Nearly 500 offenders in California have remained out of prison or county jails, despite being rearrested during the last year since the state's realignment program took effect, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The news source said the failure to lock up a total of 481 convicts who have been charged with sexual offenses has raised questions about the program, which aims to keep prison population down by transferring non-violent offenders to county facilities.

The California prison program requires parolees who violate terms of their release to serve time at county jails or be managed under probation by those county's correctional officials. However, the program has contributed to a lack of space for these former inmates who violate their parole,the U-T reported, because there is a lack of space in the county jails.

“We don’t have the bed space to house them because we have our own violent offenders to house,” said Merced County Sheriff’s spokesman Tom MacKenzie, in the article.

The San Diego County jail is at 112 percent of its capacity, and saw its population rise 9.5 percent between 2011 and 2012, the U-T reported. The prison realignment program went into effect October 1, 2011, and San Diego received 2,567 offenders in the first 10 months of the program, though the state expected just 2,000 in the first year. The San Diego Sheriff's Department has announced it is expanding one of its jails to make room for the increasing number of inmates, and has to provide additional space for more parole hearings to take place.

The U-T reported monitoring sexual offenders is a particularly sensitive topic in San Diego and officials told the news source that most parolees under their supervision who break laws are placed back in jail.

In late October, San Diego 6 News reported that at least five sex offenders were arrested during a county-wide compliance check by sheriff deputies and parole agents. The authorities checked in on about 30 parolees classified as high risk offenders, and found numerous to be in violation.

The state should be doing more to ensure offenders are serving time in other counties throughout California, according to one parole agent who complained to the California State Auditor anonymously, according to the U-T.  The parole agent said at least 150 offenders out on parole in the state have illegally removed their electronic monitoring bracelets or violate other terms of their parole.

One way to ease the overcrowding issue in California prisons is to increase the number of arrested individuals who post bail and therefore do not have to remain incarcerated while awaiting court proceedings. Those who are unfamiliar with the bail process or who doubt they have the money necessary to post bail can consult with a California bail bondsman to learn about bail bonds, including financing options.