This just in from the no-longer-Golden State: California is giving 76,000 inmates, including violent and repeat felons, the opportunity to leave prison earlier, as the state aims to further trim the population of what once was the nation’s largest state correctional system.

Shocked? Me neither.

As reported by AP, more than 63,000 of the 76,000 inmates, who were convicted of violent crimes, will be eligible for “good behavior credits” that shorten their sentences by one-third instead of the one-fifth that had been in place since 2017. That includes nearly 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole.

Insane, or just me?

According to AP, the new rule took effect Saturday, but AP said “it will be months or years before any inmates go free earlier. Corrections officials say the goal is to reward inmates who better themselves while critics said the move will endanger the public.”

So, prison officials are in effect saying, “Listen up, guys — if you behave and play nice with your bunkie (wink-wink), don’t stick a shiv in some dude in the shower, and otherwise refrain from doing no-noes, we “might” let you outta here, early. We good?”

Here’s background, via AP:

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.

California Department of Corrections spokesperson said the changes were approved this past week by Dana Simas said Office of Administrative Law.

So what’s the goal?

“The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which will lead to safer prisons.”

“Additionally, these changes would help to reduce the prison population by allowing incarcerated persons to earn their way home sooner.”

Oh goodie. Practice good behavior to lead to safer prisons. I’m no prison expert nor law-enforcement expert — nowhere near the same “league” as LeBron James — but what about leading to safer streets? Far be it from hardened felons convicted of violent crimes to “practice” (pretend) good behavior — with the sole intent of getting out of prison.

Ironically, California, reducing your prison population via early release of violent felons — which the vast majority, per AP, appears to be — might also lead to “reducing to population” of South Park, Lincoln Heights, and South L.A, along with other high-crime areas.

Simas also said the Corrections Department was granted authority to make the changes through the rulemaking process and under the current budget. And check this out: By declaring the changes “emergency regulations,” the agency could impose the new rules without public comment.

As also reported by AP, Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation that represents crime victims, called BS on the notion that credits are earned through “good behavior.”

“You don’t have to be good to get good-time credits. People who lose good-time credits for misconduct get them back, they don’t stay gone. They could be a useful device for managing the population if they had more teeth in them. But they don’t. They’re in reality just a giveaway.”

What a “shock.”

Democrat “logic” — for example:

1. Grant early reason to a felon convicted of a violent crime because of  pretend “good-time credits.”
2. Said violent felon steals a gun and shoots and kills somebody.
3. Democrats promptly blame guns, legal gun owners, Second Amendment rights, the NRA, and everyone and everything else — except the nasty ex-con who pulled the trigger.

Republican state Sen. Jim Nelson torched beleaguered California Gov. Gavin Newsom — the “governor version” of hapless New York City mayor Bill de Blasio — for unilaterally making the decision with zero input from “elected representatives of the people” or the public as a whole.

“He’s doing it on his own authority, instead of the will of the people through their elected representatives or directly through their own votes.

“This is what I call Newsom’s time off for bad behavior. He’s putting us all at greater risk and there seems to be no end to the degree to which he wants to do that.”

Again, absolutely “shocking” that Newsom Clown would do something like that.

The impetus for the changes, as AP reported, was that California has been under court orders to reduce its prison population, which peaked at 160,000 in 2006 and saw inmates being housed in gymnasiums and activity rooms. In 2011, said AP, the Supreme Court backed federal judges’ requirement that the state reduces prison overcrowding.

Look at the bright side, concerned Californians.

Soon, the People’s Republic of California will finally have enough available prison beds for anti-maskers and other sorts of dangerous COVID-deniers. [sarc] Plus, there are still plenty of “vacancies” along city streets and highways for ex-cons to pitch tents, as they begin to build new lives as model citizens of L.A., San Francisco, Oakland, et al.

In related California prison news, as reported by Fox News in early April, a new law that took effect this year has prompted hundreds of transgender prison inmates to put in a request to be transferred to a facility that aligns with their gender identity. 

The Los Angles Times reported at the time that some prison guards were telling female inmates that “men are coming” and to prepare for the worst.

You know, kinda like allowing high school boys who think they’re girls to play on girls’ sports teams — steel-cage-match-style.

Equality, baby. Or is that “equity”? Very confusing.