Yolo to Pilot Data-Driven Prison Release System

Yolo County will pilot a new data-driven program for resentencing reviews in the coming months. The non-AI tool is being developed by UC Berkeley's Possibility Lab and the nonprofit organization "For the People.”

Prosecutors will be able to review files of incarcerated individuals for potential release “in a click of a button," Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig told KCRA. This will allow them to consider more cases, such as old drug crime convictions and crimes that were committed when someone was a juvenile.  

As a district attorney, Reisig has set himself apart from progressive criminal justice reformists and the tough-on-crime hardliners. He’s in favor of smart criminal justice reforms that take victims’ perspectives into account. 

Reisig has secured resentencing for more than a dozen people under California law so far. In all of the cases, the victims were on board.

Read more about Yolo’s new prison release technology here.