About 260 inmates were released yesterday in San Diego County as part of a plan to reduce California's prison population by 6,500 inmates this year.
Under the new regulations put in effect Monday, low-risk offenders will not be regularly supervised by a parole officer and they will not be returned to prison for technical violations such as alcohol use, missed drug tests or failure to notify the state of an address change. Prisoners will also be able to shorten their sentences by working on firefighting crews, earning a high school diploma or trade-school certificate or completing drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs.
The state is under a federal requirement to eventually reduce the number of inmates in the state from 168,000 to 40,000 in order to ease overcrowding and improve health care in the prisons.
Many have criticized these changes, including Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), a candidate for state attorney general who says the changes threaten public safety. "I guarantee you crime will increase and there will be more victims of crime," Lieu said.
Others agree that more people leaving prison early with less supervision will result in increased crime. LAPD Lt. Brian Johnson, director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, told the LA Times that the state is releasing "numerous dangerous felons into our community."
Harriet Salerno, president of Crime Victims United, is concerned about releasing non-rehabilitated people. This group and others that say they recognize the need to cut costs and reduce overcrowding but are concerned about public safety met with Lieu and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-Eldorado Hills) in Sacramento yesterday to express their concerns. The lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow law enforcement officials to object to the release of inmates they deem to be a risk to the public.
But others, like prisons chief Matthew Cate, are more optimistic. Cate called the measure a "landmark achievement," saying that it will not only save taxpayers a half a billion dollars, but that it will actually increase public safety by reducing the number of inmates assigned to parole agents, allowing them to focus on riskier ex-convicts, and by encouraging inmates to participate in education and rehabilitation programs that he says have been shown to lower crime rates.
Cate explains that released inmates who commit a crime will go back to jail. The difference now is they will not return to jail for a technical violation of their parole.
The 260 San Diego County inmates released Monday were nonviolent offenders, such as shoplifters and drug users. As law enforcement and court officials continue to review inmate files, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that inmates who committed crimes against children or are jailed for violent crimes like burglaries, robberies and sexual assault will not be considered for early release
