In order to comply with a Federal mandate to ease prison overcrowding California has employed numerous “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards. In 2011, AB 109 shuttled thousands of felons from prisons into county jails. In 2014, Prop. 47 reclassified most “non-serious and non-violent property and drug crimes” from felonies to misdemeanors, further emptying our state prisons.
After the prison population met the federal threshold Governor Brown doubled down on Proposition 57, which, if passed, will put thousands of dangerous felons back on our streets.
Now we learn that the monster who kidnapped and held Jaycee Dugard in sexual slavery for 18-years will be eligible for release from prison 406-years early because of something called the Elderly Parole Program.
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In 1991, after multiple convictions for rape and kidnapping, Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy kidnapped 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard from a school bus stop in Lake Tahoe, California. They kept her prisoner and sexually abused her for 18-years. On June 2, 2011, Phillip Garrido pled guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to 431 years behind bars for the crimes he admitted committing against Jaycee Dugard.
The Elderly Parole Program allows Phillip Garrido to legally petition for parole as early as 2034. According to California’s Prison Law Office the Elderly Parole Program, “Requires the state to put in place a new parole process so that prisoners who are 60 years of age or older and have been incarcerated at least 25 years on their current sentence will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) to determine suitability for parole.”
The Elderly Parole Program was mandated by the federal order to relieve overcrowding in California’s prisons. However, that threshold has been achieved. With violent and property crime escalating it is time to rescind the “Get Out Of Jail Free” mentality. Public safety, not empty prisons is one of government’s primary responsibilities.
Phillip Garrido is a sexually sadistic psychopath. To entertain the notion that he would ever be eligible for parole diminishes the concept of public safety and redefines the criminal justice system as the justice for criminals system.