Early release to cost county $10 million

The state's early release of non-violent prisoners has cost Los Angeles County about $10 million over the last 15 months, according to a new report. Christrina Villacorte in the Daily News.

The state's decision to save money by granting low-level prisoners "non-revocable parole" and letting them out of jail before they had served their entire sentence has put a burden on the county's Mental Health and Sheriff's departments, according to the report from county Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka.

He calculated that between Jan. 1, 2010 and March 25, 2011, the county's Department of Mental Health spent about $9.56 million to serve early release prisoners who had been dropped by the state's Parole Mental Health facilities.