1984 - 1,630
1985 - 1,849
1986 - 2,307  

• According to the Department of Corrections and the California Board of Prison Terms, 65% of people in California jails are ethnic minorities.
• Prior to incarceration and upon release, the majority of offenders are unemployed.
• The majority of ex-offenders come from dysfunctional families and were abused and neglected as children. Many are from families where the cycle of poverty-crime-incarceration is intergenerational and they are now repeating cycle with their own children.
• Ex-offenders are usually the last to be provided services. People are released from prison without any financial support, typically directly onto the streets. Many ex-prisoners become homeless. The fact that nearly 70% of people released from jails and prisons are returned to custody in less than one year underscores the difficulties that ex-offenders have in being reintegrated into society.
• Ex-offenders and their families tend to be ostracized by their own extended families, friends, neighbors, even churches. They bear a social stigma that is difficult to overcome