Why are repeat offenders being released early? Shasta County District Attorney responds
REDDING, Calif. — Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett understands the problems our county, and overall the state, face when it comes to a lack of jail and prison space.
She said, in Shasta County, the size of the jail alone contributes to offenders being allowed back onto the streets.
I mean, the biggest problem facing our community, right now, is the fact that our community population continues to grow but our jail has not.
Due to the limited space in the Shasta County Jail, offenders, like Khampasong Phaviseth—arrested six times since September—are able to get released earlier than expected.
There is only a certain amount of room in the jail, so every day they are making decisions on which offender is worse than the next; on who they are going to let go. And when you have sentenced state prisoners who can't go to state prison anymore, taking up our jail beds, they are going to be using those beds for our murderers, our rapists, our child molesters, our violent crime. And, unfortunately, we see a lot of these car thefts and others that are the ones that are repeatedly released, simply because there is no bed for them.
Bridgett says there is a reason some offenders are being released early once they are sent to prison and it’s because of Proposition 57.
After the passage of Prop-57, they get a lot of additional credits. So we see frequently people going off to prison for a four-year, six-year, or eight-year sentence, and then we see them back in our community after two or three years where they have served virtually a very small fraction of their sentence.
So, what is her office doing about this issue?
Our office is involved in opposing that and we get notified when someone is making that request or petition to be released and we certainly oppose those and do everything we can to keep them in custody.
Bridgett also said that she understands and shares the frustration that the community has with situations like this.
That frustration is felt not only by the community at large, but it's felt by my office, as well, because we see those same offenders again and again and we're working hard to do what we can to protect our community and get people the sentence that they deserve based on the crime. And then we find them right back on our caseload one or two or three years later because they were let out early.
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