No Walk in the Park for Drug Offenders

Police and state officials on Tuesday declared three public parks off-limits to paroled drug offenders so they won’t fall back into old habits and add to neighborhood crime.

The restriction, which applies to about 100 of Anaheim’s 1,300 parolees, has been added to a list of conditions for release from prison--rules that, if broken, can send a parolee back to jail for up to one year.

In addition to avoiding Pearson, La Palma and Reid parks, parolees cannot frequent the surrounding businesses.

“We know that drugs are the gateway to the more serious crimes,” said Victor Penuelas, a state parole supervisor in Anaheim. “Keeping them out of these areas, which seem to attract a criminal element, will also help them avoid falling back into that cycle.”

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union called the new rule “unnecessary” but agreed that some constitutional protections do not apply to parolees who agree to follow certain restrictions upon their release from prison.

The designation of “Parolee Free Zones” mark the latest addition to an ever-growing list of restrictions being placed on criminal defendants--and the public, said Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the ACLU of Southern California.

Curfews--both daytime and nighttime--are being imposed on juveniles throughout the country as a tool to reduce crime. And the state Supreme Court has upheld the use of civil injunctions by police to target suspected gang members in neighborhoods overwhelmed by violence.

All 31 cities in Orange County have nighttime curfews for juveniles, and the Los Angeles Police Department recently credited the city’s 1995 anti-truancy law with a sharp drop in daytime burglaries, shoplifting and car break-ins.

Parolee-free areas have been designated in Santa Ana, in an area loosely bordered by McFadden and Edinger avenues, and in San Bernardino County.

General conditions of parole typically include being randomly tested for drug use, complying with regular home searches and avoiding the company of other known criminals. Parolees convicted of certain sex offense are automatically banned from all parks in the state.

But some critics said the latest rule is excessive.

“Parolees are already proscribed from committing any additional crimes or they go straight back to jail,” said the ACLU’s Schroeder. “I don’t know why we need to add this prohibition as well. It’s an infringement that goes beyond what is necessary to make sure someone doesn’t engage in unlawful activity.”

Since midsummer, authorities have notified all of the area’s affected parolees about the new policy, which went into effect this month and has since led to the arrest of a dozen unlawful park-goers.

In the past two days, six parolees with drug convictions have been arrested at the parks, which police said often draw drug dealers and buyers. One suspected drug offender on parole, Don Owens of Anaheim, was arrested Tuesday for two suspected parole violations: hanging out in the park and carrying a knife, police said.

Parolees are generally barred from carrying weapons of any kind.

The rule is different from a 1993 city ordinance that banned any person convicted of drug-related crimes from entering any of Anaheim’s 40 parks for three years. The ACLU successfully challenged that law by saying it violated individual rights of free assembly, expression and association. At the advice of City Atty. Jack L. White, council members repealed the ordinance.

“Basically that law applied to anyone convicted of a drug crime,” White said Tuesday. “It was very broad, whereas parolee-free parks apply only to people on parole.”

Police said drug activity around the targeted parks has decreased in the last few weeks, particularly at La Palma Park on North Harbor Boulevard, long considered “a magnet” for crime, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

But Schroeder said she wanted to speak out on behalf of parolees who have served their penalty and are trying to reunify with their families and turn their lives around for good.

“What about parolees who have young children and want to take them to a playground at the park?” she said. “As long as they don’t commit another offense, there is no reason that person should be prohibited from lawful activity anywhere.”

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No Parking

Anaheim has declared three parks off-limits to parolees with drug-related convictions. The city--home to 1,300 parolees, about 100 of whom are drug offenders--is attempting to clean up neighborhood parks.

La Palma Park

Reid Park

Pearson Park

Source: California state Parole Board; Researched by BONNIE HAYES/Los Angeles Times