AB 109 and Institutional Corrections - Essay Example

The bill provided guidelines to be used in decongesting the state prisons and at the same time increase capacity within county prisons. California has 33 state prisons which initially had exceeded its capacity by more than 100%. The main goal of the California department of corrections and rehabilitation was to ensure public safety by preventing crime and realizing social responsibilities (Misczynski, 2011). The adult department had three major departments which was the male department, female department and the parole department.

The number of parole violators and recidivist prisoners was adding to the overgrowing population among prisoners. The population prevents effective service delivery and prevents effective healthcare delivery (Lofstrom et al. 2012). The increased population prompted the state prisons this release offenders before their time elapses. The county prisons had limited jurisdiction over felony offenders and parole violators. The assembly bill (AB 109), was enacted to expand the jurisdiction of county court to enable them deal with cases that were initially assigned to the state courts.

This was an effort by the state of California to change the manner in which adult correctional facilities were managed. The decongestion programs aimed at reducing the number of inmate in state detention facilities and accommodate them in the country facilities. According to Lofstrom et al. (2012) the bill was a move by the California to decongest the 33 state prisons by approximately 137.5%. The bill was an effort of by a taskforce which recommended the decongestion. In 2011 the recommendations by the task force were implemented.

The assembly bill also allowed low- felony offenders to serve their jail term in country prisons rather than the state prisons. The state prisons where to regulate the inmate population. No inmate was to be transferred to the county prisons upon the implementation of the bill. In that sense no prison would be released prior to his