Prisoner Release Idea Spurs Worries

Suburban officials reacted with concern Wednesday to a proposal that would require inmates released from jail to be returned to the communities they came from -- rather than being dumped onto the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

Some said the plan would cause problems because suburbs don’t have the resources -- such as drug treatment programs and cheap rents -- to deal with the influx.

On Tuesday, state Sen. Gil Cedillo and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said they would propose a state law to require that released inmates be returned to their home communities. “If they come from Calabasas, they should be released to Calabasas,” Cedillo said.

On Wednesday, Calabasas Mayor Barry Groveman dissented. “This is a plan for balkanization of the region, with every city trying to do the same thing without any expertise and the advantage of a concentration of resources,” he said. “We would never fight a common war city by city. But that is what this plan would have us do.”

Though Cedillo said the plan is still being finalized, he said the main goal is to return inmates to their home communities or the areas where they were arrested.

The latter part of that proposal drew criticism from some city leaders, who said they worried that arrestees could be tossed back to the places where they committed their crimes.

“They shouldn’t go back to where they were arrested unless they live there,” West Covina Councilman Steve Herfert said.

Others worry that the plan would simply move the problems of skid row to other areas.

“I understand not leaving a person in downtown, where there’s already a serious problem,” said William Molinari, mayor of Montebello. “But then again, if you are going to simply transport the problem to another community, I am not sure that would be the kind of solution folks in the local cities would approve of.”

Molinari said he wanted information on details of the proposal before he could comment on its viability. But he was also worried about returning people such as sex offenders to the area where they were arrested.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said releasing inmates to their hometowns is one thing. But finding the political will to create new homeless services and drug-treatment centers in the suburbs would be much more difficult.

“Returning people from downtown seems equitable, but it does require that resources are available to tackle the issue these people have,” Bogaard said. “Right now, there is a concentration of resources downtown. A redistribution of resources is not going to be easy to achieve.”

The push to rethink how jails release inmates is part of a broader effort by the two legislators to fight some of the problems that have plagued downtown Los Angeles -- including drug use, homelessness and the dumping of people from other areas onto the streets of skid row.

In addition to the proposal on jail releases, they also plan to introduce legislation to enhance penalties for people arrested in connection with mid-level drug crimes near treatment facilities and to create a community court with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys familiar with offenders and their problems.

Cedillo and Nunez acknowledged that more services were needed for the homeless but said the first step in alleviating skid row’s problems must be the reduction of its crime rate.

“People who come from Palmdale or Lancaster and particular places should be returned to those areas, and resources should follow,” Cedillo said Tuesday. “No local community will take on those responsibilities if they have [the] simple option of sending those problems downtown.”

The effort to improve skid row comes as officials in Santa Monica consider ways to tackle their city’s homeless problem. Santa Monica is one of the few places outside downtown with a significant concentration of both homeless service providers and homeless people.

Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver called the Cedillo-Nunez proposal on inmate returns “a fine thought ... a good plan, but not essential.”

Shriver said he hoped city and county leaders also would “turn their attention to a coordinated effort” to address the political problems that have led to dumping and homelessness.

He suggested creating a board of representatives from various cities with the legal authority to make homeless policy across the region.