whats up with AB 109?

[King of the 109ers]

First off, I'm not actually "King of the 109ers". I just heard a clown referring to himself as such regarding his many convictions, yet still on the streets status, that when I learned what he meant I just had to use it.

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/realignment/

Says a bunch of stuff about 'ending the revolving door' but what is diff between a RD in and out of state prison and RD in and out of local jails?

From strictly admin point of view, shouldn't bigger be better, in that a state prison system will have a better overview of WTF is going on, instead of an individual county?

Since jails are built for short term, with less amenities than prison, wouldn't that mean all the inmates are suffering harsher conditions, and where is the screaming about that?

Are the local jails now empowered to give all the 109ers very early releases, so they simply aren't serving sentences?


PS-got a look at the new prison at Mule Creek Looks real nice! Awesome welding training shop! Too bad manufacturing has left CA. They got soccer, baseball, handball, circuit training, air conditioning, individual headphones for the big screen TV, classrooms, and huge state of the art medical building. The "pods"(cell blocks) have cathedral height ceilings for some reason, all out of massive concrete no less, and include acoustic panels. Word from workers who had done several prisons it the design is already a "dinosaur". The guards from next door also said the design sucks. The town its in, Ione, was originally named "Bedbug" in mining days, so its really the "Bedbug State Prison". I hear the CONTRACTING process to get bids to build something, inspect, etc it is still under some reasonable supervision, but its the selection of the design and architect end of things is completely political and out of control.

[CBR_rider]

AB109 is/was a joke.. much like Prop. 47. No real meaningful reform; simply a shuffling around of criminals (to include many of them "shuffled" back into society).

[SonofWWIIDI]

"Bedbug" state prison.


Hope they actually have giant bugs, that enjoy the taste of scumbag!

[stormvet]

Are they building another prison in Ione. Because Mule Creek state prison is hardly new, it opened in the late eighties. And yes it is considered an old design by today's standards.

[pacrat]

And yes it is considered an old design by today's standards.

I still prefer Sheriff Joe's design. It will never go out of style with me.

Chain link fencing, dogs, tents, pink undies and bologna sammiches.


JM2c

[GoatLovin]

Are they building another prison in Ione. Because Mule Creek state prison is hardly new, it opened in the late eighties. And yes it is considered an old design by today's standards.

They are adding a level "two" facility with 1,200 beds to MCSP.

[BadKitty]

Are they building another prison in Ione. Because Mule Creek state prison is hardly new, it opened in the late eighties. And yes it is considered an old design by today's standards.

No, they built an addition on to the current prison grounds.


As for AB 109 mentioned by the OP, my understanding is that the State was federally court-ordered to reduce the inmate population at CDCR. So, the State came up with a realignment plan to move some of the burden for lower-level offenders elsewhere.

No, there really isn't a difference between a revolving door in and out of state prison and a revolving door in and out of local jails. CDCR was so overcrowded that they were stacking inmates 3 bunks high in the gymnasiums and day room floors. The court said that was a no-no; so now the counties have to pony up their fair share of the burden for the lower level guys. Like CBR_rider said, they just shuffled the offenders from one place to another. Then the counties, I believe, started releasing *their* lower-level offenders to make room for the guys bumped down from CDCR.

[pacrat]

No, they built an addition on to the current prison grounds.


As for AB 109 mentioned by the OP, my understanding is that the State was federally court-ordered to reduce the inmate population at CDCR. So, the State came up with a realignment plan to move some of the burden for lower-level offenders elsewhere.

No, there really isn't a difference between a revolving door in and out of state prison and a revolving door in and out of local jails. CDCR was so overcrowded that they were stacking inmates 3 bunks high in the gymnasiums and day room floors. The court said that was a no-no; so now the counties have to pony up their fair share of the burden for the lower level guys. Like CBR_rider said, they just shuffled the offenders from one place to another. Then the counties, I believe, started releasing *their* lower-level offenders to make room for the guys bumped down from CDCR.

And tough sentencing went out the door with the happy laughing criminals. Then Prop 47 came along and made them even happier laughing criminals.

And everyone lives happily ever after. Well except for those pesky citizen victims of course. But this is Commyfornia. They don't count.

[veeklog]

Both laws suck! We are feeling the effects of this crap.

[CBR_rider]

And tough sentencing went out the door with the happy laughing criminals. Then Prop 47 came along and made them even happier laughing criminals.

And everyone lives happily ever after. Well except for those pesky citizen victims of course. But this is Commyfornia. They don't count.

Especially when some of them vote it upon themselves.... I really can't believe anyone other than criminals voted for Prop 47. I'm not going to suggest that our criminal justice system didn't (and still doesn't) have its problems; but stupid (non)solutions are not acceptable solutions.

I really wish more people would get righteously angry when the repeat criminals victimize their fellow citizens instead of whining and complaining about the poor criminals.

[pacrat]

Especially when some most of them vote it upon themselves.... I really can't believe anyone other than criminals voted for Prop 47.

FIFY. 47 passed, so that is IMO proof that their is a direct correlation between the Liberal Mentality and the Criminal Mentality.

JM2c

[oddjob]

I believe Gov Pete Wilson's term was when the Fed Courts handed down their decision. The "can was kicked down the road" until Brown's term and thus AB 109.

There was some Calgun folks who supported Prop 47 too!

[omgwtfbbq]

In regards to AB109:

Pros: A great deal more funds for community corrections which is good for those who are finally ready to get their lives together.

Cons: Pretty much everything else.

It's important to understand where AB109 came from. As others have said, it was federal court that ordered the state of CA to reduce it's prison population which sent CA lawmakers, who are already inept when they have infinite time to prepare a bill, scrambling for a fix. CA was already shipping inmates to other states and building prisons wasn't financially possible or timely enough so the only option left was diverting the prison population to the local level through Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and Local Prison Commitment/Mandatory Supervision (1170(h)).

AB109, and in particular PRCS, was sold to the public, lawmakers and members of LE as a way to shed Non-Violent, Non Sex-offenders, Non Serious Felons (Non non nons, NNNs) from the prison system by allowing them to be released pursuant to their usual parole standards but supervised by county probation departments (it's cheaper).

This was at best a misunderstanding and at worse a flat-out lie. What it turned out to be the case what not that those eligible for PRCS would not be NNN type offenders (our assumption was they would be property and drug felons) but rather that the present prison term they were serving would not be for a NNN offense.

For example. You have a guy who served time for 664/187PC, attempted murder, several 459 1sts etc etc. but was released/paroled into the community and they get picked up for 459 2nd. He gets prison but now AB109 happens and when it comes time to parole, he doesn't go to Parole, he goes to PRCS. He's still a violent *******, but under AB109, he's a NNN because his last crime was NNN. Many/most probation departments were not ready to deal with this level of offender.

1170(h) - Local Prison; Mandatory Supervision.
Seems funny that the state's way of resolving issues of conditions and inability to address inmates' mental health needs in the state system was to transfer those inmates to a system that is not and never was intended to house inmates in a long-term capacity. At the outset of 1170(h) many judges were committing inmates to lengthy terms in the jail because of the severity of crimes but that takes up precious little space needed for the population that the jail was intended to serve.

Enter Mandatory Supervision (MS). MS allows an individual to enter into a split local prison commitment/community supervision sentence for an offense prior to AB109 would have sent the individual to state prison again, supposedly NNN felonies. This puts even more stress on community corrections and local LE as more offenders are being left in the community.

In regards to Prop 47:

The campaign for this sold it on misunderstandings and untruths and the opposition to it didn't do enough to educate the public and prevent it. I didn't even know about Prop 47 until I read the sample ballot and it directly effected my job. No agencies in the area were talking about it. No informational bulletins or emails were sent out.

Prop 47 was sold on the idea that it would reduce the prison population even further (it effected a population that under AB109 would almost certainly not go to state prison) and that it would divert funds that would have gone to housing these inmates to treatment programs (a bald-faced lie).

[oddjob]

Regarding AB 109 was "Repeat Offender" redefined?

[omgwtfbbq]

Regarding AB 109 was "Repeat Offender" redefined?

Not necessarily, no. There are still sentencing enhancement for certain codes based on priors.

Prop 47 did away with "Petty Theft with a Prior" felonies, however. Now a personal can commit as many 488s as they want as long as the each theft is less than $950 and it will also be a misdo.