An effort is underway to modify the prison realignment system in California.
It's been almost one year since the law took effect to reduce state prison overcrowding.
Instead of serving time in prison, some convicted criminals are serving their sentence in county jails or under community supervision.
In the past year, several cities, including Fresno, have seen a sharp increase in crime and critics of prison realignment believe - realignment is to blame.
Lynne Brown works with victims of crime and she's with a group trying to modify prison realignment. "It's a huge public safety issue. The statistics across the state with violent crime or property crime are ramping up after decades of decline." "Repealing it is not realistic; we have to address the overcrowding in prison. But a person's criminal history is relevant," said Brown.
Realignment was adopted after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce prison overcrowding and it classified certain offenders as non-violent, non-serious or non sex-offenders and that made them eligible to serve their time in jail rather than prison, or qualify for post release community supervision.
So far this year in Fresno, nearly a quarter of the city's 39 murders have been committed by people on post release community supervision.
In a recent case, 25-year-old Michael Crockell allegedly stabbed 46-year-old Lisa Gillvray to death, stabbing her at least 14 times, stabbed her roommate 15 times, and stabbed a Fresno police officer who answered their call for help.
Brown wants to see changes made to who is eligible to be released into the community. "Classify non, non, nons as those who don't have violence in their background, who don't pose a physical violent threat to the community, or a sex offender background," said Brown.
Opponents of prison realignment plan to gather in Sacramento next month and they want lawmakers who approved realignment to take another look and make it harder for those with violence in their past to get a free pass out of prison.
