Local GOP Lawmakers Aim To Keep Inmates Behind Bars

California's Senate and Assembly Republicans proposed bills Tuesday to reverse what they say is a growing public safety threat caused by prison realignment, and several local politicians are on board.

“Costs versus savings to our budget mean nothing when the safety of hardworking families across California are threatened," State Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) said Tuesday. "We can’t allow our communities to live under the constant threat of increased crime and violence. As a mother of five, nothing is more important to me than ensuring our kids are safe."

Among other things, the 13 GOP-backed bills seek to increase penalties for some offenders to keep them in state prisons and out of local jails. (For the GOP’s descriptions of its 13 realignment reform proposals, including Melendez's AB 1084,  click here.)

When Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on AB 109 in 2011—otherwise known as realignment--the law mandated that many inmates convicted of lower-level crimes be sent to county jails instead of state prisons. The bill was an effort to answer a federal court order calling on California to relieve its prison overcrowding problem.

But many local officials have balked.

Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff has repeatedly warned that AB 109 has forced the county to early release some inmates due to local overcrowding. T

According to a research report from UC Berkley Senior Legal Policy Associate Rebecca Sullivan Silbert, before realignment a person could not be sentenced to county jail for longer than a 365-day period; longer sentences had to be served in state prison, regardless of the crime. As such, many jails are not equipped up to handle inmates on a longer-term basis, Silbert writes.

Now local officials are facing the same threat of legal action that the state has been.

According to an article published in today’s Press-Enterprise, three local inmates have filed a class-action lawsuit against Riverside County alleging they are being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment through denial of adequate mental and health care.

Republicans say their proposals announced Tuesday would head off such realignment-related lawsuits. As part of their package, State Assemblywoman Marie Waldron (R-Escondido), who also represents Temecula, is working on AB 1106 to limit counties’ liability for poor conditions caused by the influx of long-term jail inmates.

At press time, the govenor's office has not released a statement on the GOP-proposed measures.

However, Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told The Associated Press the Republican bills would increase problems in state prisons because of the federal court order to improve overcrowding.