SAN DIEGO — A man who walked away from the Male Community Reentry Program (MCRP) in San Diego County on May 11, 2017, was apprehended Friday. Israel Hernandez, 27, was apprehended at 4 p.m. May 26 by agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Special Service Unit (SSU) in the city of San Ysidro, located in San Diego County. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
Hernandez had been participating in the MCRP, which allows eligible offenders committed to state prison to serve the end of their sentences in the reentry center and provides them the programs and tools necessary to transition from custody to the community. It is a voluntary program for male offenders who have approximately 365 days left to serve. The program links participants to a range of community-based rehabilitative services that assist with substance use disorders, mental health care, medical care, employment, education, housing, family reunification and social support.
Hernandez was received by CDCR from San Diego County in November 2016 with a two-year, eight-month sentence for vehicle theft as a second striker. Hernandez was transferred to the MCRP in San Diego in March. He was scheduled to be released to probation in March 2018.
Since 1977, 99 percent of all offenders who have left an adult institution, camp or community-based program without permission have been apprehended.