"A lot of these folks earned their trip to state prison," said Merced Sheriff Mark Pazin.
Pazin worries these inmates will return to their previous lives of crime.
"Is it 20%, 30%? You start to do the math real quick. Even 10% of 1,500 is 150 inmates that would be returned," said Pazin.
An estimated 2,000 inmates may return to Fresno.
The judges also set a cap on the number of inmates that could be sent off to state prison. Now that's a big concern for the Fresno County Sheriff and chief of police who say that could lead to overcrowding here at the Fresno County Jail.
"Over a three year period in the city fresno we could see increases as many as 13000 additional crimes in our city," said Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer.
ABC 30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi warned releases will continue unless the state addresses inmate health, building new prisons and overcrowding. "There are standards that have to be met and if those standards are met, that is so many prisoners for so many guards, you have to release prisoners," said Capozzi.
News of the release has upset law officials but two Fresno residents Action News spoke to say they are not worried at all.
Christina Torno said: "They're releasing them? They must not be that dangerous."
"I might have too much faith in the system! I do. I don't worry about it too much," said Elizabeth Songer from Fresno.
Still the state attorney general is worried for the public and is planning an appeal with the U. S. Supreme Court.
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