Public Safety Realignment - ACLU of Northern California

9 See., e.g. Marissa Lagos, SG Gate, September 21, 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown promises constitutional amendment tofund realignment, available at http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/09/21/gov-jerry-brown-promisesconstitutional-amendment-to-fund-realignment/,“The governor and other supporters believe that city police andcounty sheriffs, probation departments and social service programs will do a better job helping low-level offendersstay out of trouble.” See also comments from local government officials from around the state concurring that localgovernments can do a better job than the state, e.g., at, “Keeping individuals closer to the community, keeping themcloser to their families, and connecting them with community-based resources that they're going to need to besuccessful when they get out, because they are going to get out.”10 Cal. Penal Code § 17.5. The legislative findings underlying the realignment legislation include the following:“Despite the dramatic increase in corrections spending over the past two decades, national reincarceration rates forpeople released from prison remain unchanged or have worsened. National data show that about 40 percent ofreleased individuals are reincarcerated within three years. In California, the recidivism rate for persons who haveserved time in prison is even greater than the national average.”11 Brown v. Plata, 131 S.Ct. 1910 (2011).12 California state prisons were designed to hold 79,858 prisoners. However, they housed approximately 143,000prisoners at the time of the Plata decision, which ordered California to reduce its prison population byapproximately 33,000 prisoners to 137.5% of design capacity, or approximately 109,800 prisoners. CaliforniaDepartment of Corrections and Rehabilitation, State Responds to Three-Judge Court’s Order Requiring a Reductionin Prison Crowding (Jun. 7, 2011), CDCR Today, available at http://cdcrtoday.blogspot.com/2011/06/stateresponds-to-three-judge-courts.html;Plata, 131 S.Ct. at 1943-47.13 Defendant’s January 2012 Status Report in Response to June 30, 2011 Order (Jan 6. 2012), p. 3, available athttp://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/docs/Jan-2012-Pop-Status-Update.pdf. Updated figures are available athttp://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/3_judge_panel_decision.html.14 ACLU of California, Community Safety, Community Solutions: Implementing AB 109: Enhancing Public Safety,Saving Money and Wisely Allocating Limited Jail Space (Aug. 2011), available athttp://www.aclunc.org/issues/criminal_justice/asset_upload_file85_10684.pdf.15 See, e.g., the legislative findings codified at Cal. Penal Code § 17.5, which include the following: “California mustreinvest its criminal justice resources to support community-based corrections programs and evidence-basedpractices . . . . Realigning low-level felony offenders who do not have prior convictions for serious, violent, or sexoffenses to locally run community-based corrections programs, which are strengthened through community-basedpunishment, evidence-based practices, improved supervision strategies, and enhanced secured capacity, willimprove public safety outcomes among adult felons and facilitate their reintegration back into society. Communitybasedcorrections programs require a partnership between local public safety entities and the county to provide andexpand the use of community-based punishment for low-level offender populations. Each county's LocalCommunity Corrections Partnership . . . should play a critical role in developing programs and ensuring appropriateoutcomes for low-level offenders.” Section 17.5 defines “community-based punishment” as “correctional sanctionsand programming encompassing a range of custodial and noncustodial responses to criminal or noncompliantoffender activity.” Examples of community-based punishment include: intensive community supervision; homedetention with non-GPS electronic monitoring (such a telephone check-ins) or GPS monitoring; mandatorycommunity service; restorative justice programs such as mandatory victim restitution and victim-offenderreconciliation; work, training, or education in a furlough program, or work, in lieu of confinement, in a work releaseprogram; day reporting; residential or nonresidential substance abuse treatment programs; mother-infant careprograms; and community-based residential programs offering structure, supervision, drug treatment, alcoholtreatment, literacy programming, employment counseling, psychological counseling, mental health treatment, or anycombination of these and other interventions.45