Prisoner Releases

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown waded into the controversy Tuesday over a new law that aims to reduce the state prison population by saying it applies to county jails but should not be read as requiring immediate, large-scale reductions of their populations. The bulletin to law enforcement agencies throughout the state came as the union representing Orange County sheriff's deputies became the second major policing organization to go to court to block use of the law, which appears to speed the process under which county jail inmates are released by changing the formula used to determine time off for good behavior.

State prison authorities Monday began reducing the number of parole violators sent back behind bars and offering inmates more opportunity to shorten their sentences, as part of a plan to decrease the prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year. Low-risk offenders, including those convicted of nonviolent crimes, will not have regular supervision by a parole agent. And they will no longer be returned to prison for technical violations such as alcohol use, missed drug tests or failure to notify the state of an address change.

The Supreme Court today put off a decision on whether California must release more than 40,000 inmates to relieve overcrowding in its prisons. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had appealed a ruling of a three-judge panel last year that found prisoners were being denied adequate healthcare because of overcrowding. The judges then ordered the state to come up with a plan to reduce the prison population by more than 40,000 inmates. In his appeal, the governor said the judges had overstepped their authority under federal law. But before the high court acted on that appeal, the state had filed a plan to comply with the judge's order.

After nearly 30 years behind bars, the Turkish man who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II walked out of a prison a free man Monday and promptly predicted the end of the world. Now a gray-haired 52-year-old, Mehmet Ali Agca declared himself the "Christ eternal" and prophesied that humanity would be wiped out this century, in a statement passed out to a scrum of television cameras and waiting reporters in Ankara, the Turkish capital. Later, the hollow-cheeked Agca, who has spent more of his life in prison than out, was declared mentally disturbed by doctors who exempted him from mandatory military service, the Associated Press reported.

A British hostage held for 2 1/2 years by a militant Iraqi Shiite Muslim group was freed Wednesday in a move his family hailed as "the best Christmas present ever." Computer consultant Peter Moore was freed as the United States handed over to Iraqi authorities Qais Khazali, the leader of the group suspected of kidnapping him and four British security guards, and an undetermined number of Khazali's followers. The U.S. had blamed the group Asaib al Haq, or League of the Righteous, for the killings of five American soldiers.

Yemen's emergence as a center for Al Qaeda activity has added another complication to the Obama administration's plan to close the U.S. military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yemenis make up the largest bloc of the remaining detainees. This month, six men from that country were sent home, and their lawyers expected that up to 40 more could soon be released from Guantanamo. Now that an Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has claimed to be behind the attempted bombing of an airline flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day, however, the lawyers fear the administration will block further releases.

Officials in Washington and Arkansas have been trading charges over who was responsible for the release of Maurice Clemmons, accused of killing four Seattle-area police officers while out on bail last weekend. Clemmons had a long history of committing violent crimes, and records released this week show prosecutors and corrections officials in Washington were urgently trying to make sure he remained behind bars. But, they said, they were thwarted by Arkansas' refusal to take Clemmons back and by Washington's bail laws.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee broke his silence Monday and defended his decision to support freedom for a convict now wanted in the ambush slayings of four Seattle-area police officers. "If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would never have granted the commutation," Huckabee said. FOR THE RECORD: Police shooting: An article in Tuesday's Section A about the shooting deaths of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers and another about former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's granting of clemency to suspect Maurice Clemmons said that Clemmons was released from jail a week before the attack on $15,000 bond.

A day after his surprise release from prison, Cuban dissident Nelson Aguiar urged the government Wednesday to free all political prisoners and said he was at one point held in "Stone Age" conditions during his six years behind bars. Aguiar, 64, said he was stunned that he was out of jail because he still had years to go on a 13-year sentence handed out in a 2003 government crackdown on dissidents. Aguiar was one of 75 government opponents arrested and jailed in what became known as the Black Spring of 2003.

Exactly three weeks after Mitrice Richardson apparently vanished in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles police detectives assigned to her case are convinced that the 24-year-old woman is alive. "Mitrice is out there," LAPD robbery-homicide Det. Chuck Knolls said. "We don't believe she's a victim of foul play." But her whereabouts still bedevil Knolls and fellow detective Steven Eguchi. Both men are working the case full-time, and had past assistance from 12 other detectives. At the same time, about 50 family members and friends of Richardson are doing their own tracking of alleged sightings from Malibu to outside L.A. County.