People in the Los Angeles metropolitan area have got used to talk by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on releasing prisoners each time when there is a budget fight, but this time, the "wolf" will really come.

Baca, who leads the largest county sheriff department in the United States, sent a letter last week to county supervisors that if he's forced to slash 25 million U.S. dollars from his budget he'll shut down the 1, 600-bed North Facility at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

He also threatens to release some of those inmates early and transfer others to already overcrowded jails. Baca wrote that closing the jail will "potentially result in an increase in inmate violence and a resultant increase in the use of force."

It is not the first time the county sheriff has threatened to release inmates early, but this time it seems that the closing of one jail and release of prisoners will come true since the county, like the state, is in a budget crisis. The state of California has proposed a cut of 1.2 billion dollars in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget as a way to reduce the 26 billion budget deficit.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, a union represents the Los Angeles Police Department, said that although no one in the state legislature has made any of this public, "we can safely guess that numbers like this translate into the early release of about 20, 000 felons." In Orange County, another big county in Southern California, law enforcement leaders worry that a state proposal to release low-risk felons early with no parole would hinder local police's ability to monitor potentially dangerous criminals.

In the past, Sheriff Baca and other police department chiefs in California have finally got the budget they requested because county supervisors, city council members and state legislators cannot risk the deterioration of community safety, which is a priority concern of all the residents, to achieve budget balance. "The first priority of any government is to ensure the safety of its citizens," said Pasadena Chief of Police Bernard Melekian, who is also president of the California Police Chief Association.

He said in a statement: "This is true regardless of whether we are talking about national defense or local policing. The proposed budget fails to even consider this aspect of true governance." Melekian added that the entire Police Chiefs Association is opposed to the proposed cuts, mostly because it would not achieve the necessary financial results.

"In addition to the proposal to release inmates, the current budget proposal dramatically reduces revenue to our respective cities and counties which in turn will result in cuts to our respective law enforcement budgets," said Melekian, adding that these budget proposals "put the safety of communities at risk."

But there are people who support the proposed release of inmates to save money for the government. In the website of a local radio station in Los Angeles, a person nicknamed Star said it is a good idea to release inmates since there are inmates who have done the time and are still in, or the courts just want to lock doors and throw away the keys.

In the opinion of this person, the courts are making prisons over crowded. Another person who called herself Diana, wrote in the website she supports the early release of the non-violent inmates.

"There are people in prison who had clean records before and was convicted of a non-violent crime. There are ones that have also kept clean while in prison. Let's face it, the prisons do not have the money to house and train or retrain inmates," she said.

It costs the government a lot of money to keep inmates locked in jails. Incarcerating one inmate in a California prison now costs the state 46,000 dollars a year, not including substance abuse treatment, mental health programs, educational or vocational training.