Nearly $36 million will flow into L.A. County to fight recidivism over the next few years, money all saved by sending fewer people to prison for drug and property crimes.

California voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, downgrading many drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, meaning offenders would no longer go to state prison. The authors of the initiative promised that it would yield savings from the state an that the money would be reinvested in programs designed to cut recidivism and prevent entry to the criminal justice system.

The shift in resources is a chance to invest in community programs aimed at preventing people from entering or reentering the criminal justice system and also a chance to see if such programs deliver on their goals.

In Los Angeles, that will mainly mean services aimed at people in the criminal justice system with mental illnesses and/or substance abuse disorders. It'll also include reentry services that prepare former jail inmates for the workforce and help reunite them with family. Espizona said some of these strategies are tied in with L.A.'s larger efforts to get homeless individuals out of the justice system and into supportive housing.

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