BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON Public Safety
Senator Bruce McPherson, Chair A
2003-2004 Regular Session B
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AB 1530 (Negrete McLeod) 0
As Introduced February 21, 2003
Hearing date: July 1, 2003
Penal Code
SH:mc
COMMUNITY PRISON MOTHER PROGRAM
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: AB 2375 (Negrete McLeod) - 2002 - provisions
deleted after passing this committee
AB 512 (Goggin) - Chapter 4, Statutes of 1978
Support: California Commission on the Status of Women;
(following from the Assembly Committee on Public Safety
Committee Analysis) California Catholic Conference of
Bishops; California Correctional Peace Officers
Association
Opposition:Chief Probation Officers of California; California
Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 76 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD ADDITIONAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED CHANGES BE ADDED
TO THE EXISTING COMMUNITY PRISONER MOTHER PROGRAM, AS SPECIFIED?
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to add additional notice
requirements in the Community Prisoner Mother Program and to
make related changes in that program.
Existing law does the following:
1.Requires CDC to establish and implement a community
treatment program for women sentenced to state prison who
have one or more children under the age of six years (CPMP -
Community Prisoner Mother Program). CDC shall have as a
prime concern the establishment of a safe and wholesome
environment for the participating children. (Penal Code
3411.)
2.Requires CDC to be guided by the need to provide programs
geared to assure the stability of the parent-child
relationship during and after participation in the program.
(Penal Code 3412.)
3.Requires the probation department to notify women about CPMP
by the time of sentencing (Penal Code 3415) and requires the
CDC to notify eligible female inmates about the program if the
inmate has not otherwise applied for the program. (Penal Code
3418.)
4.Allows a mother to participate in CPMP if the child was born
after the receipt of the inmate by CDC and also allows
pregnant women in CDC to participate in CPMP. (Penal Code
3417, 3418 and 3419.)
This bill requires the Department of Corrections (CDC) - and
probation officers - to comply with additional requirements
regarding the Community Prisoner Mother Program (CPMP), as
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follows:
Requires CDC to ensure that the children and mothers residing
in CPMP programs have access to - and are permitted by the
community treatment program to - participate in available Head
Start, Healthy Start, and programs for early childhood
development pursuant to the California Children and Families
Program.
Requires the community treatment program to provide each
mother with written information about the available local
programs, including the telephone numbers for enrolling a
child in a program and to provide transportation to program
services and otherwise assist and facilitate enrollment and
participation for eligible children.
Requires probation departments and CDC to provide a woman and
her counsel notice - on the record - and a written application
for the CPMP when the woman is sentenced to state prison.
Allows mothers to participate in CPMP if the child was born
after the receipt of the inmate by CDC and allows pregnant
women in CDC to participate in CPMP.
Requires that the notice about the CPMP contain guidelines for
qualification for the program and the timeframe for
application and the process for appealing a denial of
admittance to the program.
Makes related changes in law.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
The author indicates the following:
According to a report conducted by the California Research
Bureau in March 2000, approximately 80% of California's
women prisoners are parents with an average of two children
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each. It is also estimated that 85% of incarcerated women
were the primary caretakers of their children before
entering prison. When you consider California has an
estimated 10,000 incarcerated women and fewer than 100
places for women prisoners wishing to participate in the
CPMP, it seems likely that there is a greater need for the
program than is being met.
Part of the solution is to promote awareness of the
program. By requiring the probation department to notify
women in writing and on the record, as well as provide the
mother with a copy of the application form upon sentencing,
public defenders, judges, and others involved in the
corrections system will develop a heightened awareness of
the program and application procedures.
An additional improvement to the CPMP program can be made
by requiring the program to ensure that mothers and their
children have the opportunity to participate in local Head
Start and Healthy Start programs by facilitating enrollment
and access to these programs for the children and the
mother's involvement. Head Start and Healthy Start are two
important programs in the state of California that promote
the physical and psychological development of young
low-income children. Children living with their mothers in
CPMP programs could benefit tremendously from these child
development services and mothers would be able to gain
access to important parenting skills and other skills
through their children's enrollment.
The CPMP is a unique program in California's correctional
system allowing young children and their mothers an
opportunity to bond and maintain family ties. It is
important that we continue to encourage eligible women to
participate alternative programs such as the CPMP.
2. Background on Children of Incarcerated Parents
According to the California Research Bureau, approximately
850,000 children in California have a parent currently involved
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in the criminal justice system. Of this number, almost 300,000
have a parent in state prison or in jail; the remainder have a
parent on parole or on probation.
There is a large body of research that shows that there are
significant short- and long-term negative consequences to
children when the mother is incarcerated. When a father is
incarcerated, the mother usually assumes care of the children;
however, when it is the mother who is incarcerated, it is far
less likely that the father will assume the responsibility of
being the caretaker for the children.
Approximately 10,000 women are currently incarcerated in
California prisons; their ranks are increasing at a much faster
rate than are those of their male counterparts. It is estimated
that 75% of these women are parents of minor age children; with
an average of two children each, there are nearly 15,000
children impacted by their mothers' incarceration in state
prison. Seventy-five percent of these children are under the
age of 18, and nearly one-third are under the age of six. There
is a large number of women in the local jail system as well
(nearly as many women in jail as are in state prison): 9,700 in
June 1999 representing 12.6% of the jail population. Based on
the same calculations used to estimate the number of children
affected by their mothers' incarceration in state prison, the
estimate is about 14,500.
3. Background on CPMP
The CPMP was established in 1980 (AB 512, Chapter 4, Statutes of
1978, Penal Code sections 3410 et seq.) to reunite eligible,
low-risk inmate mothers with their children under age six after
some prison time has been served. The program allows inmates to
live in a secured residential setting in the community where
they care for their children. CPMP was designed to provide
women with parenting skills, substance abuse treatment,
educational, vocational and basic life-skills training.
Children receive comprehensive health and developmental
services. Studies show that maintaining family relationships
prevents recidivism among prisoners while promoting children's
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mental health and development.
Supporters of this bill argue that very few people involved with
the criminal justice and corrections system for women seem to be
aware of the CPMP and its purpose. Current law requires the
probation department to notify women about the program by the
time of sentencing. This bill requires that women be informed
about the CPMP in writing and on the record, along with a copy
of the application form. In this way, supporters argue that
women will be more likely to actually receive notice and public
defenders, judges and others involved in the criminal justice
and corrections systems will be more likely to become aware of
the CPMP and how women can apply for CPMP.
4. Chief Probation Officers' of California Opposition to This
Bill
The Chief Probation Officers' of California letter in opposition
to this bill (dtd. 5/30/02) states the following:
CPOC opposes the bill because they believe that probation
is not the proper agency to make the notifications
required by the bill.
Although it is true that current law requires that
probation give a general notification of the CDC
community treatment programs, I would submit that part of
the difficulty with current law is that probation is not
always in the loop with respect to candidates for this
program. For example, pre-sentence reports are simply
not done on every person going to state prison.
Moreover, AB 2375 requires that probation provide an
application to each potentially eligible person. Since
the program is a CDC program, and not a probation
program, probation departments are simply unlikely to
even have the applications in the first place.
The goal of insuring that all eligible persons receive
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relevant information in connection with these community
treatment programs is a laudable one. However, probation
is simply not situated to provide notifications to the
widest possible pool. The better "notifiers" are either
the court or CDC. The court has the advantage of having
every person who is sentenced to state prison in front of
them. CDC has the advantage of being the agency charged
with the responsibility for administering the program.
Probation neither sees everyone who is sentenced to state
prison, nor do they have any administrative knowledge of
the program. As previously indicated, they don't even
possess the applications, CDC does.
The provisions opposed by the Chief Probation Officers have been
in the law for some time. This bill does not add those
requirements, but it does specify additional duties.
The opposition of the California Probation, Parole and
Correctional Association (CPPCA) is the same as the opposition
of the Chief Probation Officers.
The current statutory provisions - in statute since enactment in
1978 - pertaining to probation officers are in Penal Code
section 3415:
(a) The probation department shall, no later than the
day that any woman is sentenced to the state prison,
notify such woman of the provisions of this chapter, if
the term of the state imprisonment does not exceed six
years on the basis of either the probable release or
parole date computed as if the maximum amount of good
time credit would be granted. The probation department
shall determine such term of state imprisonment at such
time for the purposes of this section.
(b) The woman may, upon the receipt of such notice and
upon sentencing to a term in state prison, give notice of
her desire to be admitted to a program under this
chapter. The probation department or the defendant shall
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transmit such notice to the Department of Corrections,
and to the appropriate local social services agency that
conducts investigations for child neglect and dependency
hearings.
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Except for that single provision pertaining to women who are
sentenced to prison but not yet in prison, the Community
Prisoner Mother Program is administered by the CDC and other
provisions require the CDC to provide notice about the program
for female inmates in the prison system (section 3418) and to
notify local agencies and the current caretaker or guardian of
the inmates child or children of an application for admission to
the program (section 3420).
As noted above, this bill proposes to add additional specificity
to the section 3415 duties of probation officers. However,
current law already requires that notice be provided by
probation officers.
The opposition of the Chief Probation Officers' of California
to this bill does appear to go beyond simply the additional
language this bill would add to section 3415. However, it
would be possible to delete any changes to section 3415 from
this bill, thus leaving the statute as it has been for over two
decades. Another option would be to change section 3415 to
require another entity to provide the information, whether
expanded to include the proposed new language or not, but it
may not be clear that the courts would be better suited to
provide the notification. Or section 3415 could be deleted
altogether thus leaving the CDC to inform female inmates about
the program pursuant to other existing sections.
WOULD IT BE APPROPRIATE TO MAKE A CHANGE IN SECTION 3415, REMOVE
ANY AMENDMENTS TO THE SECTION FROM THIS BILL, OR OTHERWISE
ADDRESS THE ROLE OF PROBATION OFFICERS PURSUANT TO THAT SECTION?
[NOTE: Both courts and probation offices are required to
participate in determining whether or not pregnant women with an
established history of substance abuse, or pregnant or parenting
women with an established history of substance abuse who have
one or more children under six years old are suitable for
placement in the Pregnant and Parenting Women's Alternative
Sentencing Program Act and to make specific recommendations to
the Department of Corrections. (Penal Code 1174.4.)]
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5. Amendments to AB 2375, Last Year, in Response to the
Opposition
AB 2375 was amended during this committee's hearing last year to
provide that the sentencing court, not the probation officers,
are to make the notification at the time of sentencing about the
CPMP program. That change prompted concern by the Judicial
Council and the entire bill was subsequently gutted and amended
to address an entirely different issue.
Committee staff has been unable to determine who would be
"better" mandated to provide that information. Regardless, any
change from current law may result in claims of additional costs
to whoever might otherwise be mandated to provide that
information.
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