BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 966
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Date of Hearing: January 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 966 (Bonta) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 6-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop a five-year plan to make
condoms available in California prisons, based on CDCR's 2011
study and the preceding pilot program at Solano State Prison.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor, likely absorbable costs to develop a plan, considering
the existing detailed study.
2)While the plan does not require implementation, based on
CDCR's pilot and study, during which more than 800 inmates
were provided access to condoms via vending machines, the cost
of providing condom access to inmates via vending machines,
including condoms, machines, and staff time, would be about
$1.50 per inmate the first year, decreasing to about 75 cents
per inmate in subsequent years, once dispensers have been
purchased and installed. Assuming a fairly regular need to
replace damaged dispensers, and a modicum of additional staff
time to monitor and report on program progress, if condom
access was provided systemwide in one year, first-year costs
would be about $200,000, declining somewhat in subsequent
years.
3)CDCR's report assumes an annual cost of about $41,000 to treat
an HIV-positive inmate in state prison, meaning if a condom
access program prevents 10 HIV infections annually, the
program would pay for itself and save several hundred thousand
dollars. (About 1,200 inmates are HIV-positive, with an
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infection rate often estimated at up to 10 times higher than
the general population.)
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author contends a condom access program will
save lives, money and families. "Notwithstanding the supposed
ban on sexual activity in prison, it is no secret that inmates
commonly engage in sexual activity. Some of the activity is
consensual; some of it is forcible. But whatever the genesis
of the act, the fact is that prisoners with HIV/AIDS are
spreading the disease to others in the institution and then to
additional partners upon release. This is a vicious cycle of
disease that can be immediately improved by introducing
condoms in prisons."
2)A similar bill (AB 999, Bonta), requiring a plan but also
requiring implementation, was vetoed by Gov. Brown last
October:
"I am returning Assembly Bill 999 without my signature. This
bill would require the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation to develop a plan to expand the
availability of condoms to all California prisons. The
Department currently allows family visitors to bring condoms
for the purpose of the family overnight visitation program.
While expansion of the program may be warranted, the
Department should evaluate and implement this expansion
carefully and within its existing authority."
3)The CDCR study, "Evaluation of a Prisoner Condom Access Pilot
Program Conducted in One California State Prison Facility" was
released in September 2011 following a year-long condom access
pilot project at Solano State Prison. The study was the result
of Gov. Schwarzenegger's 2007 veto of AB 1334 (Swanson), which
required CDCR to allow distribution of condoms.
In his 2007 veto, the Gov. Schwarzenegger stated, "?the
provisions of this bill conflict with Penal Code Sections 286
(e) and 288 (e), which make sexual activity in prison
unlawful. However, condom distribution in prisons is not an
unreasonable public policy and it is consistent with the need
to improve our prison healthcare system and overall public
health. Local jail systems in both Los Angeles and San
Francisco have already implemented condom distribution
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programs. Therefore, I am directing the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine the risk and
viability of such a program by identifying one state prison
facility for the purpose of allowing non-profit and health
agencies to distribute sexual barrier devices."
In 2007, CDCR convened a task force and selected Solano State
Prison for the pilot project. The Center for Health Justice
(CHJ) provided the condom dispensing machines, condoms, and
staff and inmate education. Following implementation of an
exception to the contraband rule, CHJ made condoms available
(free; possession of more than one condom at a time was made a
rules violation) from wall-mounted dispensers (chosen based on
successful programs in the San Francisco jail and because of
minimal staffing requirements) throughout the pilot facility
from November 5, 2008 through November 4, 2009.
CDCR and DPH evaluated the risk, feasibility, and cost of
providing condoms. Staff monitored the number of condoms
dispensed and the operability of each dispenser.
The task force/report found no evidence that providing condoms
posed an increased risk to safety and security or resulted in
injuries to staff or inmates and made the following
recommendation:
"A program to provide CDCR inmates access to condoms should be
initiated and incrementally expanded while continuing to
monitor the safety and acceptability of the program. Consider
conducting similar pilot studies when expanding the program to
other prison populations (e.g, with a higher security level or
in a mental health treatment housing unit). Prisons should
locate dispensers in discreet areas and consider providing
condoms confidentially through medical staff or in a medical
clinic."
4)Custody Staff and Inmate Concerns. Custody staff questioned
how to reconcile the illegality of sex in prison with
providing condoms, and the potential for misusing condoms to
conceal contraband and to gas guards.
Inmates worried about perceptions that condoms condones sex
among inmates, that inmates would be judged as gay and
therefore negatively judged by family and friends, and the
possibility of being written up for rule violations.
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According to the task force report, by the end of the pilot,
both staff and inmate concerns appeared to diminish, based on
input from inmate and custody staff representatives.
5)Current law .
a) Prohibits all sex acts, illegal and consensual, between
inmates, and makes sodomy and oral copulation in prison an
alternate felony/misdemeanor.
b) Requires CDCR, contingent on funding, to provide
HIV/AIDS health and prevention information to inmates.
6)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081