Department helps offenders released early
EL CENTRO – A coordinated local effort has been launched to assist offenders released early from state prisons as part of the state’s efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in statewide facilities.
As part of that initiative, the Imperial County Probation Department has been helping inmates and their families to ensure there is proper housing and supervision for those being released.
As of last week, 23 prison inmates have been released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to the supervision of the Probation Department, with five additional inmates expected to be released within the next few months.
The county department has also been working with the county Public Health Department, GEO Re-entry Services and others to re-integrate these individuals into the community.
“Constant communication between CDCR, the Imperial County Probation Department, and the rest of the stakeholders has been the key component to ensuring that early releases have proper housing prior to their release from prison,” the Probation Department said in a written statement.
The recently released inmates are among the 8,000 low-level offenders with less than a year left on their respective sentences who were previously identified by CDCR as being eligible for early release amid the pandemic.
Once released from prison, the offenders are under the direct supervision of the Imperial County Probation Department’s AB 109 Unit. Each individual is assigned a probation officer, who is then responsible for providing supervision while en
suring they are abiding by the terms and conditions of probation, the department reported.
Assembly Bill 109, also known as the Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, changed who serves their time in prison and who supervises offenders in the community upon their release, CDCR reported.
Under AB 109, low-level offenders are placed in the post-release community supervision of county probation officers. The state provides funding to the counties for housing and supervision costs, a CDCR spokesperson stated. By law, offenders are released to their county of last legal residence.
Of the 23 prison inmates released to local authorities, only two of the offenders were identified as having been exposed to COVID-19, the Probation Department reported. Those two individuals were quarantined in temporary hotel accommodations under Project HOPE until cleared by health authorities.
Project HOPE is a voluntary program, established to assist offenders being released from a California state prison who were directly impacted by COVID-19, ICPD reported.
Since CDCR announced the inmate population-reduction initiative in July, 106 Calipatria State Prison inmates have been released, while some 81 were released under similar circumstances from Centinela State Prison, a CDCR spokesperson stated.
At Calipatria, 72 inmates identified as COVID-19 early releases were released to post-release community supervision (PRCS), while 34 COVID-19 early releases were assigned to state parole supervision, said CDCR Deputy Press Secretary Terry Thornton.
At Centinela, 59 inmates identified as COVID-19 early releases were released to PRCS, while 22 COVID-19 early releases were assigned to state parole supervision.
To date, a total of 45 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at Centinela, with Calipatria reporting a total of 17, according to CDCR’s website. Currently, Calipatria has no known positive cases among its inmate population of 2,950, while Centinela reported having 13 within its population of 3,178.
Among employees, Calipatria has reported a total of 90 total positive cases, with 44 of those having been resolved and staff having returned to work.
At Centinela, 103 employees have reportedly tested positive, with 43 of those having returned to work, CDCR reported.
Previously, in March, CDCR had authorized “pandemic emergency decompression efforts” that resulted in the reduction of the state’s inmate populations by about 10,000, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission within its facilities.
Locally, those previous efforts resulted in the release of 64 inmates from Calipatria State Prison and 81 from Centinela State Prison, CDCR’s Office of Public and Employee Communications stated.