CDCR STAR - Corrections Clips

CDCR NEWS:

CDCR This Week
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NEWS STORIES:

Policy:

Parole agents to keep a closer eye on sex offenders
By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times -- California parole officials issued new rules this week that will increase monitoring of thousands of sex offenders already required to wear global positioning system tracking devices, a move that comes after sharp criticism of high-profile lapses by the department.

Calif. ups monitoring of sex offenders
UPI -- California has increased monitoring of released sex offenders following the discovery of the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping and the killing of Chelsea King. Under the new regulations, low-level offenders must be tracked at least four days a month. High-risk offenders are now tracked daily, but the number of home visits is going up from the one now required every month to two, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Parole agents boost monitoring of paroled sex offenders after high-profile lapses
By Don Thompson, Associated Press -- California parole officials said Friday they have ordered increased monitoring of all sex offenders after recent high-profile lapses, most notably in the case of a young woman who was held captive for 18 years by a convicted rapist. The new policy requires parole agents to more closely track the movements of offenders using GPS-linked ankle bracelets. It also requires agents to visit high-risk sex offenders at their homes twice a month, up from just one monthly visit.

Control of sexual offenders ramps up
By Michael Gardner, San Diego Union Tribune -- The state released new directives yesterday to immediately tighten its parole agents’ supervision of convicted sex offenders in response to a mounting outcry over apparent breakdowns in two ongoing, high-profile cases. “I would characterize this as an attempt by the (prison agency) to improve public safety, and shows that the department is taking every step it can to improve supervision of its parolees,” said Gordon Hinkle, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

GPS monitoring of sex offenders is useful, but limited, experts say
By Sarah Gordon, North County Times -- California voters in 2006 overwhelmingly approved Jessica's Law, which mandated that the state's sex offenders be monitored for life with a GPS unit. With a GPS, or Global Positioning System, unit strapped to every sex offender's ankle, police would be able to look at a computer and see exactly where these potentially dangerous individuals were at all times.

Parole agents backing off, critics claim
By Danielle Cervantes and Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union Tribune -- For at least 11 years, the percentage of felony ex-convicts sent back to California prisons for parole violations has dipped.Last year, 15 percent of 106,355 parolees were put back behind bars, a new low. That’s down steadily from 25 percent in 1998, according to a data analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Gardner case, destruction of parole records, sparks Assembly hearing
By Maria Lagos, San Francisco Chronicle -- An Assembly committee will hold a hearing Wednesday to review the agency's policies regarding the retention of parole records.

Sex Offenders:

Sex offender Precobb had contact with more underage individuals
By Jonathan Mumm, News 10 -- The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said Thursday in addition to the incident that led to a new child molestation charge against him, newly-released sex offender Robert Winston Precobb was under investigation for possible contact with other minors. "We have identified more individuals who have had contact with Mr. Precobb who are underage," said sheriff's Sgt. Mike Jones. "Whether we are at the place we can call them victims is subject to further investigation."

Task force tracks sex offenders countywide
By Chris Nichols, North County Times -- Nearly all local law enforcement agencies say they have at least one detective or staff member assigned to manage files on registered sex offenders in their jurisdiction. But few have the resources to consistently verify that the offenders live where they say they do or drive the car they have registered. Often, that's where the San Diego Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force steps in.

SW RivCo residents grapple with concerns over sex offenders
By Toni McAllister, South West Riverside News Network -- Ever since a registered sex offender from Lake Elsinore was arrested Feb. 28 on suspicion of slaying of Poway resident Chelsea King, the nerves of residents in Southwest Riverside County, along with others throughout the country, have been rattled as they cope with the aftermath of the killing and circumstances around it.

EPD was watching more than Gardner
By Chris Nichols, North County Times -- Accused murderer John Albert Gardner III is the most infamous registered sex offender to inhabit Escondido in recent memory. But he was only one of nearly 200 sex offenders Escondido police tracked, and continue to track, in the inland North County community.

High Profile Cases:

Suspect in teen murder had run-ins with police
Associated Press -- A convicted sex offender charged with murdering a 17-year-old California girl was repeatedly fined for drug and driving offenses following his 2005 release from prison - once while driving a car similar to one later used during an attempted child kidnapping, records show. Officers who stop sex offenders for minor violations may not be aware of their status, authorities said. A few states include notification on their driver's licenses that the holder is a sex offender, but California licenses do not.

Gardner remained free after repeated run-ins
By Matthew T. Hall, San Diego Union Tribune -- One night in November 2008, a police cruiser rolled up on two registered sex offenders drinking beer and smoking marijuana in the bed of a truck at an Oceanside city park. One was returned to prison on a parole violation. The other, John Albert Gardner III, had been off parole for two months and so remained free, according to records obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. Gardner was cited at least eight times by five agencies between his release from state prison in September 2005 and his arrest Feb. 28. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped and killed Chelsea King, 17, of Poway. He is also a focus of the investigation into the death of Amber Dubois, 14, of Escondido.

Garrido cleared in 2 old cases
RGJ -- The man charged with kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard and holding her captive for 18 years has been ruled out as a suspect in two unsolved murder cases involving children in Reno, police said. Meanwhile, California parole officials announced Friday they have ordered increased monitoring of all sex offenders, largely because of mistakes made in the Dugard case.

Health Care:

Schwarznegger wants University of California to manage prison medical care
By Julie Small, KPCC -- Under the proposal the University of California would manage dental, medical and psychiatric care in the state’s 33 prisons. A consultant for the state says the plan would save money by reducing prison staff. One way the plan accomplishes that is increasing the use of telemedicine. Psychiatrists and doctors at UC medical facilities would provide care to inmates remotely — using cameras and laptops.

UC could oversee prison health
By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times -- The Schwarzenegger administration wants to put the University of California in charge of state prison inmates' medical needs in an overhaul of the troubled corrections healthcare system that could save $12 billion over a decade, officials say. The arrangement, similar to a centralized system of managed care, would dramatically expand the use of telemedicine, a technique by which patients are seen by doctors in remote locations over a screen with an Internet connection. It would institute electronic record-keeping so providers could access medical information from anywhere.

CDCR Related and Miscellanous:

States give inmates access to personal data of others
By Peter Eisler, USA Today -- Prisons in eight states let convicts work in jobs that give them access to Social Security numbers and other personal information for the public, despite years of warnings that the practice should end, a federal audit finds. Most of the prisoners hold jobs processing public records for federal, state and local governments, according to the audit released this month by the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General. The work often involves entering and processing data on documents such as student transcripts, tax files, and health care and labor claims forms.

OPINION:

California's method of dealing with sexual predators is broken
By Ruben Navarrette Jr., San Jose Mercury News -- In California, the criminal justice system's method of dealing with sexual predators who harm or even kill children is — to borrow a phrase — stuck on stupid. What else can we conclude in light of recent and frightening revelations about just how free and uninhibited John Albert Gardner III, a convicted sex offender now accused of murder, was while on parole after serving five years of a six-year prison term for molesting, beating and falsely imprisoning a 13-year-old girl.

ONLINE COMMENTARY:

Sex offenders' rights not violated by new California monitoring protocol
By Claire Burns, San Francisco Examiner -- According to the L.A. Times, parole agents are now keeping a closer watch on sex offenders, both minor and major. If any question or protest can be raised against these actions, the basis would be the 4th and 14th Amendments of the Bill of Rights. However, in those same amendments, it can be found that the rights of sex offenders are not being violated.

Privacy vs. public right to know
By Ken Paulson, USA Today -- The fear in the little boy's voice was palpable. "There's some guy who's going to kill my mom and dad," a 7-year-old identified only as Carlos told the 911 operator. "Bring cops. A lot of them! ... And soldiers, too." Los Angeles County Sheriff's dispatcher Monique Patino did her job well, trying to keep the boy calm and sending him the help he needed. The robbers fled when they learned the boy had called 911. That's not always the case. Recordings of other 911 calls have revealed inattentive or incompetent dispatchers, leading to promises of reform and changes in policy.