Putting ex-felons in county jails for using drugs while on supervised release is in violation of Proposition 36, a state court has ruled.
The decision by the 4th District Court of Appeals in Santa Ana does not affect the central provision of the Realignment law, which sends lower-level felons to county jails rather than state prison, said the San Francisco Chronicle.
“The Legislature cannot evade Proposition 36’s amendment requirements simply by passing legislation that purports to pare down the proposition’s coverage,” said Justice Raymond Ikola in the 3-0 ruling.
When the law was approved in 2011, it was part of the attempt to lower the prison population and “emphasize local custody and rehabilitation programs over incarceration,” according to the Chronicle.
Defense lawyer Wayne Tobin said this ruling could affect the hundreds of people who were serving prison terms before the 2011 law and released since then.
The Chronicle reported that “Parolees under state supervision were already covered by Proposition 36 and could not be jailed for drug use.” Other offenders that are now sentenced to jail for felonies that would carry prison terms are eligible for release under different rules.
But freeing them while on supervision for the last half of their terms, and because most of those sentences were negotiated in plea agreements, “the ex-offenders are not protected by the 2000 ballot measure and could still be returned to jail for drug use, Tobin told the Chronicle.
The Chronicle reported that this ruling did not help Evan Armogeda, who had completed his term of two years for felony drug conviction in Orange County. Armogeda was caught twice with drugs while on supervised release and sentenced first to 90 and later 60 days in jail.
