The Yolo County District Attorney's Office has been tracking those released on $0 bail since April 13 of this year.
That equates to one-third of the individuals released on $0 bail having committed another crime at least once.
The district attorney's office also revealed that of those, 304 new crimes have been committed and 123 of them were felonies.
"As recently as a couple weeks ago, we had an individual who had been arrested and released four prior times who was then arrested for attempted murder with use of a knife," Aiello said.
Other reoffenses include domestic violence, robbery, burglary, assault and crimes involving weapons. In April, the judicial council mandated the use of a statewide $0 emergency bail schedule but then rescinded that order in June.
The Yolo County Superior Court decided to keep it in place and has not said when it will end. People in the community said their safety is more important than a criminal getting COVID while in jail.
"We want to stop the spread of COVID and it's dangerous, but if they're out here, it becomes an even worse thing," said Aman Kullar of Woodland.
"We got the chemicals to clean everything just like a hospital, but yet they want to release them and then they want to commit more crimes," said Adam Ybarra of Woodland.
"There is no risk assessment done of these individuals after they are arrested," Aiello said. "They are simply released and it is a ‘Get Out of Jail Free card’ that has on occasion compromised public safety."
Corrections advocacy groups have expressed concern for inmates across the country after large numbers of inmates have tested positive.
So far, not a single inmate in the Yolo County jail system has tested positive for COVID-19. The Yolo County Sheriff's Office has implemented strategies to safeguard their inmates and staff including:
- All inmate workers are now screened on a daily basis.
- All staff members are screened prior to the start of each shift.
- All people entering the jail also receive a medical screening.
- All jail visitation has been suspended (inmates now receive two free 10-minute phone calls each week).
All inmates are now housed in single cells and housing pods have been reorganized to provide for 6-foot distances between chairs.
Article Source & Link : kcra.com / Writer: Walter Makaula