Assemblyman, Roger Hernandez (D – West Covina), who was charged with a DUI last April, had  introduced a new bill, AB 2127, at the end of February, which calls for expansion of  the kinds of work a prisoner can do, including DUI offenders, to become eligible for early release from a county jail.

On Wednesday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) urged the senate to reject this bill not because of Hernandez’s recent DUI arrest, but because they believe that this bill should “exclude” drunk drivers from having “early release options” altogether.

Basically, AB 2127 appears to decriminalize DUIs in the state of California and sends the wrong message to these offenders, along with jeopardizing the safety of pedestrians, motorists, and our freeways.

The California District Attorneys Association also opposes this bill because they feel that it allows DUI offenders a way to serve less time in custody for their irresponsible act.

The bill also calls for “work-release credits” to be applied to jail sentences for inmates taking life-skill classes, looking for employment or those who are given approval to return to their regular jobs, and a new option of manual labor jobs that are supervised by the county like cleaning up graffiti. This bill is not for any specific offenses, but in fact for any offense that end with a jail sentence for a period of time.

Hernandez commented about the bill stating that it would “serve as an incentive for people convicted of low-level misdemeanors to do their best to fully reintegrate into the general society by receiving release credit for working.”

It will be interesting to see if this bill is passed. While DUI offenders can be anyone, you often see this happen with people who are business socializing, but there are repeat offenders who will face a different set of charges and jail sentences, many of which we would not want driving on our local streets or freeways.

It is also true that facing the AB 109 Public Safety Realignment issue at the county jail level, this could be a way to incent these offenders to be model prisoners and get that early release that they otherwise would not have a chance at getting, and at the same time free up beds for offenders of more serious crimes.

What is your opinion of this bill and inmates earning work-release credits for early release from jail?

Read more…

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/05/madd-opposes-roger-hernandez-bill-for-letting-drunk-drivers-out-of-jail-early.html

Zachary and Brandon Sims, bail bondsmen brothers, who worked for their father, the owner of Bad Dog Bail Bonds in Bakersfield, were found dead after attempting to apprehend a young man, Zachary Perrick, at his home, who had skipped bail on drug charges.

Apparently, in their attempt to take Perrick back to jail, they were murdered by Stephen Stewart, who was a friend of Perrick’s and in the house at that time. The Sims brothers were said to be wearing bullet-proof vests, but were only armed with Mace and Tasers. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the launching of AB 109 Realignment on October 1, 2011, there have been many debates regarding the review of the program’s success…or not. It appears that the California State Prisons have shifted their overcrowding problem to the county jail levels, which are totally unprepared for the massive influx of inmates and in a quandary as to how to handle this problem sufficiently.

Funding for expansion of many county facilities’ throughout the state that was granted by the government, could be halted to take a whole new approach to the realignment program and the problems they’re realizing. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently, with the explosion of Smartphone technology, inmates have gotten their hands on cell phones through a variety of ways, allowing them to use these devices to “commit more crimes, organize assaults on staff members and terrorize victims.”  Plus, they have discovered that inmates set up email, Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the outside world, as well as each other, internally.

Now the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has taken a stand and signed a pact to block cell phones from prisons and make inmates use payphones provided by Global Tel Links. Inmates will be required to use this company’s service to make all calls from the prison’s authorized telephone systems only. Read the rest of this entry »

Santa Ana police arrested Alberto Flores Ramirez, 36, of San Clemente, on Tuesday, charging him with rape and making criminal threats to a Simi Valley woman he met on a social network site.

Apparently, he lured the woman to a Santa Ana motel by telling her that he could help bring her children to the United States from Mexico by performing a spiritual cleansing ceremony that involved a raw egg. Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday, April 2, 2012, One L. Goh, 43, a former nursing student at Oikos Christian University in Oakland, went on a shooting rampage, and shot and killed six women, one man and wounded three others. Goh stated his motive was that, “younger students showed him disrespect and made fun of his difficulty with the English language.” Read the rest of this entry »

Talk about a shock heard around the world…the story about Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Florida teen, being shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, has attracted national attention primarily because he has not been charged or arrested for this crime, claiming self-defense.

At the “Justice for Trayvon Martin rally” here inLos Angeles, hundreds of protesters gathered to pay homage to this young man whose life, they say, will not be in vain. Many of the protesters were from our local black communities with their children wearing hoodies and holding Skittles like Trayvon. Attendees of the protest are looking for equality in the way we treat each other regardless of race, creed or color. Read the rest of this entry »

There appears to be a nationwide theft wave of Tide Laundry Detergent, and Orange County, California is riding that wave as well. On Wednesday, March 14^th, 2012, it was confirmed that a Vons in Mission Viejo saw a numerous containers of the big orange bottles stolen off its shelves. It seems that the well-known product is being sold on the street at a discount and likely to purchase drugs for personal use. Read the rest of this entry »

The bail bond business is focused on getting people out of jail, but a Mission Viejo bondsman now faces 11 years in prison himself. Prosecutors are charging Kenneth Lance Hendrick, 49, with 15 felonies, saying. They say Hendrick worked with a prisoner to offer other inmates bail inside Orange County Jail, which violates state law. Hendrick is also accused of carrying methamphetamine in his sock when he was arrested Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

Reported by Maura Dolan, LA Times, March 9, 2012 – Ruling in a Santa Clarita case, it says students may sue districts for alleged abuse by school employees if administrators ignore warning signs or fail to monitor the workers.

School principals and other supervisors “have the responsibility of taking reasonable measures to guard pupils against harassment and abuse from foreseeable sources,” Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, above, wrote for the court. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

Students who are sexually abused by school employees may sue public districts if their administrators ignored warning signs or failed to monitor the employees, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »