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Sentencing law takes effect Monday

October 2, 2011

Starting Monday, felons sentenced in California for non-violent and non-sexual crimes will be sent to their local county jails instead of state prisons to serve time.

Drug dealers, burglars and other felons sentenced in San Luis Obispo Superior Court will become wards of the county, under a realignment plan slated to reduce the number of inmates entering the overcrowded state prison system.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s department is putting two modular housing units into use at the county jail to accommodate inmates found to be eligible for realignment. The units can hold up to 48 inmates. [KCOY]

In addition, realignment also changes parole rules. State parole officers will no longer supervise non-violent and non-sexual offenders released from state prisons. Instead, county probation officers will monitor former inmates for a shortened period of time.

Proponents of realignment say that it will ease prison overcrowding and recidivism rates. California currently has a 70 percent recidivism rate, one of the highest in the nation.

In order to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order that California reduce its prison population from 143,000 to 110,000 by 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature have worked out a plan to send new offenders to local jails rather than releasing thousands of felons incarcerated in the state prison system.


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We need to look at the larger picture here. Calif. has the highest incarceration rate in the nation , let alone the world per capita. This is because of three strikes where we have a pizza thief getting life because he had two strikes, ridiculous drug prohibition and lake of treatment programs, but most of all……a vicious, kick your face in correctional officer’s union that doesn’t care they are bankrupting the state, police officers’ unions that use our tax dollars to lobby state legislators to pass ever increasing harsh sentencing laws, and corrupt judges that carry out the dirty work. When are we going to learn that bending over for corrupt, self serving government sobs is a no win situation. All we keep doing is passing more laws at the delight of the pos guards, police officers, DAs, judges, sheriffs. All they do is laugh their way to the bank. Pretty sad people. I won’t even get into the corrupt law enforcement in this county.


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The problem with the prison fiasco is one that Steve Cooley the LA District Attorney created. He says he is a reformer of Three Strikes and many believed he was good because he was “Soft on Crime”. But, look what he has created. He is making low level, nonviolent offenders felons faster then Jerry Brown can re-align them. Now we have 30,000 felons set to be released without the possibility of getting a job. Everyone is looking at the problem from the wrong end. Spending money to reform these low level offenders is a waste. They are already “felons”. You can give them a Harvard education, but they still have to put “felon” on their job application. What percent of “felons” have been hired recently. 12% unemployment for the general public equals 99% unemploment for a “felon”.


Steve Ipsen for Los Angeles District Attorney 2012. He is the only one with real solutions for reform. His plan focuses on the nonviolent crime up front, before they are labeled a “felon”. He advocates spending money before jail so these offenders have a chance at recovery. This keeps them out of jail, working or doing community service, saves tax payers money, and actually gives first time offenders the possibility of reform before they get caught up in prison life where they learn violent crime.


I am voting for this guy and “Reform First” – FINALLY SOMEONE WITH REAL SOLUTIONS. I hope the author of this post will check out his plan at http://www.ReformFirst.com and weigh in on his idea. BEST SOLUTION I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME.


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I wonder if this means that Miller and Gearhart will becoming back to SLO?


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Having been in CMC (no not as a prisoner, guest for class at Cuesta College) it is a prison.


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I don’t think these felon’s are going to be happy campers. I hear that jail is a far greater miserable, boring experience as compared to prison. Jail is more confining and prisoners are more isolated in jail than in a prison where they participate in a society, also they can’t get the things in jail that they can get in a prison (which is almost anything). I think jail probably is safer for a prisoner since there is less opportunity to be injured and they don’t get the same education in jail (on criminality) that they get in prison so that is good for us and will probably reduce recidivism. Is the CMC a jail or a prison?


Does anyone know if people in jail get to go outside in a yard and visit (hang around) with other prisoners or play games and watch movies together (socialize)? Would someone tell us about the difference, I know there are some guards that read this site.


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