Baca wants information on prisoners

As the state begins releasing thousands of prison inmates this week, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he hopes to obtain detailed information on the prisoners to help deputies track their whereabouts and encourage them to enroll in education programs. Troy Anderson in the Daily News

"In sum, this presents a problem that we have not had before," Baca told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday. "We intend to track them and offer them classes that would be appropriate for life-skills development and how to function at a more civilized level in their communities and hopefully not commit new crimes."

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Monday began reducing its 170,000-inmate prison system by 6,500 inmates over the next year as part of a new cost-saving effort.