Lawmakers are working to close a projected 16 billion-dollar gap in the state's budget… by proposing 10 percent cuts across the board.

One controversial aspect of the plan is relieving California’s overcrowded prisons.

The governor's proposal to release thousands of non-violent offenders has many concerned it could have a devastating effect on our safety.

Releasing thousands of non-violent inmates from prison early has a lot of people buzzing.

It’s become such a sensitive issue, that prison officials aren't even allowed to comment on it.

So we took our cameras behind the razor wire of Corcoran State Prison to learn more about an issue that could soon affect us all.

Corcoran State Prison… home to California’s most violent inmates, many here serving life sentences for the most serious of crimes.

“You can't make it in here, you might as well hang yourself,” says inmate Mickey Cortez Reed. He’s serving life for murder.

Many here have served much of their time in isolation, better known as the SHU… created for the most problematic of inmates.

Richard Bayse was just released from the SHU, after spending a year and a half there.

“It’s built to break you, that’s what it is,” says Bayse, who’s serving 27 to life.

But Corcoran, like other prisons in California is also home to inmates the state calls "non-violent."

"These people do not fit a category of offender that we know that is a sex offender, that is violent in nature and has been through the system a long time," says Kathy Jett, Undersecretary of Programs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Now under Governor Schwarzenegger’s latest budget proposal, more than 22,000 of these "so-called" non-violent inmates could be released from prison 20 months earlier than their original release date.

The first wave could come as early as this summer, putting at least 1,300 parolees back on Fresno streets, in addition to the 6,100 already here, a desperate move by the state, in hopes of saving nearly a billion dollars over the next three years.

"We're going to see an increased number of people victimized as a result of that," says Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth Egan says, "Taking a budget crisis and a budget problem and solving it by creating victims of crime is outrageous to me," but not outrageous to State Department of Finance Spokesman H.D. Palmer.

He says cuts to the prison population must be made in order to help make up for the state's project 16-billion dollar budget gap.

"In order to make reductions in corrections department budget, you have to do something on the population side,” Palmer says.
Of those released early, it's estimated that about 70 percent will re-offend… and under this new proposal, inmates would receive a whole new set of parole conditions… making it much harder to put them back behind prison walls.

The state refers to it as summary parole.

For non-violent offenders, it means fewer conditions and no active supervision.

They would however, be subject to searches and drug testing, but would not return to prison, without first being prosecuted locally for any new crimes they commit.

"In the past we've been simply able to have their parole conditions violated and send them back to prison… under summary parole… we now have to take that case before the district attorney and have it prosecuted," says Dyer.

"The higher our case loads become, the slower the process is, the more crowded our jail is,” says Egan, which is why rehabilitation for inmates is critical.

Experts believe if inmates undergo rehabilitation, they will be less likely to re-offend… and less likely to commit new crimes, taking the strain off local government.

"We're gonna start looking at them individually, we're gonna provide opportunities for them to improve their lives and return to the community and their families more healed, more prepared to be a productive citizen," says Jett, which is what Governor Schwarzenegger’s assembly bill 900 initially set out to do.

The historic 7.7 billion dollar prison reform plan signed into law last may, promised to add 53,000 beds in prisons and jails, along with secure re-entry facilities to help re-integrate offenders back into the community, in hopes of curbing the recidivism rate.

Last July, federal judges said if AB 900 proved to be successful, the release of inmates would not be necessary.

One federal judge called it "a radical step."

But with overcrowding at an all time high, federal judges are now stepping in... And meeting with prison health experts to determine if AB 900 is capable of accomplishing what it set out to do: ease overcrowding.

But inmates say overcrowding is so bad now, that it’s keeping them from receiving the treatment and rehabilitation they so badly need... And that's turning many offenders, considered to be "non-violent," into individuals who are now becoming a product of a toxic environment.

"These guys come to prison… instead of getting any kind of rehabilitation for them, they're warehousing them with inmates that are now murderers, armed robberies, so now you've got inmates that are more sophisticated and all they ever learn is how to do more crime," says Bayse.

Now, a tough decision lies ahead.

Empty the prisons... Or wait for AB 900 to take its natural course.

Either way, something must be done soon, before the prisons are left with no choice, but to start turning criminals away.

"I mean what are you going to do? Continue to build more prisons? That's not the solution... Pretty soon, you might as well barbwire the whole state of California... That's basically what its coming down to," says Robert Escareno, who’s serving a life sentence.

A vote to release non-violent inmates could happen any day now.

However, many legislators are showing strong opposition to the governor's proposal.

It must receive a two-thirds majority vote to move forward.

If lawmakers approve the cuts, non-violent inmates would be released 90 to 180 days following the majority vote.

Click on the link to view Preston Phillips’ report.

Click on the link to view Preston Phillips' report.