Screening of Inmates for Outside Jobs Shifted

In a continuing effort to fix Los Angeles County’s troubled inmate work-release program, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to give the Probation Department responsibility for screening and evaluating potential candidates.

Probation officials--who are taking over the job from the Sheriff’s Department--will now be responsible for weeding out convicted inmates who are considered too dangerous to be sent back to the streets.

County officials have applauded the move, saying the Probation Department is better equipped to perform the necessary background checks on dozens of prisoners considered for the work program each week.

The program was designed years ago for low-risk offenders, allowing inmates to serve their sentences out of custody by doing manual labor by day at public work sites and returning home at night. However, a Times investigation in December found that the Sheriff’s Department let tens of thousands of convicted prisoners out of jail early without even cursory reviews of their criminal records.