California Felons Not Always Eligible for Early Parole: Court

California correctional officials don’t have to grant early parole to convicted felons serving concurrent sentences for violent and nonviolent felonies, a unanimous state supreme court ruled Monday.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation properly exercised its authority in determining that the 2016 voter-approved Proposition 57, which allows individuals to petition for release for nonviolent felonies, doesn’t apply to inmates serving a mixed sentence, the court held.

Neither the initiative language nor ballot materials presented to the voters “speak directly to whether inmates with nonviolent felony convictions who are currently serving a term for a violent felony must be ...