Pasadena police chief wants more resources for ‘early release’ state prisoners

There have been 113 convicted felons released to local supervision in Pasadena under state realignment programs, and police Chief Phillip Sanchez says more funding is needed to keep them from committing new crimes.

Sanchez told Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Wednesday that the city needs some $900,000 over the next three years to expand crime prevention efforts of the Pasadena/Altadena Reintegration Council, a joint program by public and nonprofit agencies.

“I don’t believe traditional [law enforcement] methodologies will get at the issues we face with parole re-integration,” Sanchez said. “Funding needs to be reprogrammed to the proactive, prevention-and-intervention side of this problem.”

As many as 71 of the 113 ex-convicts transferred from state to local jurisdiction were considered to be at high risk of re-offending, according to Reaver Bingham, a deputy chief of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

Fifty have already had at least one new arrest, for a total of 99 arrests — 37 resulting in county prosecutors filing charges, Bingham said.

State prison realignment also impacted suspects charged with murder in two Christmas Day tragedies in Pasadena, officials said.

Larry Darnell Bishop, a 20-year-old charged in the drive-by shooting death of youth sports organizer Victor McClinton, was able to avoid law enforcement supervision under realignment sentencing loopholes, San Bernardino County Probation Department spokesman Chris Condon said.

Bishop, who has a lengthy criminal record, was convicted of assault in early 2012 and served his sentence in county jail rather than state prison.

Condon said Bishop is one of many convicts throughout the state who have opted to serve out the full time of their sentences in jail rather than split time between jail and probation after release. But due to jail overcrowding, they get released without supervision before serving out their full terms.

“Bishop had been supervised most of his life, and this was the first time he was not subjected to probation,” Condon said.

Darrell Williams, the 20-year-old charged with killing two people in a car crash that followed a police pursuit on Christmas Day in Pasadena, also avoided supervision and “served much less time than he should have” due to sentencing procedures under prison realignment, Pasadena police Cmdr. John Perez said.

A discussion of additional funding for local police departments to deal with the consequences of state prison realignment would come during budget discussions in May and June, Antonovich said.

“As we go into budget deliberations, we’re going to see the costs that are impacting cities and counties,” he said.

Sanchez wants to add a police officer, two case managers and two outreach workers to the re-integration council.

The supervision effort includes linking ex-convicts with services such as mental health and substance abuse counseling, job training and meeting basic health care, hygiene and clothing needs, Deputy Chief Darryl Qualls said.

“Right now we just have a bunch of people coming together to make it work. We’re saying that if this was funded, we could probably make a more significant impact,” he said.

-- Joe Piasecki, joe.piasecki@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter @joepiasecki.