Overcrowding inside California’s prisons continues to be a pressing public safety issue. It’s estimated that 70 percent of parolees in California re-offend and return to prison within three years of their release. The San Diego County District Attorney's Office is leading the state in implementing a program which holds offenders accountable but also gets them literacy assistance, job training, and drug treatment. Since it began in 2007, the SB 618 Prisoner Reentry Program has enrolled more than 200 participants. The effort is a joint state and county program that helps people get clean, sober, and productive—and not return to a life of crime. In this podcast, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis speaks with San Francisco’s District Attorney Kamala Harris about a similar program underway in northern California.

For more information about the “Back On Track” program, you can visit the San Francisco DA’s website at: sfdistrictattorney.org/page.asp?id=32

More information about San Diego Reentry Program can be found on page 12 of the DA’s Annual Report, which can be found here.