The Madera County District Attorney’s office has just learned that Kenneth Allan Jackson, a convicted serial arsonist who terrorized the Yosemite Lakes Park community by setting 30 fires in 6 weeks, will be released next Tuesday from prison.
“This is an outrage, I’m angry, this is wrong,” said Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno. “It should not be happening.”
In 2014, a Madera County Jury convicted the serial arsonist to 30 years in prison. Jackson was arrested in 2013 which means he will have served a total of 8 years behind bars.
“This is not how the system should work,” Moreno said. “The CDCR – the prison system – is releasing dangerous criminals in a way that is thoughtless. It is not transparent, so we don’t know when someone like this man who terrorized our community is getting out until the last minute. That’s why I and 43 other District attorneys around the state are in the process of suing CDCR, to force them to be more transparent, to let us look at their process about how they are doing it.”
Victims can still take action to keep him from being released back to Madera County. Today, the District Attorney and others from the office will be in front of Yosemite Lakes Park Community Church at 43840 Patrick Avenue, Coarsegold, CA (between 2-4 today) to bring forms and help the fire victims fill out these forms. The forms have to be filled out by the end of the day. We will fax them to the CDCR.
“Together we can work to keep Kenneth Jackson from coming back to Madera County,” said Moreno. “This is wrong. It needs to stop. And it’s time for us to put public safety as a priority in the state of California again.”