Calif. Assembly balks at early release of inmates

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass plans to strip the most controversial provisions from a Senate-approved plan that would have trimmed the state's prison population by 27,000 inmates.

The Assembly version would keep 10,600 more inmates behind bars and leave the state with a new, nearly $200 million budget hole.

Bass says the new plan — to be considered Monday — will do away with proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow home detention with electronic monitoring for inmates with less than 12 months to serve, who are older than 60 or who are medically incapacitated.

The Democrat-controlled Assembly will also reject the Republican governor's plan to lower sentences for certain property crimes to misdemeanors, making those offenders ineligible for prison.