DA ROD PACHECO TO TRAVEL TO SACRAMENTO TO LOBBY LEGISLATORS AGAINST EARLY RELEASE

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco along with fellow District Attorneys Gary Lieberstein (Napa County), John Poyner (Calusa), Jan Scully (San Diego), and Greg Totten (Ventura) will be traveling to Sacramento on Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 to lobby legislators to oppose the early prisoner release legislation currently pending in the California State Legislature.

They will be meeting with Assemblymembers Brian Nestande and Manuel Perez, among others, to share their concerns over the release plans. The legislation, as written, would release 27,000 current inmates from the state's prison system.

Riverside County stands to bear a large number of those released inmates flooding back into the county.

"Riverside County has become one of the safest counties in the state thanks to the hard work and dedication of law enforcement personnel and prosecutors," District Attorney Rod Pacheco stated. "To endanger the community in this way reverses those successes and puts everyone in this count and in this state in jeopardy. I look forward to meeting with legislators on Monday and explaining to them just how damaging these releases could be to California"

One of the region's main concerns is the effect such a release would have on the county's over-burdened jail and court system. The risk of recidivism among those released would place a heavy toll on both Riverside County jails and courts as they reprocess released prisoners arrested for new offenses.

The legislation is currently pending approval by the California State Assembly.

"This is the single worst piece of legislation in the history of the state," Pacheco concluded.