SACRAMENTO, CA - Instead of releasing a state prisoner with cash and a bus ticket, a pilot program planned for San Diego County this fall will give prisoners new help to succeed in society.

The “re-entry program” was cited as an example of long-range state plans to reduce the number of inmates who return to prison after release, about 70 percent, during a legislative hearing yesterday on prison overcrowding.

James Tilton, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as acting secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said he was “very optimistic” about the program, calling it a “new philosophy” for the future.

“We are going to learn from these couple of pilots and then translate that to the whole population,” Tilton said, sitting beside a large color photo of a prison gym converted into a makeshift dorm with bunk beds stacked three high... Read more.

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