BILL NUMBER: AB 627	CHAPTERED  09/22/05

	CHAPTER  306
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 1, 2005
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 30, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 23, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 15, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Leslie
   (Coauthor: Senator Alquist)

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2005

   An act to amend Section 5009 of the Penal Code, relating to
parolees.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 627, Leslie  Parole: religious advisers.
   Existing law generally authorizes members of the clergy or
spiritual advisers to visit inmates while in prison.  Existing
regulation prohibits employees of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation from contacting, corresponding, or otherwise
communicating with an inmate or parolee, except in the execution of
their assigned duties.
   This bill would authorize a departmental or volunteer chaplain who
has ministered to or advised an inmate while incarcerated to
continue to minister to or advise the inmate while he or she is on
parole, as long as the chaplain so notifies the warden and the
parolee's parole agent in writing.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 5009 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   5009.  (a) It is the intention of the Legislature that all
prisoners shall be afforded reasonable opportunities to exercise
religious freedom.
   (b) (1) Except in extraordinary circumstances, upon the transfer
of an inmate to another state prison institution, any member of the
clergy or spiritual adviser who has been previously authorized by the
Department of Corrections to visit that inmate shall be granted
visitation privileges at the institution to which the inmate is
transferred within 72 hours of the transfer.
   (2) Visitations by members of the clergy or spiritual advisers
shall be subject to the same rules, regulations, and policies
relating to general visitations applicable at the institution to
which the inmate is transferred.
   (3) A departmental or volunteer chaplain who has ministered to or
advised an inmate incarcerated in state prison may, voluntarily and
without compensation, continue to minister to or advise the inmate
while he or she is on parole, provided that the departmental or
volunteer chaplain so notifies the warden and the parolee's parole
agent in writing.
   (c) Nothing in this section limits the department's ability to
prohibit a departmental chaplain from ministering to a parolee, or to
exclude a volunteer chaplain from department facilities, if either
is found to be in violation of any law or regulation and that
violation would ordinarily be grounds for adverse action or denial of
access to a facility or person under the department's custody.