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| Los Angeles County releases 130 inmates daily due to budget constraints |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/29/2004 |
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About 130 inmates on average are released early each day from county jails to save money, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department data show. The inmates - robbers, auto thieves, drunk drivers and abusive spouses - and other convicts are freed early as part of a plan by Sheriff Lee Baca to offset millions of dollars cut from his budget. In the last year, more than 47,500 inmates were released after serving a fraction of their sentences - with some who served only one-tenth of their punishment, the Los Angeles Times reported last Thursday. Baca's tactics have frustrated some judges, police officials and prosecutors who said early releases undermine crimefighting and that punishment should be left to judges, not jailers, to decide. "It's not uncommon for a defendant to be released before the judge even gets home for dinner," said Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Schnegg, who sentences misdemeanor offenders. But Baca said he has no choice, blaming the $166 million, or 10 percent cut from his budget in the last two fiscal years. "I am handcuffed, straitjacketed by the budget of this county," he said. Baca approved the early release of 2,231 spouse abusers and 1,683 drunk drivers in the last 11 months, sheriff's data show. During the same period, 972 inmates who committed assaults with deadly weapons, 682 robbers, 442 convicted of battery and 253 auto thieves also were released. The county's jail system holds 17,500 inmates convicted of maximum sentences up to one year. About 70 percent of the inmates awaits trial. The Sheriff's Department has released inmates in the past two decades to relieve jail overcrowding, but never to save money. |
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