Riverside Press Enterprise: Riverside County gears up for new inmates

RIVERSIDE COUNTY: Officials plan for new offenders

By DUANE W. GANG

The Riverside Press Enterprise
Riverside County's Probation Department will hire 100 new staff -- including 73 sworn officers -- to handle more than 1,600 low-risk offenders headed into local supervision this year.

10:56 PM PDT on Monday, August 15, 2011

County officials expressed confidence Monday that they can effectively monitor the influx.

But they continued to voice concern over how to handle other aspects of the new law that shifts responsibility for some offenders and inmates from the state to the counties. Chief among the worries is whether the state will provide funding beyond June 30 to cover the additional work.

"This is the most dramatic change to our criminal justice system I have encountered," District Attorney Paul Zellerbach told supervisors Monday.

Between Oct. 1 and June 30, the state is expected to release 1,688 low-risk offenders from prison to Riverside County. State parole agents normally would oversee them, but the new state law, known as AB109 or realignment, puts them under county jurisdiction. The parolees' crimes are classified as nonviolent, nonserious and, for sex offenders, non-high-risk.

Also starting Oct. 1, people convicted of those less serious offenses will serve their sentences at the county level rather than in state prisons. In 2010, the Riverside County court system sentenced 2,257 people to state prison who fit that description, according to a county report.

The law also calls for parole violators to serve time in county jail, rather than state prison. In 2010, there were 3,483 parole violators in Riverside County.

That means the county could see 5,740 new inmates added to its at-capacity jail system over the course of a year. The county's five jails currently have space for a maximum 3,904 inmates at any given time.
"The inn is full," Zellerbach said.

Riverside County sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Thetford said crowding issues will be compounded as more inmates stay in county jails for longer periods of time.

"The last thing I want to do is release people who deserve to be in custody," he said.

But Thetford said the county does have a successful alternative sentencing program, which includes GPS monitoring and home detention. The county could expand that to help handle some of those convicted of nonviolent offenses.

Zellerbach said the new state law also could result in additional prosecutions -- and expense -- for his office.
Currently, a person violating parole is returned to state prison for up to a year. Prosecutors often conduct a type of cost-benefit analysis to determine whether to charge a person for the offense that violated parole, Zellerbach said.

But under realignment, parole violators will serve time in county jails for up to 180 days with day-for-day credit. Zellerbach said that means a person could serve as little as 90 days for a parole violation.

"That's nothing for most of these offenders," Zellerbach said. "They can do 90 days standing on their heads."
As a result, his office might have to prosecute parole violators for the new offenses in order to get stiffer penalties, he said.

Most counties are tasking probation departments with overseeing the low-risk parolees.
Riverside County Chief Probation Officer Alan Crogan outlined a preliminary plan Monday on how the county will oversee the 1,688 offenders.

San Bernardino County Chief Probation Officer Michelle Scray will present a plan to supervisors in September, county Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux said Monday.

Included in Crogan's plan are risk assessments of the parolees and various services, such as education and substance-abuse treatment, aimed at reducing recidivism.

If people violate the terms of their release, Crogan said the county has the option to place them in county jails for up to 10 days or assign them electronic monitoring or home detention. "There are going to be challenges, but we can face those challenges," Crogan said.

To pay for the new program, the state is providing Riverside County with $23.5 million for the remainder of the fiscal year. No local county funds are involved, Crogan said.

But supervisors and other county officials worry the funding may not be available next fiscal year. Budget bills passed earlier this year do not include a future funding guarantee.

Supervisor Jeff Stone said he has "strong concerns that this is a program ripe for failure." He said the county is using the state funding this year to set up a program "without any guarantee in the future that that apparatus will be maintained."

Realignment Funding
The state is providing $23.5 million this year to help Riverside County supervise low-risk offenders. There is no guarantee lawmakers will make such funds available for fiscal 2012-2013.
$21 million for post-release supervision and local incarceration.
$1.49 million in one-time funding to help put in place the local program and hire new employees.
$755,421 to help the district attorney and public defender.
$200,000 for a planning grant.
Source: Riverside County Probation Department