![\"Sacramento](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-26-03-25-8D121.jpg\" "\\"Sacramento")
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Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper speaks at the podium alongside retired law enforcement officers at the Sheriff\u2019s Office headquarters in Old Foothill Farms on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Cooper announced a proposed 2028 ballot initiative to revise Proposition 57 to prohibit sexually violent predators from being eligible for early parole following recent controversy over the release of convicted sex offenders.<\/p>\n
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper announced a new ballot initiative that would revise Proposition 57 to prohibit sexually violent predators from being eligible for early parole.<\/p>\n
Saying the state\u2019s independent parole board has \u201ctoo much unfettered power,\u201d Cooper said the \u201conly way to reform Prop. 57 is to take it back to the voters. That\u2019s why we\u2019re choosing a ballot initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper, who was elected to the post in 2022 after eigth years in the Assembly, said he aims to qualify the measure, \u201cProtect Our Kids: Reform Prop. 57,\u201d for the 2028 ballot. He said a committee has been formed, and fundraising will soon begin for the effort.<\/p>\n
Prop. 57, approved by voters in 2016, allows early release of nonviolent offenders in part to reduce overcrowding in California prisons.<\/p>\n
Proposition 57 \u201cwas sold as a second chance for non-violent offenders. The authors of Prop. 57 said it wouldn\u2019t apply to violent offenders,\u201d Cooper said. Instead, he said, \u201cvoters were duped. How do we reform this? How do we change the law?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper\u2019s ballot plan followed public outcry over the early release of convicted sex offender David Allen Funston<\/a>, who was serving multiple life terms in state prison for the rapes and assaults of eight Sacramento-area children in 1995, before state Board of Parole Hearings found him suitable for elderly parole. In February, Cooper stood in the same spot at Sheriff\u2019s Office headquarters to rail against the parole board\u2019s decision<\/a> to grant Funston\u2019s release.<\/p>\n Funston was later rearrested and charged by Placer County authorities<\/a> on the day of his scheduled release in connection with 1996 allegations of lewd acts against a Roseville child. Funston remained in custody in Placer County awaiting an April court date in Placer Superior Court.<\/p>\n Days later, on March 12, Cooper was again at the Old Foothill Farms podium decrying<\/a> the release of Gregory Lee Vogelsang, a Roseville man convicted of sexually abusing young boys in the late 1990s. The Board of Parole Hearings days later decided it would reconsider Voglesang\u2019s release<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Cooper was flanked by retired sheriff\u2019s detectives and an FBI agent who worked on long-ago sex crime cases. A video shown before the morning news conference documented their accounts of the criminals the initiative hopes to keep behind bars.<\/p>\n Cooper said the initiative would be narrowly tailored to address early release for sexually violent predators.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a sexually violent predator, you\u2019re not eligible for parole. You do your time. That\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cThis is not a blue or red issue. It\u2019s a righteous issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n