New law to reduce local parolee supervision

A new state law that took effect Monday is expected to reduce supervision of more than a quarter of Barstow’s parolee population.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law last October which created a non-revocable parole status for low-risk parolees. Parolees who didn’t receive serious disciplinary action while incarcerated, weren’t convicted of violent or sex crimes and have not been proven to be members of a gang can qualify for non-revocable parole.

Gordon Hinkle, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said that qualified parolees will not be sent back to prison for parole violations and wouldn’t be directly supervised by a parole agent. However, if a parolee commits a new crime they could be sent back to prison, according to Hinkle.

Hinkle said that although non-revocable parolees will have less supervision, parolees will still be subject to searches by law enforcement at any time.

“People seem to think we’re just letting them go free,” Hinkle said. “They are still monitored and have to let us know where they live. We keep a database of all parolees and that system will include non-revocable parolees. If a police officer hears something on the street about a parolee breaking the law they can just go search without a warrant.”

Hinkle said CDCR hopes the new law will reduce the case load for parole agents in the state. The average parole agent currently oversees 70 parolees, but that number is expected to drop to 45 a year after the law takes effect, according to Hinkle. The new program is also expected to save the state $100 million, according to a CDCR report.

“Non-revocable parole will allow parole agents to focus on the more serious offenders,” Hinkle said. “Right now our agents have the highest average case load of any state.”

The new law also increases the amount of early-release credits inmates can earn for completing education programs and training for or working as inmate firefighters. Hinkle said the CDCR is anticipating a reduction of 6,500 inmates from the state prison population in the next 12 months due to the new incentives.

“If inmates are rewarded for improving themselves when they are incarcerated they will hopefully continue on that road, and they will not become repeat offenders,” Hinkle said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com

By the numbers
267 parolees in the Barstow area
26 percent of Barstow parolees may qualify for non-revocable parole
8,928 parolees in San Bernardino County
111,000 parolees in California
Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports