By David Downey
UT San Diego
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. — Sheriff Stan Sniff is proposing to curb the soaring number of inmate releases from Riverside County jails by sending some who are waiting for court appointments home wearing electronic ankle bracelets that track their whereabouts.
Besieged by droves of prisoners as a result of the state’s realignment program, the county’s five lockups -- with a combined 3,906 beds -- went from a little more than 80 percent full when the program took effect Oct. 1, 2011, to completely full within three months.
In the wake of the debut, the Sheriff’s Department released a record 6,990 inmates last year to make room for newly sentenced criminals who in the past would have gone to prison, but now do time in jail if their most recent offenses are considered to be nonviolent.
According to a report by Sniff and Chief Deputy Sheriff Raymond Gregory, more than 2,000 of the inmates who were released had been arraigned on charges and were awaiting court appearances. They were released without any oversight. And 29 percent failed to show for scheduled court dates in 2012.
To get at the failure-to-appear problem and curb releases, Sniff and Gregory are seeking Board of Supervisors authorization to send home inmates being held in lieu of bail. That’s something the state cleared the way for with Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of a new law in June.
Full story: Sheriff proposes to curb inmate releases through ankle bracelets