US prison inmates returning to society: How will they be received?

Cadogan will, in fact, have to defy some hard arithmetic. A recent study by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) found that about two-thirds of former inmates return to prison within three years. This doesn't mean they all commit serious crimes. The biggest group of them – 45 percent – return because of simple parole violations.

Social workers who deal with inmates believe drug treatment, counseling, and other programs like the one at Chino greatly improve the chances of prisoners becoming productive members of society. They see such programs as better than keeping offenders locked up, or locking up low-risk prisoners to begin with, which can just harden inmates.

Yet many of the social service groups will now be doing their work with less money, even though the number of prisoners they'll be dealing with will likely rise substantially. When the latest funding cuts came down from Sacramento, Amity had to reduce its staff at Chino from 14 to 10. That means the counseling program there will have room for 130 inmates this year instead of 150, though the group expects the funding to be restored eventually.

The realignment process will also be watched closely by critics. Many worry that too many pris-oners are being released before they should be. Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, says flatly that realignment will be a "public safety disaster."

He cites the case of John Folinsky, a Los Angeles drug dealer. Mr. Folinsky pleaded no contest last November to a cocaine possession charge. He was already out on parole for committing the same offense two years earlier. He was sentenced to six years in the county jail, but wound up serving less than a month and was released with electronic monitoring.

The crime rate, says Mr. Cooley, is at a 60-year low "because we've done a good job of incarcerating those who commit crimes. Some of us believe incarceration for serious criminals is important. It's how you protect the public."

In the politicized world of criminal justice, one misstep can cause big repercussions. Illinois released a large number of pris-oners early a few years ago, some of whom ended up committing serious crimes. Facing an uproar, Gov. Pat Quinn (D) in 2009 reversed a policy of allowing inmates early release for good behavior.

While California's decision to open some of its prison doors has been forced on it to a certain extent by costs and the courts, the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) will likely be judged uncompromisingly by its success or failure. Governor Brown himself seems confident with the realignment.

"We're not going to have a revolving door in the prison," he said recently outside an interfaith prayer breakfast in Los Angeles. "We're going to strengthen local law enforcement."

Others are less optimistic. "We always see a real serious crime committed [by someone who gets out early] and then everything gets repealed and we go back to being tough on criminals again," says Christine Ward, executive director of Crime Victims Action Alliance, a victims' rights group. "Unfortunately, that case is coming."

* * *

Mark Faucette is one who will be trying to prevent "that case" from happening. With his trimmed beard, crisp suit, and combed-back hair, Mr. Faucette looks as if he could be a Hollywood agent. He is a vice president of the Amity Foundation, the group that runs the treatment program at Chino and operates a residential facility in Los Angeles for released cons.

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