State prepares for big cut in prison population

Posted at 08:12 AM
Feb. 16, 2010
By Andy Furillo / The Sacramento Bee -
afurillo@sacbee.com

SACRAMENTO -- Legislation that would save money and reduce prison crowding remained stuck in the state Assembly Friday as law enforcement lobbyists tried to kill a proposed commission to review sentencing guidelines.

The Senate narrowly approved the bill Thursday, but the plan is being rewritten in hopes of winning support from Assembly members in a vote as soon as Monday.

Meantime, Valley law enforcement officials are calling for lawmakers to slow down and allow time for the bill to get more scrutiny.

SACRAMENTO -- With the legislative session heading into the home stretch, an ambitious plan to overhaul California's criminal sentencing structure is facing dim prospects in the Governor's Office.

Two bills are circulating in the Legislature that would create a California sentencing commission with the ability to change the length of prison terms. But a spokesman for Gov. Schwarzenegger suggested it is highly unlikely that either commission bill will get signed into law.
"We're open to debate, but the governor has serious reservations about what's being proposed in the Legislature," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said in an interview. "He thinks that final authority [on sentencing laws] should be with elected officials who are accountable to the people."
The fury unleashed in Sacramento over the early releases of a couple hundred inmates has set the stage for a more massive but less detectable state prisoner population shift about to unfold.

By the end of the year, another 6,300 offenders from Modoc to San Diego who otherwise would have been behind prison bars will instead be on the streets – and the debate already is raging on the public safety fallout.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, which pushed for the bill that led to the prison population reduction to save money in a cash-strapped state, contends the legislation will make the state safer. More parole supervision time will be reserved for the truly dangerous, a prison agency spokesman said, and more inmates will complete more rehabilitation programs to smooth their transition into free society – even if it comes six weeks earlier than their sentences had prescribed.

"What you really have is a changing California parole structure that is really unprecedented," the corrections department's Oscar Hidalgo said. "It allows our agents to focus on the highest-risk parolees, which increases public safety. As far as the earned credits, we're asking inmates to complete programs that have proven helpful to success on the outside, such as getting a GED or learning a trade."

Law enforcement and victims' rights groups counter that the bill that enabled the upcoming offender population shift from inside to out is a high-risk move. They say that police budgets slashed as a result of depressed local economies will mean fewer street cops available to cope with increased numbers of so-called lesser-risk offenders such as car thieves, drunken drivers and spousal abusers.

Lezlie Sterling
lsterling@sacbee.com - A shift in state prisoners will follow the early release of some low-risk offenders in Sacramento. This former inmate was among those released early from the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility on Feb. 2.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
Sacramento judge clarifies ruling on jail inmate releases "The legislation was based on a lie that the prisons are filled with low-level offenders who pose no real threat to public safety, and that is absolutely not true," said Ray McNally, a political consultant whose client list includes the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Crime Victims United of California, which is partially funded by the guards' union. "When you release dangerous people, other people get hurt."

A trailer bill to last year's state budget authorized the prison population cut. Most of the reduction is expected to come through parole policy changes in which lower-risk offenders will no longer be subject to revocations that return them to prison. The legislation, Senate Bill X3 18, also granted six-week time credits to prisoners who complete education and other programs.

The bill also contained the provisions that led about 20 counties, including Sacramento, to grant early releases to an estimated 1,000 inmates from their local jail facilities.

In Sacramento, one inmate released early was arrested on suspicion of trying to rape a woman staff member at the Loaves & Fishes compound for the homeless. It prompted the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association to file a lawsuit to block the releases.

Superior Court Judge Loren E. McMaster on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order on the deputies' behalf. He also ruled that as of Jan. 25, last year's bill inexplicably eliminated county inmates' good-behavior credits.

The decision caused confusion later in the week in the local courts, with some lawyers postponing sentencing on their clients until the lawsuit plays out more fully. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for March 3.

"I have a county jail sentencing (on a client) coming up, and I continued it until I think the waters have cleared and we know what's going on," said veteran Sacramento criminal defense lawyer Russell W. Miller. "There's no way you can advise your client. It's part of our ethical obligation to make sure our clients are fully and properly informed."

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