at the state's 33 adult prisons violated inmates' constitutional rights, the judges Tuesday gave prison officials 45 days to free some 40,000 of the state's nearly 150,000 inmates.

About 8,000 additional inmates have been sent to prisons in other states, while nearly 10,000 more are in conservation camps and community correctional facilities…

An atheist sued top California corrections officials last month, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated when he was returned to prison after objecting to participation in a program with religious overtones as a condition of parole.

Barry A. Hazle Jr., 40, was released from prison in February 2007 after doing a year for drug possession. He was required to complete a 90-day drug treatment program and was assigned to one in Shasta County.

The Redding computer technician says he objected several times to "coerced participation" in a program based on the 12-step recovery method originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, according to the lawsuit filed in Sacramento federal court…

Shasta County lost its bid for $24.9 million in state funding to build a 221-bed jail expansion because, unlike competing small counties, it declined to provide a site for a state prison re-entry facility.

Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Shasta County's application ranked sixth out of 10 small California counties that applied for the money. The top four were awarded portions of the $100 million available to small counties.

Bosenko said he spoke with several members of the executive steering committee that reviewed and ranked the applicants…

Shasta County's pursuit of a day reporting center for parolees could help bolster its chances at winning up to $30 million in state money toward a new jail.

However, at least eight other small California counties have an advantage over Shasta's application for the total $100 million available in state jail funding, Shasta County officials said at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. Those eight counties have agreed to site re-entry facilities for rehabilitating prison inmates serving their last year of prison; Shasta County supervisors unanimously decided against the possibility last month.

The state is giving preferential consideration to counties that site re-entry facilities. But Shasta County Chief Probation Officer Brian Richart said the county's dire need for jail space could still make it one of the state's few grant recipients.

A grandfather worried about jail escapees, animal lovers wanted a new shelter to take priority, and some wondered about more help for Juvenile Hall. But most of the nearly 90 people attending Wednesday's public forum to discuss four potential county projects seemed focused on a potential state re-entry facility, which would house prison inmates from Shasta County and provide rehabilitative services during the last year of their sentences. "Will having a prison in the community benefit Redding?" Linda Soloniuk of Redding asked just before the meeting. "I think the answer is 'no.'"…

Amid a surge of local skepticism, Shasta County and state prison officials will hold community meetings this week to give the public a much-needed chance for a closer look at a proposed new re-entry facility. On paper, the new state lockup is a promising idea…

Neighbors say the rehabilitation complex under discussion for Shasta County might work in the county's outskirts, but that it doesn't fit within Redding city limits. "Do we want to be known as a prison town, like Susanville?" Cerro Lane resident Meurig Davies said. "I don't think so…"