Inmates Already Removed In RivCo Under State Law

Since the realignment of the state's prisons took effect Oct. 1, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has received several inmates who in other years would have been sent to prison, said Chief Deputy Jerry Gutierrez in a news release issued today.

One inmate was sentenced to a total of 14 years and four months county time; another was sentenced to nine years; another to six years and three others to five years each, Gutierrez said.

"These are just six of the 27 new Riverside County commitments who have been sentenced to more than one year of county time this first week," Gutierrez said.

In years past, only short-term inmates lived at the county jails, but no more.

California Penal Code 1230--brought about by Assembly Bill 109, which went into effect Oct. 1--requires that each county form a Community Correction Partnership. The CCP is mandated to develop and recommend to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors an implementation plan for the 2011 Public Safety Realignment.

"Other California sheriff’s departments have just received inmates for court-ordered lengthy sentences of up to 21 years in their county jails during this first week of October."

The new law also changed the length of time served in county facilities for those sentenced after Oct. 1. Penal Code 1170 allows for imprisonment in county jails up to three years, as well as allows for the punishment to be the same as the underlying offense.

However, those already in state prision will not be transferred to the county jails, nor will they be released early, Gutierrez emphasized.

Violent and serious felons and sex offenders will continue to get time in the big house.

An executive committee will be formed to tackle the mandated statewide shift of prison terms to jail terms for those convicted of nonviolent, nonsexual and nonserious crimes, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced.

Comprising an executive committee within the CCP will be the county chief probation officer, a chief of police from an incorporated city, the sheriff, the district attorney, the public defender, a presiding judge of the Superior Court (or a designee), and a representative from the County Department of Social Services, Mental Health or Alcohol and Substance Abuse programs.

When Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 109, at least $6.7 billion was set aside for the counties to fund Public Safety Realignment in 2011-2012. Of that, Riverside County has been allotted $21.4 million.

The money is to be divided among the public safety components.

"Under this law, there is no limit to the length of time a court may sentence a person to county jail. The only restrictions on eligibility for county jail commitment are based on the offense or the offender’s record," the chief deputy said.