The entrance to the Fresno County jail has been a revolving door for inmates over the last year. County budget cuts have forced the layoff of dozens of correctional officers and the shutdown of several floors of the jail. Now comes word from the governor's office that in order to deal with a $20 billion state budget deficit ... 15-thousand non serious, non-violent non sex offender felons will stay in county jails ... instead of going to state prison.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims says the governor proposed the idea before but it never got off the ground. This time ... he's offering to pay counties money to house state felons. Mims said, "What's better than last year's proposal is that he's at least going to send some money along with it. But it's only about $12 thousand a year. It costs about $27 thousand a year to house an inmate."
Under the governor's proposal only newly sentenced felons with terms of three years or less would stay in county jails. If space is not available in the felon's home jail ... then he would be shipped to another jail with open space. But wherever they end up ... felons will take up space in already crowded local jails.
Sheriff Mims said, "It ends up being a one in and one out ... and that doesn't do anybody any good."
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, "If this isn't done right, we're gonna see jails filled with only sentenced inmates and not pre-sentenced inmates. It's pre-sentenced inmates oftentimes, like auto thieves and burglars, that are the ones who are left out in the community they committing crimes on a daily basis."
For now ... it's just a proposal. But in June ... the state and county jails will have to deal with the reality of where to put prisoners.
