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Democrat jailbreak: California looking to make an additional 76,000 inmates eligible for early release

Democrat jailbreak: California looking to make an additional 76,000 inmates eligible for early release 1

SACRAMENTO, CA- As cities and states across the country go soft on criminals and hard on law enforcement officers, word comes out of California that the Golden State is about to cut some 76,000 inmates loose early, including many who are considered violent and/or repeat felons, according to International Business Times.

It was announced last week that the California Office of Administrative Law had approved a new “prison reform” initiative which would allow some 63,000 prisoners who were sentenced for violent crimes earn eligibility to earn good behavior credits.

Those credits would reduce their sentences by one-third as opposed to the one-fifth figure that had been in place since 2017.

Among that number includes nearly 20,000 inmates who had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and over 10,000 prisoners who had been convicted of a second serious, but nonviolent offense under California’s “three strikes” law.

In addition, the same increased release time will also apply to nearly 2,900 nonviolent third strike inmates, the California Department of Corrections estimated.

According to Fox News, the new rules were to have become effective Saturday, however it will likely be months or possibly years before any inmates are allowed to be released earlier. While social justice warriors applaud the goal, which is to reward inmates who better themselves, some critics believe the program will endanger the public.

Fox also reported that all minimum-security inmates in work camps, including those assigned to firefighting camps will be eligible for the same month of earlier release for every month they spend in the camp, no matter what the severity of their crime.

In announcing the program, Office of Administrative Law spokeswoman Dana Simas said in a statement:

“The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which will lead to safer prisons.”

She continued, “Additionally, these changes would help to reduce the prison population by allowing incarcerated persons to earn their way home sooner.”

Not everyone however is supportive of the move.

Republican State Sen. Jim Nielson slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, claiming he was endangering state residents by releasing inmates early.

“As the former Chairman of the Board of Prison Terms, I am intimately aware of these criminal justice regulations. This is ill-founded, ill-cited criminal justice policies. Violent felons are receiving good time credit for simply breathing, in lieu of demonstrated good behavior and rehabilitation,” he said.

He continued, “This is another ill-conceived policy of the Newsom administration in its attempts to release convicted violent criminals back into our communities. We, the people, will pay the price for his continued follies.”

Nielson still wasn’t done.

“He’s [Newsom} doing it on his own authority instead of the will of the people through their elected representatives or directly through their own votes,” he said. “This is what I call Newsom’s time off for bad behavior. He’s putting us all at greater risk and there seems to be no end to the degree to which he wants to do that.”

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which represents crime victims argued the notion that the credits are solely for good behavior is a misnomer.

“You don’t have to be good to get good time credits. People who lose good time credits for misconduct get them back, they don’t stay gone,” he said.

“They could be a useful device for managing the population if they had more teeth in them. But they don’t. They’re in reality just a giveaway.”

The state has been under a court order to reduce its prison population which hit a high water mark of 160,000 in 2006, which led to inmates being housed in gymnasiums and activity rooms. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with a federal judge’s requirement that the state work to reduce overcrowding.

Since that time, the prison inmate population has been declining, starting when the state started housing lower-level felons in county jails as opposed to state prisons.

In 2014, California voters approved a measure which reduced penalties for property and drug crimes. In 2016, voters approved earlier parole for most inmates.

Prior to COVID-19, the inmate population had declined to 117,000 inmates, while it has been reduced by an additional 21,00 since then, although about half of those were sent from state prisons to county jails.

Meanwhile, prison officials announced last month that a second prison will be closed due to a declining inmate population, which fulfills a promise made by Newsom.

The California Correctional Center in Susanville will close by July of next year. That follows an announcement last fall that the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, east of San Francisco would be closing by this coming October.

Democrats, who love them some prisoners, as well as advocacy groups have been calling for even more drastic releases or shorter sentences. Californians United for a Responsible Budget earlier last month said the state should close at least 10 of its remaining 35 prisons.

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For more on how early release of inmates can go wrong, we invite you to:

DIG DEEPER

VIRGINIA — A Virginia murderer who strangled a 15-year-old girl in 1988 will walk free next week after 32 years in prison. This, despite being sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for the crimes of murder and attempted rape.

Gregory Joyner, of Lynchburg, Virginia, was convicted by a jury on April 5, 1989 and received a life sentence for first-degree murder and an additional 10 years for attempted rape of Sarah Jamison, 15.

Both sentences were the maximum for each offense, according to a FOX News report.

Joyner confessed to strangling Jamison on May 15, 1988 when he was 16 and burying her in the woods near her parents’ house after claiming he had consensual sex with her. Her body remained undiscovered and decomposing for two weeks in a shallow grave, according to FOX News.

When investigators recovered her remains, physical evidence had decayed, The Washington Post reported at the time. 

Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney William Petty, who prosecuted the case, had sought a capital murder conviction against Joyner, which could have resulted in the death penalty. However, a lack of evidence of rape may have influenced the jury’s convictions on lesser charges, Petty said.

Petty said the medical examiner determined by bruises on Jamison’s body and its position that she probably had been raped. He also said police were led to Joyner, a high school classmate of Jamison’s, after reading an entry in Jamison’s diary that mentioned him.

During the trial, Joyner allegedly posed for news cameras and told them to get his “good side,” and never publicly expressed remorse for Jamison’s brutal slaying, according to prosecutors.

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The Department of Corrections notified Jamison’s remaining living family that Joyner would be released on April 2, 2021. Her family was first notified in November 2020 that Joyner was granted early release in the form of parole, MSN reported.

A release from Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison indicated that Joyner, now 49, will live in the Petersburg area after he is freed and will be subject to supervision through the probation and parole office. He must also register with the state’s sex offender registry.

In a release, officials said the Department of Corrections Regional Victim Advocate had secured a travel ban to Lynchburg as part of Joyner’s parole supervision:

“This travel ban does not operate as a new violation of law wherein Joyner could be arrested for traveling to Lynchburg. However, if he is seen in the Lynchburg area, this can be reported to the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office.”

Harrison confirmed Joyner will be under supervised probation in the Petersburg area and cannot travel to Lynchburg:

“So, if he is in Lynchburg it’s not a violation where officers can come and arrest him right away, but if someone should see him, report that to my office, don’t confront him, just report it to our office. We can notify probation and parole in his district.”

Harrison said she agreed the travel ban is a necessary condition:

“We have information he still has family in the Lynchburg area so I’m very glad they put that term into his parole. The surviving family members are glad that is a term. That gives them some sense of comfort.”

However, Harrison did not like Joyner being granted an early parole:

“Releasing someone from prison who has 6 months left on a grand larceny charge is one thing. When you start paroling people who are violent murderers, really the worst of the worst is who they are letting out. It is really baffling as to why these are the people being released.”

Jamison’s father, Dell Jamison, said the parole board’s decision to release Joyner was “a big mistake,” according to FOX News. Jamison said:

“When Joyner murdered Sarah, it was for life. Why should he be released after only serving a part of his life? His sentence was for punishment, not rehabilitation – therefore he still has 30 or 40 years left on his sentence.”

Joyner was previously denied parole in 2017 and 2019, but new board members appointed by Virginia’s Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam approved granting early release to the murderer, according to Harrison.

Through a statement, Harrison and the Jamison family expressed their opposition to Joyner’s early release:

“After the news that Joyner was granted parole, Sarah Jamison’s family knew the day would come when Joyner would be released. Thankfully the family had time to prepare themselves mentally and emotionally for this date.

“However, the family and I remain absolutely opposed to his release. Joyner was tried by a jury and convicted of Murder and Attempted Rape. He received a sentence of Life plus 10 years. He has made no public expression of remorse.

“We have no information that he has changed in any way. After reading the transcripts of his interviews and the statements of the witnesses in this murder case, one fact remained clear: Gregory Joyner is a cold-blooded killed.

“I pray that he has changed. Citizens of this Commonwealth should not have to live in fear that he hasn’t. I renew my call for more transparency and accountability of the Virginia Parole Board.”

The Virginia Parole Board would not comment on individual cases, but the head of the board, Tonya Chapman, sent the following statement to ABC 13 News last December:

“The Virginia Parole Board’s monthly decisions are published on the Parole Board’s public website in accordance with Virginia Code 53.1-136 (6). As noted on the website, the Parole Board does not provide information as to individual parole decisions in response to questions submitted through the online contact form.

“As such, the Parole Board will not provide further comment to media requests for details on individual cases.

“Since parole was abolished about 25 years ago, the remaining offenders that are eligible for discretionary parole are generally convicted of serious offenses. These are very difficult cases and the Parole Board does not take lightly the responsibility to ensure that each release is compatible with public safety.

“Each Parole Board member has an independent vote with unique reasoning as to why they vote to grant or not grant a case. The Board takes many factors into consideration when voting a case.

“These factors include, but are not limited to: criminal history, victim input, age at time of offense, institutional adjustment, medical/mental health, pre-sentence report and sentencing information, time served, home plan, offender support, offender opposition, and risk assessment.

“Every case is unique with its own individual set of circumstances and each case must be viewed comprehensively.”

Darrel Gallier, Jamison’s brother-in-law, told WDBJ7:

“How did the parole board come up with the decision that this rapist and murderer has been rehabilitated?

“When you have an individual that lures a 15-year-old girl from her home in the middle of the night, rapes her, strangles the life out of her, and buries her in a shallow grave in the woods beside her home and when he was caught was found with different girls’ panties between the mattress in his bedroom, he is a danger to the young girls and should never get the chance to do this again to another young lady.

“He is a predator and I do not see any rehabilitation for that kind of behavior.

“I have a close relative that is in prison right now on marijuana charges and has already served 4 years out of 6 years and there is no talk about giving him early parole, but we can let murderers back out on the street. This is just nonsense.”

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