More than 4,000 women serving time in California prisons could serve the rest of their sentences at home.
State officials are trying to comply with a law designed to keep children from following their parents into a life of crime.
The alternative custody program is only for less serious offenders. To qualify, a female inmate must have less than two-years left on their sentence.
They would have to wear GPS-linked ankle bracelets and report to a parole officer.
The state is under court order to reduce the prison population by 30,000 inmates before July 2013.
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