DA Hestrin joins with 43 other District Attorneys filing lawsuit challenging early release of 76,000 prison inmates

RIVERSIDE – District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced today, May 26, 2021, that he has joined with 43 other elected District Attorneys in California in filing a civil lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit awarding additional conduct credits to more than 76,000 state prison inmates.

The more than 76,000 inmates that could be released early have been convicted of violent and serious felonies.

“Releasing dangerous and violent felons into our communities by reducing their sentences by as much as 50 percent puts the public in danger,” DA Hestrin said. “Victims and their families deserve to be heard on how these regulations might affect them and public safety in general.” 

These additional conduct credits were the product of “emergency” regulations passed and first made public at 3 p.m. on April 30, 2021. In adopting these regulations and claiming an emergency, the CDCR secretary stated they were necessary to comply with “the direction outlined in the Governor’s Budget Summary” presented a year earlier on May 14, 2020. By invoking an emergency, the traditional regulatory scheme and transparent public comment period were bypassed.

The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, requests the court declare the regulations unlawful and prohibit CDCR from awarding these additional credits until CDCR lawfully complies with the regulatory scheme which includes a transparent and rigorous period for public comment.

# # #