According to a recent American Civil Liberties Union poll, more than 70 percent of voters want the state to invest more in programs that help rehabilitate offenders instead of building more jails to house them, KPBS reported.

"It's clear to us from this polling that California voters want smart, effective policies," said Margaret Dooley Sammuli of the ACLU, according to the article. "They believe we can have public safety and reduce the number of people behind bars."

Due to the state's prison realignment program, county jails are seeing more inmates, as non-violent criminals are brought to the local lockups to finish out their sentences or they are sentenced to serve time there instead of being held at the state facilities.

San Mateo County Jail has been affected by the realignment program and is currently housing more inmates than it was built to handle. The sheriff's website said the jail is at least 130 percent over capacity. To alleviate that, county officials have agreed to build a new jail. However, 65 percent of the voters polled in the ACLU study said they support counties spending money on probation services rather than expanding their jail systems, the KPBS article stated.

Nearly 70 percent of California county jail inmates are awaiting trial, and according to the ACLU report, many are being held not because they pose a safety risk to the community, but because they cannot afford to pay bail. The research shows how many people could benefit from a bail bondsman.

The poll showed that both Democrats and Republicans favor changing current correctional system policies to keep jails from overpopulating. KPBS reported 80 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Republicans want more community-based solutions.