Bill Text: CA AB561 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 561 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Rehabilitation programs: statewide evaluation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2020-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB561 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB561-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 561

Introduced by Assembly Members Burke and Cooper

February 13, 2019

An act to relating to prisons.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 561, as introduced, Burke. Prisons: rehabilitation programs.

Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to operate the state prison system. Existing law establishes various rehabilitation programs for inmates in the state prison, including literacy, education, and vocational training programs.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding rehabilitation programs operated in state prisons, and would express the intent of the Legislature to require the department to improve the effectiveness of those programs by, among other things, improving the efficient use of existing resources.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) According to a December 6, 2017, report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office entitled, “Improving In-Prison Rehabilitation Programs,” California state prisons house nearly 130,000 inmates.

(b) While incarcerated in prison, inmates often participate in various rehabilitation programs that seek to improve the likelihood that inmates will lead a productive, crime-free life upon release from prison by addressing the underlying factors that led to their criminal activity.

(c) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation offers inmates various rehabilitation programs while they are in prison, including education and substance use disorder treatment programs. The primary goal of those programs is to reduce recidivism—the number of inmates who reoffend after they are released from prison.

(d) Various studies show that when those programs are well designed and implemented effectively, they can reduce the number of inmates who recidivate, and the resulting savings can more than offset the costs of the programs.

(e) The department defines recidivism as being convicted of a subsequent crime within three years of release from prison. Of the 36,000 inmates released in the years 2012–13, the number of inmates who recidivated was 16,500, or 46 percent.

(f) Upon admission to prison, the department assesses an inmate’s rehabilitative needs and assigns the inmate to relevant rehabilitation programs.

(g) As of June 30, 2017, 98 percent of the inmate population received a rehabilitation risk assessment. Of those who received an assessment, roughly one-half had a moderate or high risk of recidivating.

(h) In the years 2015–16, almost one-half of inmates were released without receiving rehabilitation programs for which they had an assessed need.

SEC. 2.

It is the intent of the Legislature to require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to do all of the following with respect to rehabilitation programs operated in state prisons:

(a) More effectively target rehabilitation programs to inmates with the highest risk of recidivism and the highest need for rehabilitation services.

(b) Improve the efficient use of existing rehabilitation resources.