INMATES RELEASE DATA

IRVINE (CNS) - A study released today by a UC Irvine professor offers statistics to back critics of the proposal to reduce the state prison population by up to 27,000 prisoners
UC Irvine criminologist John Hipp's study showed that crime shoots up in some neighborhoods when parolees are released. Hipp said his study is the first time researchers have analyzed monthly crime statistics in correlation with parolee releases in specific neighborhoods.
The report, which studied neighborhoods in Sacramento because it is a good sample of economic and ethnic demographics, showed that if the parolees have violent backgrounds, murder rates increase. The same is true of reports of aggravated assault, robbery and burglary, according to Hipp.
However, the crime rates decrease when parolees move back into solid, longtime neighborhoods and neighborhoods where there are organizations available to provide the kinds of services parolees need to rebuild their lives and stay out of trouble, Hipp said.
``The study looked at Sacramento over a four-year period and it was a real fine-grained thing looking at the monthly change in the number of parolees going back to neighborhoods and the crime rates in those neighborhoods,'' Hipp said.
``What we were trying to do is pull it all apart and see month to month as the parolees go back into the neighborhoods do we see a change in crime.''
The prison-release plan was already a hot topic of debate in the state capital, but it grew even more intense when Phillip Garrido, a parolee and registered sex offender accused of abducting Jaycee Dugard when she was 11 years old and holding her hostage for 18 years, came to light.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today asked a three-judge panel ordering California to reduce its inmate population over the next two years by more than 40,000 to stay its order. If the judges refuse, Schwarzenegger's administration will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
The prison system is under a federal consent decree to reduce the number of inmates because it is so overcrowded prisoners' civil rights are being violated.
Schwarzenegger backs legislation to reduce the inmate population by about 37,000 over the next couple of years by sending more convicts to county jails or ordering more home confinement. The Assembly passed a bill Monday slashing prison spending by about $1 billion, but it excised a Senate bill's proposed release of older prisoners.
``It's a tough situation to be in to have to release people,'' Hipp said. ``In some ways it's an obvious thing: If you're stuck then release them, but be careful who you release. Don't just do it across the board. And it goes the other way. Who do we slam in prison with our limited resources? We need to be more selective.''
Hipp advised officials to make sure parolees have social safety nets when they get out of prison.
``If they're coming back to the neighborhoods then we should help them as much as we can. For our findings, that did make a difference,'' he said.
In an average month, researchers found more than an 8 percent rise in aggravated assault reports, a 20 percent increase in robbery reports and a nearly 10 percent bump in burglary reports correlating with increases in the parolee population. When violent parolees returned to the neighborhoods murder rates jumped up 20 percent.