How Will Local Communities Cope with the Sudden Influx of Newly Released
Prisoners?Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the State of
California to release 46,000 inmates more than one-fourth of the
state's prison population over the next two years to relieve
overcrowding. As many as 156,000 prisoners have been crowded into
prisons built to hold 80,000 inmates, leading to the court order.
In presenting the narrow 5-4 decision, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a
Sacramento native, spoke from the bench about suicidal prisoners being
held in "telephone booth-sized cages without toilets" and
others, sick with cancer or in severe pain, who died before being seen
by a doctor.
Initially, state officials at various levels drew up plans designed to
shift inmates to out-of-state prisons or move into county jails across
the state without actually releasing any prisoners, plans that
ultimately ran afoul of budget realities, if not good sense and the law.
Consequently, many thousands of supposedly low-risk offenders are indeed
being released onto California streets.
The number of nonviolent, non-serious, non-sexual prisoners the San
Gabriel Valley alone will receive through 2012 is between 1,000 and
1,500. What will be the impact on local communities and families of
these (primarily) men?
Local community leaders were not caught flat-footed. Two years ago, the
Pasadena Police Department, working with the Flintridge Center and other
community groups, set up an innovative program called PACT
Pasadena Altadena Community Team.
Modeled on what reformers hope to achieve, PACT brings police and
sheriff's deputies together with caregivers and support
organizations and uses an outreach program to identify the needs of
paroles and get them help if they are ready.
Hear from key leaders in this effort to successfully reintegrate
returning prisoners into this community at the ACLU Pasadena/Foothills
Chapter's March Forum: Brian Biery from the Flintridge Foundation,
Commander Darryl Qualls from the Pasadena Police Department, and Mary
Weaver from Friends Outside, a support organization of inmate families
and friends.
* What: ACLU Pasadena/Foothills Chapter Forum:
* When: Tuesday, March 13, 7 p.m.
* Where: Neighborhood Church, 301 North Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena
Spanish translation available [The LA Progressive]
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