Governor defends prison realignment law, but open to improvements

Gov. Jerry Brown is defending his three-year-old criminal justice realignment law but tells California law enforcement organizations that he is open to making improvements.

The Democratic governor said during a speech Wednesday that what many law enforcement officials want most is more money, but that’s still in short supply despite the state’s budget surplus.

The law, pushed by Brown, took effect in October 2011. He saw it as a way of reducing prison spending while lowering the inmate population in response to federal court orders. It keeps most lower-level offenders in county jails instead of sending them to state prisons.

Brown told the Alliance of California Law Enforcement during its annual legislative day that state and local governments still are trying to find the “right mix” between incarceration and rehabilitation.