As you know, I have posted four “Consequences Of A State-Sanctioned Jail Break” blogs. It wasn’t until today that I noticed a comment posted on the Jan. 17th blog. ReentryConsultantOnline claims to be a long-time “Criminal Justice Practitioner” and tries to justify the upcoming early release of thousands of inmates from California’s prison system.
ReentryConsultantOnline said...
“First, let me straighten the record here, the California Department of Corrections (CDCR) will begin releasing inmates to a Non-Revocable Parole status only if they are assessed at low to moderate risk to recidivate and generally this group will self-corrects without post supervision. In fact in many cases, you can do more harm than good by housing this population with the more hardened criminal.
Inmates are excluded from Non Revocable Status if they have any Serious or Violent Felonies in their adult criminal history. Additionally, these parolees cannot have any serious prison violations during their incarceration. Sex Offenders will not be released to this status either.
An example of a Non-Revocable Parolee would be an individual who has a criminal history of property and/or drug related offenses. Many times, they have failed probation supervision and the courts elected to send them to prison.
The best way to address this population's triggers for criminality is by providing comprehensive service delivery to them at the local level.
As a Criminal Justice Practitioner, for more than 30 years, I can tell you that this group should be serviced on the local level. Research have demonstrated that Correctional Agencies will get the biggest bang for their buck (taxpayers buck) by concentrating their efforts on the inmate who represent the highest risk of recidivating.
Although the statistics that have been quoted in this blog regarding the costs of recidivism are true, they do not necessarily apply to the inmate that CDCR is releasing to Non-Revocable Parole status.
Last, LAPD and all other law enforcement agencies have access to a CDCR database which will inform them who is on active or Non-Revocable Parole.”
This is how I responded to his false assertions:
“What a crock!
As a criminal justice practitioner of more than 30 years, ReentryConsultantOnline knows very well that many of those "low to moderate risk to recidivate" inmates copped a plea to reduced charges - from a crime of violence to a non-violent offense or from a serious felony to a less serious felony.
His statement that "this group will self-corrects without post supervision" is absurd and flies in the face of numerous academic studies on the recidivism of released prison inmates.”
And this is how Bob Walsh, a pragmatic correctional expert, responded:
“Any moron can leave a comment. Some of them you wonder what planet they came from. This guy’s terminology is a dead giveaway. He is a shill [for the California corrections department]. The notion that the government can predict future dangerousness by looking at tiny slices of a person’s background is ludicrous.
While it is indeed possible the ReentryConsultantOnline has had some sort of 30 year past as a ‘criminal justice practitioner’ it is doubtful that he is truly involved in law enforcement.
He is obviously a ‘warm and fuzzy care and treatment’ individual. His use of the catch phrase ‘providing comprehensive service delivery’ makes that obvious.
I am not a lock them up forever guy. That would be idiotic and counterproductive. In fact I even support the notion of a small, focused, carefully chosen summary parole program just to see what happens.
However, when you kick out thousands and thousands of convicted felons using a pocket calculator as your primary tool, the goal being simply to empty cells, you can not seriously claim to be helping or supporting public safety.
ANY form of conditional release has issues, and will occasionally produce failure. When it's done off the cuff, it will produce many failures, some of them spectacular, to the detriment of the general public. Pretending it is being done carefully and with due consideration will not make it so.”
This is Centurion’s conclusion:
“I maintain that this has come from someone pretty high up in our [California corrections] administration. He used all the right buzz words and phrases, has the company mindset, is well educated, and writes very well. The adherence to and observance of the current administration mantra regarding this early release travesty is there as well.
ReentryConsultantOnline sounds like one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's bureaucratic talking heads. I know spin when I see it......and I've just seen it. This guy is a company man through and through.”
Bob Walsh and Centurion have exposed this charlatan for what he is – a spokesperson defending the indefensible on behalf of the Department of Corrections and the Governor.
Let me remind everyone that “according to independent research organizations, for every 5,000 felons who receive an early release, 45,500 new crimes will be committed over a three-year period, and 9,000 of those crimes will be violent felonies.”
ReentryConsultantOnline had to have read those alarming facts since that was the leadoff paragraph in the blog to which he responded with his comments. He conveniently chose to disregard those facts as well as numerous other studies that have reached similar conclusions.
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