SACRAMENTO -- The Schwarzenegger administration is set to launch a program in Southern California that ultimately could free tens of thousands of ex-convicts from parole years earlier than scheduled.
Officials said the plan, expected to be approved by the state parole board Tuesday, would start in Orange and San Bernardino counties within two months and focus on nonviolent state parolees. It would encourage rehabilitation and enable overburdened parole agents to focus on serious offenders, especially sexual predators, they said.
Corrections Secretary James E. Tilton said in an interview that the trial program, which if successful could expand statewide early next year, would bring California in line with 33 other states in screening parolees to determine which most need to be monitored after completing their prison terms.
Under the plan, parolees could be discharged after six months.
It would free more parole agents to monitor paroled sex offenders as required under the voter-approved law that determines where they may live.
The state corrections department requires that each officer supervise no more than 20 sex offenders, who wear monitoring devices so they can be tracked by satellite, to make sure they don't live near or visit places frequented by children.
The department has parolees "who we believe have all the characteristics to be successful," Tilton said. "Then it allows us to apply those resources to those folks who really need the increased effort."
Screening would start with about 1,700 of the 4,100 state parolees now living in one parole district.
Excluding violent and sexual offenders and gang members, the state will evaluate candidates according to the type of crime for which they are on parole, along with their criminal history, behavior on parole and other factors.
Officials said less than half of the 1,700 would probably gain approval for shortened parole. The state parole board would have to approve anyone chosen.
The district encompasses Anaheim, Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Garden Grove, Montclair, Mount Baldy Village, Ontario, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Villa Park and the unincorporated areas of El Modena and San Antonio Heights.
California has 127,000 parolees under supervision by the state. A parolee must remain under supervision for at least a year, and there is no process to assess suitability for early discharge.
