October 1 will be the one-year anniversary of the California realignment plan, which transfers low-level criminals from prisons to county jails in an effort to alleviate the state's longtime struggle with prison overcrowding.

However, the state has not adopted enough reforms of the correctional system to make the realignment program successful during its first year, a report from the American Civil Liberties Union of California stated, according to a Bay City News article. Too much of the burden has been placed on county law enforcement agencies and not enough funding is being provided for inmate rehabilitation services, the ACLU determined.

While the program has helped California reduce its prison population by about 25,000 inmates, the result has been added pressure on county jails to provide for the increase of inmates at the locally run lockups, according to the ACLU.

The report found counties have had to bring in more than 7,000 additional jail beds in the last year. San Mateo County is also building a new facility in Redwood City - a project the county board just recently voted to include funding for in the next fiscal year budget - that would provide an additional 10,000 jail beds, the Bay City News article stated.

The pressure on county law enforcement to provide more space for the influx in jail inmates has meant local governments are forced to allocated more money to jails and have been focusing on "incarceration-only" methods to fight crime. No additional funds are available to spend toward rehabilitation programs at the jail, according to the ACLU.

Other reports in the past year have echoed these concerns. A New York Times article from June stated counties that are already facing tight budget restraints are "scrambling" to house the additional inmates they have received in the past year. And, with an estimated prison population of 120,000, California still needs to relocate an additional 10,000 inmates to meet its requirement of reducing population to 110,00 by June 2013.

Polling data has also shown the majority of California voters favor spending more on prison reform options and alternatives to jail for non-violent criminals, the Bay City News reported. So far, $375 million has been allocated to the realignment program in California. During its second year, it's expected the program will cost an additional $842 million.