Error Means 17 Inmates Will Not Get Early Releases
About 17 repeat violent offenders who believed that they were earning work-time release credits that could cut their prison terms in half are being notified by state officials that they will have to serve their full sentences.
Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said the California Department of Corrections has been erroneously granting work-time credits to these offenders in violation of a new state law that prohibits any inmate who has been convicted of three or more violent offenses from earning an early release.
In a letter to Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside), who authored the law, Lungren said he has directed the department to remove the credits from each inmate’s record.
“The Department of Corrections was without the power to reduce those individuals’ terms and therefore any such action is (nullified) and the appropriate records should be corrected,” Lungren said.
A spokeswoman for Katz said about 17 inmates would lose work-time credits under the attorney general’s directive.
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