California Probation Dept. Unable to Supervise Violent Ex-Cons

Fourteen years after Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 109, so called “Public Safety Realignment,” into law and began dumping ex-cons and thousands of new felons on county probation departments, LA County is no longer able to handle the volume of serious offenders. Louis Casiano of Fox News reports that the state Probation Chief recently sent an urgent request to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services asking for an additional 150 police officers to take over supervision of both adult and juvenile offenders sentenced to probation, rather than jail or prison. Adding to the shortage of officers, on January 1 dozens of officers were suspended at the county’s Juvenile Hall due to alleged offenses.

The lack of enough probation officers has created a “significant void in the supervision of high-risk probationers, including those convicted of sexual assault, domestic violence, gang-related crimes, and other offenses,” according to the Chief Probation Officer.

Much of the problem can be traced back to the Realignment law, which gutted the state parole process that used to put released prison inmates on high supervision by armed parole officers who  had the authority to pursue parolees anywhere in the state and send them back to prison for violating the conditions of their release.  Under realignment, most inmates are placed on probation with far less supervision and essentially no consequences for violations. Probation was never designed to handle serious criminals such as sex offenders, gang members and other violent felons. In addition, probation officers are limited to contacting the offenders they are supposed to supervise within the county where they were released. When an ex-con leaves the county, his probation officer cannot follow him. If he is caught violating the rules, there is usually no room for him in county jail, which is now full of car thieves, burglars and sex offenders who, before realignment, would have been sentenced to prison.

As the Governor pursues his goal of emptying out state prisons with early releases of even the most violent criminals, these predators are being sent back into communities with understaffed and overworked probation departments which often can’t even make phone contact with them once a month.

The adoption of Proposition 36 last November is giving law enforcement some of the tools needed to crack-down on thieves, dealers and addicts, but until the Realignment law is repealed there will remain thousands of empty beds in state prison while the county jails are filled to capacity.  Under the current system, far too many serious criminals are left on the streets unsupervised and free to commit new crimes.