Next year, California will allocate about 500 million dollars to the counties for local jail improvements and expansion. The funds are to help the state comply with a federal order to reduce the prison population by 9,000. Assembly member Tom Ammiano says job training and alternative sentencing can help.
“Programs, job training, something called split sentencing. The last six months of a person’s period of incarceration could involve a release with mandatory supervision so that there could be guidance and mentoring.”
Ammiano and Assembly member Reginald Jones-Sawyer have been holding select committee hearings around the state on prison overcrowding. Ammiano says recent polls show that Californians are turning against the idea of building new prisons and jails.
The next select committee hearing is scheduled for January in Los Angeles.
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