California's Assembly Bill (AB) 109, commonly referred to as “realignment,” resulted from two major class action lawsuits, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that inadequate medical and mental health care in the California state prisons was a violation of inmates’ Eighth Amendment rights protecting them from cruel and unusual punishment. These deficiencies were attributed to state prison overcrowding. California responded by enacting new legislation, AB109, which allowed transfer of responsibility for low‐level offenders from the state to local counties. This qualitative pilot study used semi‐structured interviews to examine the experiences of 10 mentally ill individuals on AB109 probation in Los Angeles County, including their experiences with community mental health services. Interviews with four treatment providers at a Los Angeles treatment program for AB109 probationers were also conducted to illustrate providers’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to providing treatment to AB109 probationers. AB109 probationers reported encountering several barriers that negatively impacted their ability to access and utilize mental health services, including lack of education about AB109; problems with housing, transportation, and funding; and lack of social support. Treatment providers reported similar barriers. Several recommendations are proposed to improve the AB109 experience and to help reduce recidivism, which was a goal of AB109. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.