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Release of 27K Prisoners Won't Save State Budget, Say Police

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The LAPD, its union and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today will discuss the impact to the city if 27,000 people are released from state prisons. While saving the state budget, the cost to taxpayers will be more than $4 billion over three years according to their calculations based on " the number of inmates to be released and standard recidivism rates." That could mean an additional 245,000 new crimes and new crime victims in the same time period statewide. Shees, there goes L.A.'s dropping crime rate. "The people being considered for release are convicted felons," said Paul Weber, the Los Angeles Police Protective League's President. "A large number of them parole violators -- in other words, they are people who have already proven they cannot remain law abiding after being released from prison. That is why they were rearrested and put back into custody."

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