Letters to the Editor: ‘Compassionate release’ is an act of injustice against crime victims

To the editor: New legislation is needed to void California’s so-called compassionate release law that went into effect in 2023. (“Her mother’s killer was freed because of cancer. She wants to change California’s laws,” Jan. 3)

Compassionate release is an act of injustice to society. The inmates who murdered their victims and are now eligible for early release because of terminal illness did not show any compassion to their victims — and they in turn do not deserve any compassion right now.

Assembly Bill 960, the legislation that enabled compassionate release, hurts public safety, undermines the criminal justice system and destroys truth in sentencing. All those connected with its passage — such as Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who spearheaded the bill’s passage in the Legislature; Rob Bonta, who authored the bill before leaving the Legislature to become California’s attorney general; and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the bill into law — are obviously out of touch with the realities of public safety. They should be replaced by leaders who know better.

Augusto Pacheco-Guzman, Sun Valley

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To the editor: Courts have ruled, I believe correctly, that if you incarcerate someone, you’re responsible for their health, and California’s overcrowded prison system wasn’t meeting that criterion.

That left the state with two options: build more prisons and hire more medical personnel, guards and other necessary staff, or reduce the number of prisoners. By extension, that means more taxes for greater incarceration, or fewer for programs like compassionate release and shorter sentences.

Pick your poison.

Ron Garber, Duarte