BILL NUMBER: AB 1445	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  FEBRUARY 28, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mitchell
    (   Coauthor:   Assembly Member  
Bonnie Lowenthal   ) 

                        JANUARY 4, 2012

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



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1445, as amended, 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  .   and would add the
Counties of Marin, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura to the program. 
The bill would authorize  those   the 
sheriffs  and the Chief of Correction  of 
counti   es participating in the program, or, in  Santa
Clara County  , the county officer responsible for operating the
jails,  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.  There is hereby created a  pilot 
program in the Counties of Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles,  Marin,
 Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego,
 San Luis Obispo,  Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,  and
 Stanislaus  , and Ventura  . In each county, the
sheriff, or, in the County of Santa Clara, the  chief of
correction   county officer responsible for operating
the jails  , 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
  county officer responsible for operating the jails
 , assistance with the reentry process within 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.