Antonovich: Loophole In Calif. Inmate Transfers May Free Violent Offenders
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A loophole in the controversial plan to send thousands of prisoners from California state pentitentiaries to Los Angeles County jails may see the release of both violent and nonviolent offenders, a county official said Wednesday.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich is leading an effort to modify the plan drawn up by Gov. Jerry Brown to transfer as many as 8,000 state inmates to county jails.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors does not agree with Brown's repeated assertion that only nonviolent offenders will be freed.
Antonovich told KNX 1070 realignment is a threat both to public safety and the state's finances.
"In this first month, we are already $10 million short on how much it's cost local taxpayers for these individuals," he said.
The realignment plan affects inmates whose most recent crime was non-violent, butt the Board of Supervisors argues that many of those inmates have violent crimes earlier on their records.
Antonovich echoed the sentiment of other board members who are calling for the law to be amended to consider inmates' entire criminal history instead of just the last offense.
"The state is not meeting their obligation, financially and as a result, we're going to have a spike in crime," he said.
