Update on Inmate Releases from Sacramento County Jail: Judge Changes His Mind, Says Early Releases May Resume


 The new state law that increases the amount of time a jail sentence may be reduced for good behavior continues to be the subject of an ill-considered legal battle in Sacramento County. (For a review of the law's provisions, see our previous post.)

The superior court judge who last week issued an order blocking enforcement of the law yesterday reversed himself and said that the law must be implemented until county jail inmates are able to bring their legal concerns before the court. "While county jail inmates may not be indispensable parties in the technical sense," Judge Loren McMaster wrote, "they are real parties in interest since the resolution of this matter directly affects them and their status."

While we're pleased that McMaster has temporarily allowed the law to be implemented, we still disagree with his original ruling. The legislature clearly meant for the new law to merely amend a previous state law that already allowed state prison and county jail inmates to be released early for good behavior. All the new law did was increase the amount of credit that could be earned in an attempt to relieve prison and jail overcrowding.

Sadly, McMaster's rulings have only resulted in confusion and inequity. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/ We know of at least one inmate who got caught in the middle of this wrangling and received no credit at all for good behavior, because he entered Sacramento County Jail just as McMaster issued his original injunction blocking the new law, and was released today, just as the injunction was lifted.

At least one issue has been clarified: The California Attorney General's Office has advised the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, which oversees the jail, that the new system of determining time credits should only apply to time served after January 25.

More on this issue as it develops.

"More inmates to be released early as Sacramento judge rescinds earlier order," Sacramento Bee, February 17, 2010

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