As California’s Prison Realignment Program continues to make front page news, so do stories about its impact to public safety.  Just yesterday, a story came out on the Lost Coast Outpost website highlighting some of people taking advantage of California’s “Free For All” criminal justice system…and we really mean “Free for Criminals not for Taxpayers.”

According to the article, California is now simply citing and releasing people with zero jail time, because they don’t have enough room in the local jails.  And the best part is that we all get to pay for their release.  It is not only shocking and confusing to see the types of people that are just being let out with no supervision, but also disappointing to know that our elected officials would rather use taxpayer dollars to let these people out rather than have them financially secure their own release with a commercial bail bond.  At a time when our budgets a overstretched and crime rates are on the rise, why wouldn’t a fiscally responsible legislature want a criminally responsible release mechanism for defendants.

Some of the defendants arrested and then released include a man in Humboldt County who was caught with 4200 marijuana plants and a man who stole a car and led police on a chase at speeds of 70 mph. According to authorities, these people are not violent enough to keep in custody.  Unfortunately, lost in all this is the concept of breaking the law and doing something that you were not supposed to do.  If we keep rewarding bad behavior we can be assured that what we will keep getting is bad if not worse behavior from these people. Read the original article below.

Original article:  Rejoice, Crooks! Cite ‘N’ Release Policy In Full Effect As Jail Nears Capacity

Written by: Eric Granof