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Mandate to Decrease Population

Legislation was passed nearly three years ago in California by Gov. Jerry Brown to bring a sharp decrease in the state prison overcrowding.

The plan was to keep more low-level inmates in county jails for longer periods and saving space in state prisons for violent and sexual offenders. A surge in the number of people being sentenced to serve prison time since the legislation passed has confounded the efforts of the state.

When the law first passed, the prison inmate population was reduced by approximately 25,000. Almost the level required by federal judges in 2011. Those judges believed that reducing the severe California prison crowding was the best solution to improving inmate treatment.

3 Strikes Means In Jail

The number of state prison inmates has begun to increase yet again though, due to a record number of second felony convictions for those who already have one felony conviction.

In the 2013-14 fiscal year, county prosecutors sent almost 5,500 people to state prison for second felony convictions. That is an increase of 33% from the previous year and the highest since the start of the 1994 California three-strike law took effect.

The three-strike law makes it a requirement for those who are convicted of three felonies to serve life sentences.

The number of parole violators also increased by 20% last year. Those who received a second-strike sentence bump the number of second felony offenders up to 6,044.

Two Strikes = In Jail & State Negotiations

Because of the rise in number of "second-strike" offenders, the state had to request a two-year extension from the federal court to reduce the prison population. The previous deadline was February 2016.

The goal is to reduce the number of prison inmates to 112,000. With this current trend, however, the population is expected to increase to 143,000 by June 2019. As of last June, the number sits at nearly 133,000.

Nearly one-quarter of the state prison population, approximately 34,000, are second-strike offenders.

Second-strike offenses were on a decline after 1999, but after the realignment law took effect in October 2011, those numbers began to increase. There are several theories as to why this is happening.

Corrections analyst Aaron Edwards suggests that it is a behavior change at a county level, perhaps prosecutors are choosing to charge individuals as second-strike offenders more often.

County judges are also handing out longer sentences for property and drug-related crimes as well as other nonviolent offenses since the start of realignment. While those sentences are increasing, sentences for violent crimes have declined.

With the two-strikes sentencing, offenders who are convicted of a second felony, no matter how serious, will receive a doubled sentence that must be served in state prison.

Judges and prosecutors can use their discretion with the strike law in order to avoid imposing an unfair sentence based on the nature of the crime. Prosecutors also have the option to charge some crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies.

The second-strike law only applies to felony convictions.

Of California’s 58 counties, 38 of them have increased the number of second-strike offenders sent to prison during the previous year. This increase occurs most often in the Central Valley.

The Central Valley includes Merced County, which had a 244% increase, and Stanislaus County with an increase of 88%.

The Bay Area and Southern California were not nearly as high.