Photos:: Early jail releases surge in California

Detention Deputy Tanja Young, right, talks with inmates answering questions about early release in the yard at the Kern County Sheriff’s Department’s Lerdo Detention Facility in Bakersfield.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Kern County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Dobbs, right, processes an inmate using fingerprint technology to identify subjects for early release.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Inmates wearing clothing from when they were arrested congratulate one another as they prepare to walk out the door for early release. Officials say that they are making every effort to ensure the releases pose little danger to the public, freeing those believed to be the least risky convicts.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Inmates at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Lerdo Detention Facility in Bakersfield are processed for early release. The number of prisoners released from county jail because of crowding has grown from an average of 9,700 a month in 2011 to over 13,500 a month today, according to state jail commission figures.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Inmates scheduled for early release board a van for the ride to downtown Bakersfield at the Kern County Sheriff’s Department’s Lerdo Detention Facility in Bakersfield. Time served varies considerably around the state -- a situation that UC Berkeley law professor Barry Krisberg called “justice by geography.”   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

An inmate sleeps in a triple bunk dorm room inside the Men’s Central Jail. In Los Angeles County, with a quarter of California’s jail population, male inmates often are released after serving as little as 10% of their sentences and female prisoners after 5%.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Inmate Rob Streator, 38, in a day room inside the Men’s Central Jail. Prison crowding reached dangerous levels, leading federal judges to rule in 2009 that the conditions were unconstitutional. When Gov. Jerry Brown took office in 2011, the state was under orders to cap prison counts at 110,000.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Across California, more than 13,500 prisoners are being released early each month to relieve crowding in local jails - a 34% increase over the past three years. The releases spring from an effort begun in 2011 to divert low-level offenders from crowded state prisons to local jails.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)