Paroled Felons Returning in Large Numbers : Corrections: Prison crowding and the release of inmates have doubled the number of convicted criminals coming back to L.A.

Led by an unprecedented return of convicted drug dealers, the number of felons paroled to Los Angeles County has increased more than 100% in the last five years, according to statistics released last week by the state Department of Corrections.

According to civil libertarians and some parole officials, the rising tide of parolees in the county, as well as elsewhere in California, may prove ominous news for law-and-order advocates like Gov. George Deukmejian, who found strong public support in pushing mandatory prison sentences and appointing hard-line judges.

As convicts sent off in record numbers to overcrowded state prisons over the last decade return home, observers say, experience is showing that more than half of the parolees will be incarcerated again for using drugs or committing other crimes.

“The result of the Deukmejian get-tough-on-crime approach is now coming home to roost. It’s now coming back to haunt us,” said John Hagar, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles.

“Prosecutors told the public that if we put people away for longer sentences in our clean, modern, safe prisons that you--the public--will be safe,” said Hagar, who has represented inmates in lawsuits against the state. “That wasn’t true. To put people away for longer periods of time in overcrowded institutions . . . made those people worse.”

Since stiff mandatory sentencing laws were passed in the late 1970s, the California prison population has ballooned to more than 87,000, forcing the state to build seven additional prisons and expand seven facilities.

Predictably, inmates are now being released in record numbers. Statewide, the number of parolees has jumped 100% since 1984, statistics show. State prisons paroled 37,879 murderers, sex offenders, drug dealers and other felons in 1989, compared to 18,861 five years earlier.

Los Angeles County--undisputably the largest exporter of criminals to state prisons--also experienced a similar increase of returning inmates. There were 14,493 parolees sent to the county last year, compared to 7,043 in 1984, a 106% increase.

The major reason for the increase was an unprecedented number of convicted drug dealers heading home to Los Angeles. There were 566% more of that group paroled to the county in 1989 than five years ago, statistics show.

The returning parolees have only rarely triggered public outcries. Such was the case last month for attempted murderer Charles David Rothenberg, who set his son on fire in an Orange County motel in 1983. After the boy objected publicly to the release of his father to Orange County, corrections officials sent Rothenberg to an undisclosed location, placing him under 24-hour electronic surveillance.

But the growing army of parolees has thus far received scant public attention. Parolees collect $200 at the prison gate and are sent out to their new lives in their home counties.

Some state officials, though, have begun to suggest that the public should be concerned by these returning inmates.

“I think they (citizens) should be worried about it and they should be interested in substance abuse programming,” said Jerry DiMaggio, who supervises most of the Los Angeles County parole officers. “The large increase is really being driven by drug abuse and drug abuse is what we have to address.”

DiMaggio blamed the lack of community-based substance abuse programs for a high recidivism rate among parolees. Studies have shown that 60% of the paroled inmates are sent back to prison within two years for using drugs, violating parole guidelines or committing other crimes.

Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside), chairman of a legislative committee overseeing prison construction, said that he also believes the increasing number of parolees is cause for concern, especially because each parole officer is responsible for 53 returning criminals.

The high caseload for parole officers is a “weakness” in the system, Presley said.

“I think if you have more parolees coming out, without the extra supervision, I would guess that you would have more crime,” he said. “I don’t think it’s something you want to worry about, but you should be concerned.”

PAROLEES RELEASED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Here is the number of parolees, and the crimes for which they were convicted, released in Los Angeles County in 1984, compared to 1989.

1984 1989 INCREASE Murder,1st degree 24 33 38% Murder,2nd degree 45 39 -13% Manslaughter 251 170 -32% Manslaughter with vehicle 45 44 2% Robbery 1,783 1,749 -2% Assault with deadly weapon 529 652 23% Assault/battery 94 198 110% Rape 181 130 -28% Lewd acts 88 197 124% Oral copulation 25 37 48% Sodomy 12 10 -16% Penetration with object 1 10 900% Other sex offenses 15 31 107% Kidnaping 61 74 21% Burglary, 1st degree 609 1,256 106% Burglary, 2nd degree 1,033 1,195 16% Grand theft 462 752 63% Petty theft 39 412 956% Receiving stolen goods 218 354 62% Vehicle theft 177 492 178% Forgery/fraud 161 223 39% Other property crimes 38 62 63% Drug possession 279 2,583 826% Drug possession for sale 402 1,311 226% Drug sale 75 1,204 1,505% Drug manufacturing 6 29 383% Other drug crimes 25 166 562% Marijuana possession 58 200 245% Marijuana sale 30 352 1,073% Other marijuana crimes 3 8 166% Escape 8 28 250% Driving under influence 44 95 116% Arson 43 77 79% Weapon possession 109 253 132% Other 70 167 139% TOTAL 7,043 14,593 107%

SOURCE: State Department of Corrections