Report: State Prison Realignment Will Force Officials To Free Thousands Of Inmates
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With state prisons realigning their low risk offenders to county jails, the LA Times reports the Los Angeles County Jail will have no vacancies within the next two months.
California's new prison realignment law is expected to send as many as 8,000 offenders into the LA County jail system by next year, according to a report by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
Jails only have the funding to add 1,800 additional beds.
Officials are considering granting early release to thousands of inmates awaiting trial. The sheriff's department is now figuring out which inmates to free.
"The sheriff will have to make some pretty serious decisions about who stays and who goes depending on what the nature of the offense is," LA Times reporter Andrew Blanksteen told KNX 1070.
Podcast
The poster child for the problem is Dr. Conrad Murray.
Murray is in jail awaiting sentencing in on Nov. 29. He is expected to get three to four years. But as a non-violent offender, he will never see a state prison.
Due to realignment, Murray could see very little county time.
