BILL NUMBER: AB 1445	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mitchell

                        JANUARY 4, 2012

   An act to amend Section 4025.5 of the Penal Code, relating to
jails.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1445, as introduced, Mitchell. Jails: inmate welfare fund.
   Existing law provides that the sheriff of each county may maintain
an inmate welfare fund to be kept in the treasury of the county into
which profit from a store operated in connection with the county
jail, 10% of all gross sales of inmate hobbycraft, and any rebates or
commissions received from a telephone company, as specified, is
required to be deposited. Existing law authorizes the sheriff to
expend money from the fund to assist indigent inmates, prior to
release, with clothes and transportation expenses, as specified.
   Existing law, until January 1, 2013, creates a pilot program that
authorizes the sheriff of certain counties and the Chief of
Correction of Santa Clara County to spend money from the inmate
welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the
reentry process within 14 days after the inmate's release from the
county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified.
   This bill would authorize the pilot program to operate
indefinitely. The bill would authorize those sheriffs and the Chief
of Correction of Santa Clara County to spend money from the inmate
welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the
reentry process within 30 days after the inmate's release from the
county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 4025.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   4025.5.   (a)    There is hereby
created a pilot program in the Counties of Alameda, Kern, Los
Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San
Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus. In each county,
the sheriff, or, in the County of Santa Clara, the chief of
correction, may expend money from the inmate welfare fund to provide
indigent inmates, after release from the county jail or any other
adult detention facility under the jurisdiction of the sheriff, or,
in the County of Santa Clara, the chief of correction, assistance
with the reentry process within  14   30 
days after the inmate's release. The assistance provided may include,
but is not limited to, work placement, counseling, obtaining proper
identification, education, and housing. 
   (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends
that date.