BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 26 (Padilla)
Hearing Date: 4/11/2011 Amended: 3/30/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 26 would do the following:
1) Provides that any inmate or ward found to be in
possession of a wireless communication device shall be
subject to time credit denial or loss of up to 180 days,
and the credits forfeited shall not be eligible for
restoration;
2) Makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for
up to six months in county jail, a fine not to exceed
$5,000 per device, or both, for any person who possesses
with the intent to deliver, or delivers, a cellular
telephone, wireless communication device, or component
thereof, to a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) inmate or ward;
3) Provides that if a person visiting an inmate or ward,
upon being searched or subjected to a metal detector, is
found in possession of a cellular telephone or other
wireless communication device or component, that device
shall be subject to confiscation but shall be returned on
the same day, unless the device is held as evidence in a
case. Notice of this provision must be posted in all areas
where visitors are searched prior to visitation.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Loss of up to six months Unknown, major costs for
increased General
in sentencing credit state incarceration of $1,200 for
every 100 devices attributable to
an inmate/ward (see Staff Comments)
Notification posting Minor, absorbable costs to CDCR General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Under current law, there is no criminal penalty assessed for
delivering, or intending to deliver, cellular telephones or
other wireless communication devices to prison inmates. Further,
although inmates found in possession of these devices may be
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subject to the denial or loss of up to 30 days of time credit by
regulation as a serious disciplinary offense, the credits
forfeited are subject to restoration.
The number of cellular telephones confiscated by prison staff
has risen dramatically over the past several years. During
2006, CDCR staff confiscated 261 contraband cellular telephones.
Since then, this number has increased significantly to nearly
1,400 in 2007, 2,811 in 2008, 6,995 in 2009, and 10,760 in 2010.
In January 2011 alone, nearly 1,200 contraband cellular
telephones were discovered by CDCR staff.
According to CDCR staff, approximately 7,000 (65 percent) of the
10,760 devices that were confiscated in 2010 were attributable
to an inmate. Excluding 2.6 percent of inmates subject to
lifetime sentences who would not be impacted by the 180 days of
credit loss, the cost for additional incarceration time served,
had SB 26 been in effect, would have been nearly $82 million
(6,818 inmates x $12,000 (estimated 6-month cost of
incarceration)), to be incurred over time as inmates reach the
conclusion of their initial sentences, which would vary. Even if
less than one percent (100) of total devices confiscated were
found attributable to an inmate, the fiscal impact would be $1.2
million in increased state incarceration costs. Costs would be
offset to a small degree by increased penalty revenues collected
to the extent CDCR increases enforcement.
Prior Legislation. SB 525 (Padilla) 2010 would have made it a
misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $5,000 per
device, to deliver or be found in possession of with the intent
to deliver, a cell phone to an inmate or ward. This bill was
vetoed by the Governor for not imposing stricter penalties.
Specifically:
Over the last few years, the proliferation of wireless
communication devices in California's prisons has become one of
the most challenging issues facing the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation. As technology has advanced and these devices
have become smaller and more powerful, the threat these devices
pose to employees in correctional facilities and the public at
large has grown. These devices allow inmates to plan prison
assaults and escapes, harass and intimidate witnesses and
victims, and facilitate other criminal activities, including
directing the activities of criminal street gangs and
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authorizing murders.
In response to this serious threat, my Administration launched
programs to conduct random searches at prisons, established a
committee to study cell phone jamming and detection techniques,
and even utilized trained dogs to aid in uncovering contraband
devices. In 2009, my administration sponsored legislation to
make possession of an unauthorized wireless communication device
in prison a felony. Unfortunately, the Legislature failed to
pass this commonsense measure.
Over a year later, the Legislature has passed this measure,
which does not make it a crime for an inmate to possess a
wireless communications device in a prison. Instead, this
measure would only make it a crime to bring a wireless device
into a prison with the intent to furnish it to an inmate, a
crime that would only be punishable by a $5,000 fine. Although
our prisons continue to face drastic budget cuts and
overcrowding, it is inexcusable to treat the threat of wireless
communications devices in prisons so lightly. Signing this
measure would mean that smuggling a can of beer into a prison
carries with it a greater punishment than delivering a cell
phone to the leader of a criminal street gang.
I applaud the author for attempting to address this issue and
acknowledge that this may, in fact, be the strongest measure
that will emerge from the Legislature on this issue. And while
signing this measure might be better than nothing, I cannot sign
a measure that does so little. I urge the Legislature to pass a
measure that will deter the conduct of persons smuggling
wireless communication devices into prisons with the threat of
jail time as well as punish the inmates who are caught
possessing these devices. For these reasons, I am unable to sign
this bill.