As the first of thousands of former inmates of California state prisons arrive in Greater Long Beach—released early by order of the U.S. Supreme Court because of overcrowding—Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and criminology/sociology professor Dr. LaTanya Skiffer of Cal State Dominguez Hills will discuss potential problems, opportunities and strategies on tonight’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga.

The weekly program goes live at 7 p.m. on KBEACH.org, the online station at Cal State Long Beach, and will be available on GreaterLongBeach.com on Friday via links to a podcast and the KBEACH.org archives.

The early release of thousands of prisoners under the so-called AB 109 Realignment—named after the California Assembly bill that authorized it—comes at a time of high unemployment and diminished public services, conditions which may exacerbate the difficulties that many prisoners have as they try to reenter society.

One attempt to mitigate or at least anticipate the issues raised by the re-entry is the Long Beach Community Peace & Justice Summit, an open-to-the-public event on October 26—that’s this Wednesday—at the Convention and Entertainment Center’s Seaside Ballroom. Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews is among the co-presenters, along with A New Way of Life Reentry Project and All of Us or None.

Haubert, who discussed his philosophies and tactics as city prosecutor during  part of a GreaterLongBeach.com profile about him in February, has been on the cutting edge of several new and varyingly controversial strategies that he insists fight crime by preventing it—from rigorous building-code enforcement to holding parents legally responsible for their children’s truancy to gang injunctions that prohibit people identified as gang members from associating.

Skiffer’s experience with the criminal justice system is both personal and professional. Both of her brothers were gang members as adolescents, and both did time—one spending approximately 15 years behind bars. This steered her toward the disciplines of criminology and sociology, as well as on the subcultures of gangs and adolescents. Skiffer works with LB GRIP (Long Beach Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Project), is a consultant with Long Beach Boys & Girls Clubs and served on Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development grant proposal review team.

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