The Fresno Bee reported on Sept. 8 that Fresno County’s attempt to save money by releasing jail inmates early has been a failure. “At least one in five inmates released early from Fresno County Jail over the past year already has landed back behind bars for crimes including murder and assault,” the paper said.
From Sept. 2, 2008, through Aug. 20 of this year, 263 inmates were released from jail before they served their time, or while they were awaiting trial. Of those, 53 were later booked again on suspicion of other charges, including one who is suspected of participating in a double murder. The Bee said there may be more recidivists who were not counted, as its analysis included only those who were arrested within Fresno County.
Since the end of the period studied by the newspaper, the county has granted early release to another 206 inmates. While the county says inmates charged with violent crimes are not eligible for early release, the paper reported that one of the first inmates released was facing charges of attempted vehicle theft, and four months after his release he was arrested on suspicion of stealing a car at gunpoint and firing shots at a fleeing victim.
If Fresno’s situation is typical, this raises serious concerns about proposals to release state prison inmates before their sentences are served. For every 263 inmates released early in Fresno, there were 53 returned to jail and two people murdered.
Extrapolating from those numbers, if the state granted early release to 20,000 inmates, 4,030 would be back behind bars within a year and 152 more Californians would be murder victims. In practice, the results likely would be even worse, since state prison inmates typically have more violent rap sheets than county jail inmates. The costs of investigating the new crimes and trying the new cases would be significant.