A Los Angeles Times news article (Dec, 2006) criticized the excessive overtime charges submitted by prison guards because of massive prison overcrowding. Ironically, this article offered little sympathy for the 174,000 felons who were incarcerated in 33 prisons designed to hold 100,000 inmates. Three years later, Governor Schwarzenegger, in his State of the State address (January 2010), compared California's $50,000 per inmate, per year cost, to other states which average $32,000 and Texas, which houses nearly as many felons as California, but spends less than a third as much on its system.
By January, 2011, Governor elect Jerry Brown inherited this prison problem along with a federal judicial mandate requiring California to release 30,000 of these inmates within two years. Possibly, Governor Brown could have negotiated a deal with Texas to house excess prisoners at a savings of nearly $30,000 per inmate, but instead opted for a "realignment" program that reduced state prison inmates by putting them in local county and/or city jails.
According to an Associated Press article (April 20, 2014) by Don Thompson, Governor Jerry Brown is quoted as saying: "I can report . . . that realignment is working." We are left to guess in what way this realignment is working as Thompson's article goes on to reveal that sheriffs, county supervisors and police chiefs have pressed the governor for more money to deal with the crush of additional inmates. Local jails are now overcrowded and money is required for new facilities, inmate mental health counseling, education and rehabilitation programs.
Monterey County is faced with possible federal class action litigation involving overcrowding and "violent" inadequate facilities. In January 2014, Sheriff Scott Miller added Monterey County to the list for more money and the governor indicated he would look through the "cookie jar" to see if he could find some. Miller commented: "I'm still waiting to see what he found . . ."
Many counties have been under their own court orders to reduce jail populations and some counties, with the use of court-ordered GPS monitors, have freed parole violators within days, or even hours, of arrest because there is no room to house them.
An Associated Press article (Feb. 25, 2013) revealed that thousands of California parolees, many of them sex offenders, are removing court-ordered GPS monitors resulting in more than 3,400 arrest warrants. Because of overcrowding, there is little risk of serving time by removing GPS devices because state prisons and local jails are too full to hold them.
In Santa Cruz (Feb. 22, 2013), Jeremy Goulet broke into a co-worker's home and allegedly groped her while she was in bed. He was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct, and released without bail even though he was still on probation from a plea deal he made in Berkeley. Four days later he opened fire and killed two police detectives. It could be argued the consequences of Realignment set in motion this terrible circumstance.
It is fair to ask: "In what way is this Realignment program working?"