"Everyone goes through the same process," Nishida said.

Wright was convicted of eight felonies, including perjury and voting fraud, for lying about where he lived when he ran for office in 2008. The nonviolent nature of his crime, his lack of prior convictions and crowding in the jail contributed to the decision to process and release him, Nishida said. She said jail authorities use a complex formula that takes those factors into account to determine how long all criminals will spend in jail.

"A lot of people are not serving 100 percent of their time because of overcrowding," Nishida said.

Ms. Nishida gets the Understatement of the Day Award for "not 100%."  Ninety days is 129,600 minutes.  Wright "served" 0.055% of his sentence, by my calculation.  The Bee story continues --

Wright's situation highlights the trickle-down effect of California's prison realignment program, in which state prisons are shifting low-level offenders to county jails, creating more crowding in those facilities and prompting local authorities to set some criminals free.

Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for realignment as a way to give local governments more control while the state complies with a federal court order to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons, whose populations have skyrocketed since the 1970s as laws passed to mandate harsher sentences.

Californians scratching their heads over Wright's quick release could see it as a tangible example of the impacts of prison crowding - or as a sign that powerful people get treated better than everyone else, said Jessica Levinson, a professor of political law at Loyola Law School.

"When there is a high profile person ... and we know they serve an infinitesimal fraction of their sentence, it really hits home for us. It is a minor part of a bigger discussion about what overcrowding means, and the supply and demand of prisons," Levinson said.

"But a lot of people will get from that: 'I always knew Rod Wright was never really going to serve, because he is a VIP and would get special treatment.'"

Wright's attorney said he got no preferential treatment.

"This is typical," said Winston Kevin McKesson, a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles.

"The jails are overcrowded. The jails should be reserved for people who are dangerous to society. Senator Wright presents no danger to society. In fact, he is an asset to society."

Incapacitation is not the only reason for punishment.  Deterrence and retribution matter also.  A slap on the wrist like this tells everyone else they can go ahead and lie and cheat and nothing all that bad will happen to them, at least as far as direct consequences go.  On top of that, to let a crook off this easy after abusing his position of power is just plain wrong.