• Sacramento County Releasing Hundreds Of Inmates
(2/3/2010)
An inmate who was released early under a new law aimed to save the California state government money was arrested for attempted rape about 12 hours later, according to authorities.
The Sacramento Police Department said Kevin Peterson was released from prison Monday night but was back in cuffs Tuesday just after noon.
Peterson allegedly attempted to rape a woman near the 1300 block of North C Street, according to authorities. He was booked into prison Tuesday afternoon on charges of attempted rape, sexual battery and violating probation.
On Tuesday, Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said he has no choice but to comply with the new state law that requires non-violent misdemeanor offenders who are on good behavior to serve only 50 percent of their sentence.
"Honestly, I am not thrilled with the idea," Sheriff McGinness said Tuesday.
One of the candidates for Sacramento County Sheriff released a statement Wednesday condemning the early releases and demanding the state allow local governments the option of refusing to release inmates early.
"The decimation of law enforcement resources due to budget cuts means that our worst fears are becoming reality," Captain Jim Cooper said. "Response times to 911 calls have increased, Sheriff's deputies have been laid off and now the State piles this on top of us. This is unacceptable and it must stop."
As many as 500 inmates could go free by the end of this week in Sacramento County.
http://cbs13.com/local/early.release.inmate.2.1468598.html
