POV: Criminal Realignment

Los Angeles - California’s prison system currently holds 162,000 inmates. KTTV Vice President and General Manager Kevin Hale looks at why thousands of those prisoners, including violent ones, could get out early.

You can watch the full video of the editorial in the media player... and share your comments on the topic below the editorial transcript.

Full Editorial Text:

At a time when we're enjoying our lowest crime rate in a decade, the city is about to be flooded with thousands of prisoners.
 
It's called a "realignment," and it's the result of a Supreme Court mandate to reduce prison populations. Between now and 2013, about eight thousand more criminals will end up on the streets of Los Angeles County.
 
And we were promised non-violent criminals, but they've already made a mess of that, as our own investigation shows prisoners with a violent history are being released under this program--prisoners incarcerated for battery, involuntary manslaughter and possession of weapons.
 
LAPD tells us that about 30 percent of the prisoners who’ve already been released are missing. The state’s giving inaccurate prisoner information to local law enforcement, so many aren’t where they’re supposed to be so they can’t be supervised. And a big concern is the significantly reduced incarceration time in county jail.
 
Here’s the worst part of the realignment: Now, it’s up to probation officers to decide whether or not to send them back to jail, and this means, many who re-offend will remain on the street.
 
L.A.'s had to take a 150 cops off the street to handle the massive amount of processing and paperwork associated with the flood of criminals being released.
 
And what does this mean? Police Chief Charlie Beck says it's quite simple: fewer officers is going to mean more crime.
 
I think a few things need to happen.
 
First, Governor Brown needs to call an emergency legislative session that slows this realignment down. It’s just too fast. The state is sending us a third more prisoners than was promised.

Second, they should immediately reinstitute sending prisoners out of state to private prisons.
 
Next, don't send us violent offenders;
 
And finally, give us accurate information as to where these criminals are located.
 
And if these things don't happen, then this is one law that I think needs to be repealed.

Thanks for listening. 

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