Bermúdez Uncovers Directive on Parolee Sweeps

ANOTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MURDERED; ASSEMBLY MEMBER BERMÚDEZ ASKS “HOW LONG WILL INCOMPETENCE BE ALLOWED TO REIGN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS?”

Assembly Member Rudy Bermúdez uncovered a California Department of Corrections’ directive urging parole agents to “back off” any planned sweeps of parolees at large until “at least August” due to overcrowding in the state prison system Receiving Centers. The directive was issued 11 days before a parolee at large fatally shot Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Jerry Ortiz.

Bermúdez said, “Deputy Jerry Ortiz’s knock on a door was answered by a bullet to the head, a bullet from the gun of a parolee at large.”

Getting parole violators off the street is an important and dangerous job. It’s what I did as a parole agent. It’s what keeps habitual criminals from hurting more people and it’s how we keep our streets safe. To have the Department of Corrections urging parole officers to ‘back off’ rounding up these dangerous criminals is stupid, irresponsible, and outright dangerous. If parole agents know where parolees at large are, they need to be encouraged – not discouraged – to go get them”, said Bermúdez.

Bermúdez said, “Of course rounding up criminals creates crowding in our prisons. But Prison discomfort is not a life and death issue; leaving criminals on the street is. Successfully rounding up parolees at large is what good law enforcement officers do. It’s time for the Department of Corrections’ administrators to meet the challenge of success.”



The death of Deputy Sheriff Jerry Ortiz came just 5 months after the death of Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez Jr., who was stabbed by an inmate. Assembly Member Bermúdez spoke out about the Department of Corrections’ failure to issue Officer Manuel Gonzalez a stab-protection vest, despite the fact that over $1 million worth of these vests had been purchased by the Department. Officer Gonzalez’s vest was found locked away in storage. Bermúdez then threatened to hold up the Department’s budget until administrators in the Department of Corrections were held accountable.

Bermúdez said, “The tragedy of Deputy Jerry Ortiz’s murder is compounded by the fact that he was Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez Jr.’s brother-in-law.”

Assembly Member Bermúdez has called a hearing of the Select Committee on Prison Construction and Operations to investigate the matter. The Committee hearing will be held on Thursday, July 7 in the State Capitol in Room 437. He will ask which administrator ordered the June 11 directive to be created and when they will be fired.