By Steven Harmon and Melissa Pinion-Whitt
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
CALIF. — If a three-judge panel orders the early release of inmates because of prison crowding, close to 5,000 prisoners could be released back into San Bernardino County, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said.
Ramos joined 14 other California district attorneys earlier this week in trying to stop the panel from ordering the early release of inmates. If the panel releases prisoners serving sentences of three years or less, thousands would return to the area.
” ... these are people who have committed some very serious crimes,” Ramos said.
He said the number of prisoners returning to the county could be close to 5,000.
In documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, the 15 district attorneys urged the special panel to consider whether public safety would be compromised by such an order.
Should the judges’ panel decide to go forward with the early release of prisoners, prosecutors may pursue a stay order at the state or federal level.
“We’re hoping that they’re going to work with us on this,” Ramos said.
On Wednesday, the California State Sheriff’s Association also filed a brief to intervene in the case.
The three-judge panel could establish a hard cap on prison population that would lead to an early release of prisoners, or create guidelines for early release.
The early release of prisoners is a concern throughout the state, but especially for San Bernardino County, which sends the most criminals to state prison per capita, Ramos said.
Ramos has been working with the Governor’s Office on a prison-reform plan, including changes in state parole, re-entry facilities and the creation of 53,000 new beds.
The funding for these changes is tied up in the state budget, but Ramos hopes the suit will persuade the panel to wait until the budget is passed.
The statewide law-enforcement leaders urged the judges to refrain from making any decisions on releasing prisoners until reform measures signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - including a $7.8billion bond to build 53,000 new prison and jail beds - have been fully implemented.
“To call for the wholesale release of this many inmates is not only putting the public’s safety at risk, it does nothing to ensure the inmate won’t re-offend,” said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, president of the sheriffs’ group.
“We urge the panel to allow AB900 to begin implementation so that when offenders are released back to their communities, they have the tools they need to succeed.”
The prison-reform package, under AB900, was approved by the Legislature and signed by Schwarzenegger in May in hopes of heading off a federal takeover of the state corrections system. It includes plans for developing stronger rehabilitation programs, which Contra Costa County District Attorney Robert Kochly believes will reduce crowding.
“A great deal of the overcrowding has to do with recycling people through who aren’t provided rehabilitation services the first time around,” he said. “If they get better rehabilitation services, that’s one step to ending the crowding problem. That will have a big impact.”
The motions seek to intervene in a federal class-action lawsuit filed by inmates Ralph Coleman and Marciano Plata against Schwarzenegger and the state.
The lawsuit led to the appointment of the three-judge panel last month to examine how overcrowding is affecting inmate health care, mental-health care, services for the disabled and other prison operations.
The panel has not set a deadline for when it will decide the issues, but Tuesday was the last day to seek intervention in the case.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, said his office supports the attorneys’ position, but was not included in the motion because of late notification from the California District Attorneys Association, of which he is not a member.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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