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Governor Approves Knabe Plan to Slow Jail Early Release Program
A policy idea first
proposed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe last year, that
would increase the electronic monitoring of convicted felons, has
now been signed into statewide law by Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
The Bill, signed by the Governor yesterday, could allow thousands of
inmates sentenced for minor, non-violent crimes to be shifted out of
County jail beds and into electronic monitoring instead. This would
allow the additional jail beds to be used to ensure violent
criminals serve longer portions of their sentences, a problem that
now exists under the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Early Release
Program.
The idea for increased use of electronic monitoring was presented by
Supervisor Knabe to the Board of Supervisors in July 2006. After the
Board approved making Knabe’s plan a legislative priority, an author
for the Bill was successfully sought in State Senator Gloria Romero
(D–Los Angeles).
Under the old state law, many convicted criminals were allowed to
choose between a jail sentence and electronic monitoring. Many
criminals chose jail time instead of the electronic monitoring
option because they knew that under the current statistics of the
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Early Release Program, if
they enter the County jail system, they will likely only serve
10-percent of the time they were actually sentenced with, as opposed
to serving 100-percent of their sentence on electronic monitoring.
Supervisor Knabe’s proposal asked the Governor and legislators to
revise the State law to ensure that the decision between electronic
monitoring and a jail term is left to the law enforcement community
and not in the hands of lawbreakers. Under the new law, electronic
monitoring will become mandatory for certain non-violent offenders,
and as a result, it will free up much-needed beds in County jails
for the very worst offenders, who need to remain behind bars for
more than just a fraction of their sentences.
“If a criminal receives a 30-day sentence, then why would they agree
to be electronically monitored that entire time if they know the
loopholes of early release mean a 30-day sentence translates into
only a few days behind bars,” said Supervisor Knabe. “The choice
between the two should not be an option in the hands of convicted
criminals. Criminals should not get to choose their punishment
simply because one takes less time to complete. Length of punishment
belongs in the hands of our judges and when a judge imposes a
sentence, that sentence needs to stick.”
“Ultimately, we need additional jail beds to ensure that every
criminal serves every day he is sentenced to, but until that day
comes, this new Bill will ensure that the very worst offenders will
remain behind bars and that the electronic monitoring option will be
used only for non violent criminals. I applaud Governor
Schwarzenegger, Senator Romero, and all the legislators who
supported this important Bill.”
Up to 2,000 inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system will be
placed into electronic monitoring through the use of ankle
bracelets. As of this week, there are only 413 offenders on
electronic monitoring.
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