Under the change, more than 10,000 prisoners convicted of a second serious but nonviolent offense under the state's “three strikes” law will be eligible for release after serving half their sentences. That's an increase from the current time-served credit of one-third of their sentence.
The same increased release time will apply to nearly 2,900 nonviolent third strikers, the corrections department projected.
Also as of Saturday, all minimum-security inmates in work camps, including those in firefighting camps, will be eligible for the same month of earlier release for every month they spend in the camp, regardless of the severity of their crime.
The changes were approved this week by the state Office of Administrative Law.