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Thousands May Serve Sentences In The Community, Not Locked Up

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published September 27, 2011 at 2:39 AM PDT

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Thousands May Serve Sentences In The Community, Not Locked Up

San Diego County unveils a plan today to deal with thousands of offenders who will stay in San Diego instead of going to state prison.

The state prisons are overcrowded, the state budget is broke. An estimated 2,000 non-violent, non-sexual offenders will move from the state parole system to the county probation department, starting next month.

Another 2,000 who would have been sentenced to state prison will instead be sentenced to serve time in San Diego County.

The County had less than six months to prepare for the change. Mack Jenkins, head of San Diego’s probation department, developed the plan with a committee of other law enforcement leaders. He presents it to the Board of Supervisors today.

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“We do know,” Jenkins said,” that to try and do the same thing with these populations that the state has done, that there is flat out not enough money for that. That requires us to use different strategies and alternatives. ”

Hear more on this from KPBS Reporter Alison St John on Evening Edition Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011.

“Here in San Diego County we do have some limited jail space that is available now, but will rapidly fill up,” he said, “so our plan involves jail alternatives and custody alternatives to try and expand jail capacity.”

That means finding ways to supervise more offenders while they do time living in the community.

Jenkins said the state has promised San Diego $25 million in the first year. His plan spends $8 million to hire 75 extra probation officers.

Jenkins said there is no law yet to compel the state to make future payments, which could leave counties holding the bag.

KPBS Evening Edition

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.