CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SACRAMENTO

State corrections officials are proposing to make massive budget cuts ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by reducing the number of ex-convicts on parole by more than 25% and allowing inmates to shorten their sentences by completing rehabilitation programs.

The plan, outlined Friday by Schwarzenegger’s corrections chief, Matthew Cate, resembles past proposals offered by the department that have met with strong opposition from law enforcement officials and have ultimately been withdrawn.

But in a concession to those groups, Cate said his agency would propose legislation enabling police to search former prisoners and seize evidence of a crime from them without a warrant for at least three years after their release, even if they are not on parole.

He acknowledged that the proposal, the details of which are still fluid, could draw criticism from civil libertarians for its provisions on warrantless searches, or from law-and-order advocates upset that it lessens state supervision of prisoners and parolees.

But he said it embodies “sound public policy” because only lower-risk parolees and inmates who are successful in prison would get less supervision. And the proposal would save significant sums, he said, although he declined to estimate the figures.

The plan would cut the number of parolees monitored by the state by more than 30,000 from the current 114,000. Sex offenders, inmates convicted of crimes classified as violent or serious, and others judged to be high-risk would still be monitored on parole.

But, overall, the change would mean that fewer former inmates would be sent back to prison on parole violations. Together with the additional time off their sentences that inmates could earn by completing educational and training programs, state lockups would see a projected reduction of about 8,000 prisoners, on average, from the 169,000 they house today.

Scott Thorpe, chief executive of the California District Attorneys Assn., said that his group’s members had not seen the precise details, but that in general the ideas seemed reasonable.

-- Michael Rothfeld