D.A., SHERIFF SAY INMATES WILL SOON SERVE LONGER TERMS.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

Under fire for an early-release program that freed many Los Angeles County inmates after they'd served just 10 percent of their time, Sheriff Lee Baca and District Attorney Steve Cooley are scheduled to announce today that all inmates must now serve at least 25 percent of their sentences before being eligible for release.

The new policy will take effect at the end of the year and will apply to all inmates sentenced to county jail.

Since Baca began releasing inmates early in mid-2002 as a result of budget problems, more than 150,000 inmates have been freed early, many after serving only 10 percent of their sentences.

Of those, about 16,000 were rearrested and charged with new crimes, including nearly 3,500 for violent offenses and at least 16 for murder.

``We are always looking for ways to do our job better,'' Baca said Wednesday of the new plan. ``We run the largest jail system in the world ... This new policy will move us forward to where one day all inmates will serve the entire time required.''

The increase in the amount of time inmates will serve comes as the Board of Supervisors has allocated more than $328 million to the Sheriff's Department to reopen jails, hire more deputies and create a centralized housing unit. During this time, the department lost 275 deputies to attrition, for a net gain of 634 deputies, Whitmore said.

``We are hiring new deputies in record numbers,'' Whitmore said. ``As you get new deputies, you can provide the necessary security and staffing for the jails. The impact that this will have on the department is that we will have a consistent sentencing level.''

Cooley, who has been critical of Baca's early release policy, said that although county prosecutors prefer that inmates serve 100 percent of their time, a long-standing federal court order limiting jail capacity has limited what the sheriff can do.

``I commend Sheriff Baca for implementing this new policy,'' Cooley said. ``This will assure that sentences imposed by the court will be carried out in a predictable and even-handed manner.''

The policy will apply to about 1,800 of the 20,000 inmates in county jails. Those are the ones who have been sentenced by judges to jail terms, normally less than a year for misdemeanors or low-level felonies.

Redondo Beach City Attorney Michael W. Webb, who is president of the County Prosecutors Association, said defendants will no longer be able to routinely turn down offers that involve alternative sentences, such as picking up trash along freeways or other forms of community service.

``This new method of managing the percentage of time served by those sentenced to county jail better enables us to do our jobs as prosecutors,'' Webb said.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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