Henry Perea, Fresno County Vice Chair: "At some point, the community's getting the message that we don't have a commitment to public safety and that the prisoners are ruling."
County supervisors are hoping to dispel that myth...
After a summer-long delay, the Fresno county jail is expected to open another floor.
The opening should provide some relief for law enforcement, especially after some recent crimes connected to those early-release inmates.
But will the floor's opening put a stop the early releases?
The answer to that is no.
But it should have an impact.
The county is now working to mitigate some of the frustration caused by these early releases.
The floor was supposed to open in April, but was delayed because of the hiring process.
Sheriff Mims has since been able to fill the remaining 23 positions needed, and now the floor is expected to open Saturday.
It doesn't necessarily mean the early releases will stop, but the numbers are expected to decrease.
Perea: "What that means to the public is there will be over 400 new jail beds available, so we can significantly stop or slow down the release of prisoners back into our community, which are committing a horrendous number of crimes."
An example of that would be earlier this week...
On Tuesday, repeat offender Brian Hall was arrested on auto theft charges.
Last week, he was arrested, and released, after leading police on a high speed chase through Fresno and Madera.
People are tired of incidents like this, and they're letting police know about it.
Jerry Dyer, Fresno Police Chief: "They continue to be victimized, having their houses broken into, having their cars broken into, their cars stolen, and without any consequences, at least in their eyes, of these individuals being sent to jail or prison or staying inside."
Fresno County Vice Chair Henry Perea says $6 million was allocated to the jail earlier this year, with the intent of having another floor open by July 1st.
That didn't happen.
So, the county, and law enforcement, have been getting creative in their efforts, looking at electronic monitoring, and rehab.
Chief Dyer says police are now focusing on a group they call "The 10-percenters," those who commit most of the crimes in Fresno.
"The frustration is when those individuals are released early, because these are the ones that can do the most damage in terms of crime."
Chief Dyer expects the benefit of the extra floor to last maybe a couple weeks, especially with a large percentage of realignment prisoners expected to move in.
Sheriff Mims was not available for comment on the jail.
She's announced a press conference on the matter for Friday.
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