SACRAMENTO - Prison officials in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration acknowledged Thursday that some parole violators are no longer being sent back to prison - part of a philosophical shift that will reduce overcrowding in the state's prisons. The state's parole chief insisted that those being given a second chance are not violent offenders, but the shift in policy, which was never publicly announced, rankled some tough-on-crime advocates and conservative lawmakers.
There are nearly 10,000 more parolees on the streets today than there were last July, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation This 8.4 percent increase far outpaces the growth in the prison population, which was just 0.6 percent over that same time.
When asked about those numbers, administration officials acknowledged Thursday that, indeed, parole agents are directing more parole violators into rehabilitation programs instead of prisons, particularly for minor violations that used to keep them locked up for months. The shift in direction - hailed by parole-reform advocates and criminal-defense attorneys - occurred quietly at a time when federal judges are threatening to impose a population cap on the state's prison system. Currently, 173,000 inmates are packed into space built for 100,000.
Criminal justice experts said California's tougher parole standards contribute to the state's having the highest recidivism rate in the nation. The policy shift is expected to bring the state more in line with the rest of nation. Thomas Hoffman, head of the prison system's adult parole division, couldn't readily provide statistics on the criminal history of parolees, but he said most are "nonviolent, nonserious offenders.
" The policy shift, he said, is part of a broader "philosophical, cultural, social change" sweeping through the corrections system. "We've got a system that obviously isn't working," Hoffman said, "and now the struggle is what is the solution, and I think we're working through that as a state and still got a long ways to go." The change has contributed to an increase in the parolee population to 127,151 from 117,354 over the past year.
"The numbers are shocking, and I think it's scary for any law-abiding citizen," said Sen.
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