One of the reasons I was so grateful when Kent invited me to become a contributor on this blog is that CJLF is an organization with which anyone who cares about justice for criminals and safety for ordinary people would be delighted to be affiliated.  Of late, Kent and CJLF's staff have done a super job of publishing story after story of the predictable (and predicted) disastrous results of California's prison "realignment."  "Realignment," readers will recall, is the deliberately opaque word used to denote the legalized jailbreak California's liberal-dominated government gleefully undertook in the aftermath of Plata.

Republican lawmakers proposed a package of bills on Tuesday intended to counter what they see as a growing threat to public safety from sending some inmates to county jails instead of state prisons. The 13 bills seek to counter the effects of prison realignment in 2011 by improving supervision of parolees and increase penalties for sex offenders and those who illegally possess or sell firearms.The measures also would send more convicts back to prison to ease the burden on local jails while protecting counties from lawsuits.

 

The proposals have the backing of Diana Munoz, mother of Brandy Arreola, 21, of Stockton, who was permanently injured last year by her boyfriend, Raoul Leyva, a parole violator who had been released early from jail because of overcrowding.

Leyva, 34, was convicted last month of attempted voluntary manslaughter and injuring a spouse, with enhancements for causing brain injury and paralysis.

"If realignment didn't exist ... my daughter would be living her life normally," Munoz said as her daughter sat in a wheelchair by her side. "The state is responsible for what's happened to her. They should never have let him out."