Community programs for California inmates bring more escapes

California's attempt to ease inmates back into the community is coming at a price: more prisoners, some with violent convictions, walking away before their time is up.

Fifty of the state's more than 126,000 prisoners escaped last year, almost half of them from a program that allows male inmates to serve the final year of their sentences in community centers to get help with substance abuse, mental and other health issues, jobs, education, housing, family reunification and social support.

While most were quickly recaptured, that's nearly double the number from 2014, the year before the "re-entry" initiative started.

Also, while the program excludes known gang members, sex offenders and those deemed at high risk of committing violence, others with violent histories are allowed.

An Associated Press review of the Corrections Department-run program, which has about 600 inmates, found some of last year's 24 walkaways were serving time for weapons offenses, including an armed attempted carjacking and injuring a spouse. Convictions for others included robberies, false imprisonment with violence and extortion using force or threat.