Admitting they had seriously undercounted the number of jail inmates released early, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said Wednesday that over the last 2 1/2 years, 119,577 convicted offenders had been let go before serving their full sentences.
That figure was nearly double the number announced a month ago when Sheriff Lee Baca made the early releases a cornerstone of his unsuccessful campaign to raise the county's sales tax to pay for more police officers and deputies.
When they began releasing inmates early to save money in June 2002, sheriff's officials screened prisoners to decide how much time they should serve. But since last year, deputies have released all but the most serious offenders after they served less than 10% of their sentences, officials said.
"They are pretty much walked through the system," said Sheriff's Chief Chuck Jackson, who heads the department's Correctional Services Division. "We're releasing a whole lot of folks early from L.A. County jail."
According to the figures, more than half of inmates released early -- 62,090 -- left jail within a day or two, despite having been sentenced up to three months for crimes such as burglary, drunk driving and minor assaults.
The exceptions to the early release policy are that inmates convicted of spousal abuse must serve 50% of their sentences, and sex offenders, child abusers, and anyone sentenced to jail for murder or attempted murder will serve 100%, Jackson said.
Katie Buckland, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office, said prosecutors had asked the Sheriff's Department to notify victims of domestic violence when their attackers were released early, but that in some cases that had not been done.
"They're released, and they get home, and they're in a rage," she said, adding that some victims had been attacked again.
The early releases, which Baca blames on overcrowding and budget cuts, have been criticized by police chiefs, judges and prosecutors, who say that it undermines the most important deterrent to crime.
In recent weeks, the Los Angeles Police Department has begun deploying officers in the jails to keep tabs on repeat offenders they have identified as "predatory criminals" who are about to be released, said Deputy Chief Gary Brennan, who runs the LAPD's Detective Bureau.
The officers check those scheduled for release so that they can talk to inmates first and then notify officers on the streets that a serious offender is about to get out, Brennan said.
