380 Inmates Could Return to Solano County Communities Under Law Signed Monday

For the past several years, Dixon has experienced a decrease in its crime rate – everything from the most violent of crimes such as rape and murder to less serious crimes. But this could be changing for the worse in the coming months.

As many as 380 criminals doing time in state prisons could be moving into Solano County neighborhoods under AB 190, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown Monday.

The law will gradually take adult parolees, juvenile offenders and inmates who are considered non-violent, non-sex offending and non-serious from the state’s custody and place them into the custody of the counties where they were convicted.

Shifting the responsibility to house these inmates from the state to the local level is part of the governor’s plan to close a near $27 billion-budget deficit.

Dixon Police Chief Jon Cox said he was concerned about the influx of inmates that will be returned to the county, some who will take residence in Dixon.

“For every crime that somebody has been arrested for, they commit 10 others that aren’t accountable for,” Cox said. “We’ll see numerous property crimes. These are people who are going to commit thefts, burglaries.”

Solano County Sheriff Gary Stanton said Solano County inmates represent about 1 percent of the total state prison population. The law calls for 38,000 inmates to be returned to local jurisdictions, which amounts to 380 or more to return to Solano County.

“The state’s Sheriff’s Association up until recently was in support of AB 109,” Stanton said. “Our negotiations with the state government were proposing certain guarantees for funding. Unfortunately those guarantees for funding have fallen by the wayside. The governor has gone ahead and signed it without the guarantee of funding. He has taken this one step forward in shoving this down our throats.”

But Gov. Brown has vowed to fund local law enforcement agencies and took a step to do so by signing into law AB 111, which is crafted to provide counties additional flexibility to access state bond funding to increase local jail capacity for the purpose of implementing AB 109, according to the governor’s office.

The law, AB 109, is designed so that the re-introduction of prisoners to Solano County will not take place unless there is funding to do so. The state Legislature would need to vote in favor of a bond that would extend special taxes, funding local law enforcement agencies to the tune of nearly $6 billion. But the governor has received opposition from Republican legislators and there is no guarantee that California voters would approve such a bond measure should it be placed on the ballot.

"In the coming weeks, and for as long as it takes, I will vigorously pursue my plan to balance the state's budget and prevent reductions to public safety through a constitutional guarantee," Brown said.

Under AB 109:

• No inmates currently in state prison will be released early.
• Applies to only inmates convicted after July 1.
• All felons sent to state prison will continue to serve their entire sentence.
• All felons who are convicted of a serious or violent offense—including sex offenders and child molesters—will go to state prison.
• Felons who are not eligible for state prison can serve their sentence at the local level.

What the state considers a non-serious offense may differ from the county’s perspective Stanton said.

“Car thieves go to state prison,” Stanton said. “The state looks at the car thief and compares the car thief to Charles Manson. Our perspective is very different from the state’s.”

Stanton said that in many cases, the criminals who will be re-introduced to Solano County cities have long criminal records and are considered career criminals. Stanton expects that most of the criminals coming back to Solano County will be placed on probation and in programs that will help rehabilitate them.

“With proper funding we are prepared to take over that segment of the population,” Solano County Chief Probation Officer Isabelle Voit said. “With adequate funding we are part of the solution at the state level.”

Voit declined to comment on the amount of probation officers she would have to increase her department by to handle the influx of cases her department is expected to handle. She said she does not know how much, if any, funding will come from the state.

“Obviously, there is always the concern that the funding won’t follow, but the governor, I believe, has made a commitment that the intent is not to put that into place until the funding is attached to it,” Voit said.

Dixon Police Chief Jon Cox’s sentiments mirrored those of Stanton and Voit’s.

“We don’t have an increase in resources coming to Solano County, we just have an increase in the number of people that will likely be re-offending and we don’t have space in the jails for them and we probably don’t have the staff to deal with them,” Cox said. “Local police departments will likely see an increase in crime.”

With the recidivism rate in California at 70 percent, according to Stanton, Dixon and other Solano County cities are preparing to see a fresh wave of crimes and victims once the law takes into affect, as early as July 1.

Cox said his department plans to work alongside the Solano County Sheriff’s and Probation Departments to keep tabs on returning offenders and keep a lid on subsequent crimes that may be committed.

“I think that what it comes down to is that we are definitely in changing times, there is being more of a burden being placed on local governments,” Cox said.  “(The state) can’t keep riding the backs of the local community to make their ends meet.”