More California Parolees Freed From Supervision

SACRAMENTO (KCBS) – As the state continues to offload prisoners to counties as part of a cost-cutting realignment plan, the number of parolees freed from supervision jumped six-fold in April.

In March, 1,300 parolees were taken off supervision. In April, that number jumped to 8,500, which means those offenders have less access to rehab and police don't have broad authority to conduct random searches or detain them for lesser violations.

KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:

According to law enforcement officials, this leaves them without valuable tools for keeping former parolees in line.

"The state is basically saying we're no longer going to do it, we're shoving it back to you counties," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. "It's being shoved right down because of financial problems so the burden moves to us here on the local level to say we have no choice, we are going to protect our community and we are going to cut down recidivism to keep our community safe. And what we do is we hope."

The hope is that by pulling together all police and sheriffs departments, they can keep tabs on ex-parolees returning to the county to make sure they're not getting into trouble.

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