AB 1597, as amended, Mark Stone. County jails: performance milestone credits.
Under existing law, when a prisoner is confined to a county or city jail, an industrial farm, or a road camp, for each 4-day period in which he or she is confined, he or she may have one day deducted from his or her period of confinement, as specified. Existing law also authorizes a sheriff or county director of corrections, in addition to the credits otherwise earned, to award an inmate who is sentenced to county jail for a felony, program credit reductions from his or her term of confinement for successful completion of specific program performance objectives for rehabilitative programming, including academic programs, vocational programs, vocational training, substance abuse programs, and core programs such as anger management and social life skills. These program credit reductions may be for one to 6 weeks and may be forfeited in the same manner as other program credit reductions.
This bill would make the provisions applicable to sentenced and unsentenced inmates who are confined in a county jail. The bill would require credits awarded prior to sentencing to be applied to the sentence for the offense for which the inmate was awaiting sentence when the credits were awarded. The bill would prohibit evidence of an inmate’s participation, or attempted participation, in this program from being admitted as an admission of guilt in any proceeding.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 4019.4 of the Penal Code is amended to
2read:
(a) (1) In addition to credit awarded pursuant to
4Section 4019, a sheriff or county director of corrections may also
5award an inmate program credit reductions from his or her term
6of confinement as provided in this section. A sheriff or county
7director of corrections who elects to participate in this credit
8reduction program shall create guidelines that provide for credit
9reductions for inmates who successfully complete specific program
10performance objectives for approved rehabilitative programming,
11including, but not limited to, credit reduction of not less than one
12week to credit reduction of not more than six weeks for each
13performance milestone.
14(2) Guidelines
adopted by a sheriff or county director of
15corrections pursuant to this subdivision shall specify the credit
16reductions applicable to distinct objectives in a schedule of
17graduated program performance objectives concluding with the
18successful completion of an in-custody rehabilitation program.
19Upon adopting the guidelines, the sheriff or county director of
20corrections shall thereafter calculate and award credit reductions
21authorized by this section. An inmate may not have his or her term
22of imprisonment reduced by more than six weeks for credits
23awarded pursuant to this section during any 12-month period of
24continuous confinement.
25(b) Program credit is a privilege, not a right. An inmate shall
26have a reasonable opportunity to participate in program credit
27qualifying assignments in a manner consistent with institutional
28security,
available resources, and guidelines set forth by the sheriff
29or county director of corrections.
P3 1(c) As used in this section, “approved rehabilitation
2programming”begin delete shall include,end deletebegin insert includes,end insert but is not limited to,
3academic programs, vocational programs, vocational training,
4substance abuse programs, and core programs such as anger
5management and social life skills.
6(d) Credits awarded pursuant to this section may be forfeited
7pursuant to the provisions of Section 4019. An inmate shall not
8be eligible for program credits that result in him or her being
9overdue for release.
10(e) This sectionbegin delete shall applyend deletebegin insert appliesend insert to sentenced and unsentenced
11inmates confined in a county jail.
12(f) (1) Nothing in this section shall prevent a person who has
13not been sentenced from participating in an approved rehabilitation
14program pursuant to this section.
15(2) If a person is awarded credits prior to sentencing, the credits
16shall be applied to a sentence for the offense for which the person
17was awaiting sentence when the credits were awarded in the same
18manner as all other credits awarded.
19(g) Evidence that an inmate
has participated in, or attempted to
20participate in, an approved rehabilitation program eligible for credit
21pursuant to this section is not admissible in any proceeding as an
22admission of guilt.
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