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Community Corner

Antonovich Gives Public Safety Update

Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Michael Antonovich recently delivered an update on the criminal population released under the Public Safety Realignment Act, otherwise known as AB 109.

Since AB 109 was passed in Oct. 2011, 16,400 offenders have been released to county jails instead of state prisons and 20,000 state parolees have been shifted to County Probation, officials said.

As of October 25:
Approximately 6,250 state prisoners are serving their sentences in county jails and more than 530 inmates have been sentenced to jail terms of five to 42 years in county jails that were meant to house inmates for less than one year, officials said.

Officials also reported that more recently, certain 3-strike criminals and offenders convicted of assault with a deadly weapon were eligible for supervised probation. Certain mentally-challenged offenders, who previously were not eligible for supervised probation, were given eligibility after being reclassified.

Eligibility for supervised parole does not take into consideration a candidate's entire criminal history, only the last offense, officials said.

About 63 percent of the AB 109 population consists of high-risk offenders, while 542 are registered sex offenders. Over 22,440 were arrested for new offenses, with some parolees having been arrested multiple times, officials said.

"The Governor failed to expand existing contracts with in-state and out-of-state detention facilities in order to avoid implementing realignment and the increased crime that followed after its implementation," Antonovich said in a press release. "The operation and fiscal burden imposed on the 58 counties was unnecessary given the availability of cost-effective solutions to protect public safety."

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