California Republicans ask Gavin Newsom to change prison release rules after Sacramento shootings
California Republicans want Gov. Gavin Newsom to make it harder for prison inmates to serve shorter sentences for good behavior following the Sacramento mass shooting that left six people dead.
Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, and a group of his colleagues are urging Newsom to suspend changes to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) program that increases the rate at which inmates convicted of both violent and nonviolent crimes earn the credits.
They also want to see Newsom and legislators tighten laws around sentencing enhancements to lengthen the amount of prison time judges hand down for those who use guns or are affiliated with gangs. Police have said the shootings were gang-related.
The GOP push comes after reporting from The Sacramento Bee that showed one of the suspects in the April 3 shootings had received pre- and post-sentencing credits that allowed him to serve four years of his 10-year sentence.
The suspect, 27-year-old Smiley Martin, had received the sentence in 2018 for assaulting his girlfriend. CDCR released him to Sacramento County probation in February 2022.
Following the shooting, police took Martin into custody on suspicion of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and possessing a machine gun, which law enforcement says was a gun that had been illegally modified to fire automatically.
“Overwhelmingly, these deadly shootings have a common thread,” Gallagher said during a Thursday news conference. “A person who is already known to law enforcement, who shouldn’t be on the street, who shouldn’t have a gun .... It has to stop. We must address this problem head on.”
Good conduct credit changes
CDCR is allowed — but not required — to award sentence-shortening credits to inmates convicted of violent and nonviolent crimes who exhibit good behavior or participate in rehabilitative programs. Proposition 57 — which voters approved in 2016 — gave CDCR more leeway to change which inmates receive these credits and the rate at which they earn them.
In May 2021, CDCR adjusted the 2017 rate at which inmates convicted of both violent and nonviolent crimes could earn good conduct credits.
The agency announced inmates in prison for violent crimes could earn credits that would allow them to shave down their sentences by one-third, according to an Associated Press report. Under the 2017 rules, they could shorten their sentences by one-fifth.
This drew the ire of Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who joined with 43 other DAs in May 2021 to sue over CDCR’s move to enact the changes under emergency rules.
Following the lawsuit, CDCR opened a comment period on the policy change, which continues through April 13.
Newsom in May 2021 called the change an “independent decision by CDCR” consistent with Proposition 57.
On Monday, his office said CDCR is “appropriately engaging the public as part of their regulatory process.”
“This is a process managed through CDCR under authority granted by voter approved Proposition 57,” said Daniel Lopez, Newsom’s deputy communications director, in an email.
Vicky Waters, a CDCR spokeswoman, said on Friday that the agency “strongly condemns the tragic violence that occurred in downtown Sacramento this past weekend.”
“We stand with our law enforcement partners in our unwavering dedication to protecting public safety and finding ways to make our communities safer,” she added.
CDCR will review public feedback on the good conduct credit policy change later this month, after the comment period closes, Waters said.
Republicans oppose CDCR changes
Republicans say the shooting exemplifies why CDCR should not make changes to the good-behavior credit permanent.
“There is no budgetary or policy reason why (CDCR) should expand the early release of inmates,” the letter said. “Particularly in the current climate, accelerating the release of the most serious and violent felons jeopardizes public safety. It also makes a mockery of the concept of truth-in-sentencing when inmates serve a small fraction of their court-ordered sentences.”
Republicans also drew attention to new laws that reduce sentencing enhancements — characteristics of crimes, such as the use of a gun or gang affiliation, that allow judges to add more time to offenders’ sentences.
Newsom in October 2021 signed a handful of criminal justice bills. They included Senate Bill 81, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, that allows judges to dismiss some enhancements, including the use of a gun if it “was inoperable or unloaded.”
He also signed Assembly Bill 333, authored by Sen. Sydney Kamlager, D-Los Angeles, which changes rules around gang sentencing to force prosecutors to prove a crime was committed because of a such an affiliation before adding enhancements.
Proponents of those bills argued they help reform a racist criminal justice system.
“We’re re-injecting due process back into the criminal legal system — where it should’ve been all along,” Kamlager said in a statement after Newsom signed AB 333. “... Gang enhancements have long been used against people of color far more frequently than their white counterparts. With today’s signing, we’re making progress on our promise to root out discrimination where we see it.”
Republicans said the Newsom administration’s approach has made it more challenging to prevent crime.
“The truth is, policies passed out of this building have made it easier for dangerous felons to get out of prison and back down to our streets,” Gallagher said. “And they have reduced the penalty for crime and created a culture of lawlessness that we are now experiencing in this state.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.