The rate of California prisoners’ committing new crimes after release has continued to drop, but only slightly, says a new report from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation quoted by the Los Angeles Times. The number of inmates who found themselves back behind bars within three years of release peaked in 2008, at 67.5 percent. Monday’s updated report said that 63.7 percent of adults paroled in 2007 were found guilty of new crimes by 2010.
That means that out of 116,000 inmates paroled, more than 75,000 committed new felony crimes that put them back in state prison. The report highlights the severity of the issue of revolving-door criminals in California. The recidivism rate among those with two or more prison stays is more than 75 percent. More than 16,000 of parolees who committed new felonies had been in state custody 10 times or more.