While Los Angeles County Probation Department officials Tuesday praised the the local response to AB 109, many still question the policy as a matter of public safety almost three years after its implementation.

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The law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October 2011, created a controversial program known as “realignment,” whereby “newly convicted low-level offenders without current or prior serious or violent offenses stay in county jail to serve their sentence,” according to the state’s website.

“I think one of the major positives (in AB 109) is the way in which the ‘county family,’ under the leadership of the Probation Department, has come together to provide a wide array of services,” said Reaver Bingham, deputy chief of field services for the Probation Department. “The whole program was sort of thrusted upon the county, and the funding was uncertain in the beginning.”

Related: County Officials Report On AB 109 Results At County Board Meeting

The Probation Department has seen increases in funding and staffing levels as a result, Bingham said, and improved its ratio of officers-to-probationers.

The law was the result of a Supreme Court order for California to reduce its state prison population. Legislators reached a compromise in which more nonviolent, nonsexual criminals would be housed in county jails, with more funding being allocated to for county programs and resources to help handle the population increase.

However, county officials, such as Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, and many others in the county’s criminal justice system, question whether the law has created a “revolving door” for these nonviolent offenders who only end up serving a fraction of their sentence.

“Realignment continues to pose serious concerns and threatens public safety statewide because we are dealing with repeat offenders,” Antonovich said Tuesday, at a meeting Tuesday when the law’s implementation was reviewed. “There are over 32,000 arrests involving the 24,000 (post-supervision probationers) under probation supervision because some are being arrested up to seven or eight times.”

AB 109 in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the country, received approximately $124 million  from the state, or about 31 percent of the state’s AB 109 allocation, in the fiscal year 2012-13, according to Jeffrey Callison, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in a previous interview.

The funding supports increased county resources, such as two co-located Probation Department officials at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station last year, who focus on tracking AB 109 offenders.

Those officers have shifted from checking on the compliance of parolees to searching for outstanding warrants, Bingham said.

There have been 23,781 people processed in the criminal justice system under AB 109’s guidelines, according to the county report.

Of those cases, 7,729 offenders have had their cases successfully terminated, meaning they are no longer serving time, being supervised or facing a new charge, according to the AB 109 report Tuesday.

There were 3,273 who had their AB 109 case terminated due to a new conviction. Another 1,379 had their cases terminated due to a transfer from custody or death.

County officials said about 13 percent, or 3,180 criminals, are being sought for outstanding charges or deportation warrants. And 8,220 cases are still active, according to officials.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, past figures have put the recidivism rate at close to one-third of prosecutions.

AB 109 ‘Revolving Door’

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation has been a frequent critic of AB 109, citing countywide stats that show these offenders frequently commit crimes shortly after they are released.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, a comparison of 2012 to 2013 for reported burglary incidents showed an increase of more than 56 percent, according to LASD statistics.

Under AB 109, which is also known as re-alignment, misdemeanor offenders are serving about 10-15 percent of their sentences prior to release. Once maximum jail capacities are met, the amount of time served will continue to decrease.

One of the prosecutorial weapons available to deputy district attorneys who charge defendants under AB 109 is what’s known as split sentences.

Related: Antonovich Decries Impact Of AB 109 On SCV, County

Under a split sentence, which District Attorney Jackie Lacey calls an “intermediate ground” in a department-wide directive issued in June, a prisoner serves a portion of their sentence in jail in exchange for a longer period of supervision after they’ve been released.

In this respect, the sentence is “split” between time in custody and time under mandatory supervision.

Officially, Sheriff’s Department deputies are very supportive of Lacey’s local effort to increase the number of split sentences.  

“We are extremely pleased with the recent increase in split sentencing under District Attorney Lacey’s leadership,” said Assistant Sheriff Terri McDonald of Custody Operations for the Sheriff’s Department. “The county has gone from roughly 1 percent split sentences imposed to 16 percent split sentences imposed.”

The move improves public safety because more supervision upon release helps substantially in re-entry planning and supervision during community transition while reducing pressure in the jails, she said.

“We should see better outcomes with more robust re-entry planning and transition,” she said.

However, patrol deputies frequently notice a “revolving door” of suspects getting arrested, released and re-arrested more frequently since AB 109’s passage, according to one department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.  

One of the problems prosecutors have faced in the past is the split sentence can often be a tough sell to defendants who rarely find a longer period of supervision after their release as an attractive option, according to prosecutor, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of department policy.

“A lot of time, I’ll offer a split sentence for a disposition on the case,” the prosecutor said, “but a lot of time (the defendants) want something without that (supervision) aspect of it.”

The result is a defendant will often refuse the offer, and the judge will then create a sentence with a longer time with no supervision afterward — but the defendant is still only going to serve a fraction of the sentence.

“It seems like (the law) has resulted in people getting released from custody a lot earlier,” the prosecutor said. “It’s difficult for us to negotiate these days.”

On even a one-year sentence for a nonviolent crime like second degree commercial burglary: “They’re out in a month or two and then they get picked up on a new case,” the source said.

“Even though (statutorily), you’re supposed to do 50 percent of that, you’re seeing a lot sooner than that.”

Changes in AB 109 enforcement

Two challenges identified by the Probation Department during Tuesday’s report are an inconsistent notification of early releases from prisons, jails and courts, including “split sentences,” and co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Both situations provide unique challenges and require closer monitoring, as well as inter-agency communication, according to the report.

Starting in January 2015, split sentences all AB 109-eligible offenders will have the presumption of a split sentence, unless the court finds in the interest of justice that it is not appropriate, according to AB 1468, which Brown signed in June.

For Antonovich, the answer is not in expanding county services, but looking into the private sector for more efficient operations.

The county supervisor remained steadfast in his advocacy for the contractual use of private facilities in and out of state, which would charge “pennies on the dollar” compared to what we’re spending on state prisons currently, said Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell.

“The governor’s failed realignment program is a proven threat to public safety” Antonovich said in a previous statement, “which has overwhelmed probation departments and local law enforcement agencies statewide.”

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