BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1369
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1369 (Davis)
As Amended July 14, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(May 26, 2009) |SENATE: |23-8 |(September 4, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Removes the requirement that inmates subject to the
involuntary home detention program be misdemeanor inmates.
The Senate amendments delete Penal Code Section 4532 relating to
prisoners arrested and booked for, charged with, or convicted of
a misdemeanor and persons committed under specified provisions
as inebriates.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon
determination by the correctional administrator that
conditions in a jail facility warrant the necessity of
releasing sentenced misdemeanor inmates prior to them serving
the full amount of a given sentence due to lack of jail space,
the board of supervisors of any county may authorize the
correctional administrator to offer a program under which
inmates committed to a county jail or other county
correctional facility or granted probation, or inmates
participating in a work furlough program, may be required to
participate in an involuntary home detention program, which
shall include electronic monitoring, during their sentence in
lieu of confinement in the county jail or other county
correctional facility or program under the auspices of the
probation officer.
2)States that notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
board of supervisors of any county may authorize the
correctional administrator, to offer a program under which
minimum security inmates and low-risk offenders committed to a
county jail or other county correctional facility or granted
probation, or inmates participating in a work furlough
program, may voluntarily participate in a home detention
AB 1369
Page 2
program during their sentence in lieu of confinement in the
county jail or other county correctional facility or program
under the auspices of the probation officer.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Provided that notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon
determination by the correctional administrator that
conditions in a jail facility warrant the necessity of
releasing sentenced inmates prior to them serving the full
amount of a given sentence due to lack of jail space, the
board of supervisors of any county may authorize the
correctional administrator to offer a program under which
inmates committed to a county jail or other county
correctional facility or granted probation, or inmates
participating in a work furlough program, may be required to
participate in an involuntary home detention program, which
shall include electronic monitoring, during their sentence in
lieu of confinement in the county jail or other county
correctional facility or program under the auspices of the
probation officer.
2)Prescribed that every prisoner arrested and booked for,
charged with, or convicted of a felony, who is a participant
in a home detention program under existing law who escapes is
guilty of a felony; and, if the escape or attempt to escape
was not by force or violence, is punishable by imprisonment in
the state prison for 16 months, 2 or 3 years, to be served
consecutively, or in a county jail, not exceeding one year.
3)Stated that if the escape or attempt to escape is committed by
force or violence, the person is guilty of a felony,
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a full term
of two, four, or six years to be served consecutively to any
other term of imprisonment, commencing from the time the
person would have been released from imprisonment and the term
shall not be subject to reduction, or in a county jail for a
consecutive term not to exceed one year, that term to commence
from the time the prisoner otherwise would have been
discharged from jail.
4)Excepted in unusual cases where the interests of justice would
best be served if the person is granted probation, probation
shall not be granted to any person who is convicted of a
felony offense under this section in that he or she escaped or
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attempted to escape from a home detention program.
5)Mandated that the willful failure of a prisoner, to return to
his or her place of confinement no later than the expiration
of the period that he or she was permitted to participate in a
home detention program, is an escape. A prisoner convicted of
a felony who willfully fails to return to his or her place of
confinement shall be punished by imprisonment in the state
prison for 16 months, 2 or 3 years, to be served
consecutively, or in a county jail, not exceeding one year.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Based on the lack of space
in the Los Angeles County jail system, a federal court has
placed a mandatory cap on the number of inmates in the system
(Rutherford v. Block). To adhere to the cap, the Sheriff's
Department has reduced the percentage of time served by inmates
committed to county jail. The Sheriff Department offered the
voluntary electronic monitoring program and in 2007 ran SB 959
(Romero and Runner) to create an involuntary home detention
electronic monitoring program, which has been very successful.
Approximately 1,500 inmates are currently on some form of Home
Electronic Monitoring, up from 437 in 2007. Prior to SB 959,
inmates were spending an average of 10% of their sentence in
jail before being released early due to overcrowding. Now, male
inmates are doing approximately 75% of their sentence.
"Under current law, California Penal Code Section 1203.017
allows involuntary participation by qualified, minimum-security,
low-risk inmates in a home detention electronic monitoring
program in lieu of confinement in the county jail. By giving
the Sheriff's Department the discretion and the option to put an
inmate on the involuntary home detention electronic monitoring
program, the Department has been able to better manage and
control the jail population. If sentenced qualified, low-risk
felony county jail commitments (currently, there are about 230
eligible inmates in Los Angeles County) are added to this
section, we can better control our population and create much
needed room for the more serious offenders."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
AB 1369
Page 4
Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0002169