BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 343


                                                                    Page  1





          Date of Hearing:  June 30, 2015


          Counsel:               Sandy Uribe








                         ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY


                                  Bill Quirk, Chair





          SB  
          343 (Hancock) - As Amended June 1, 2015





          SUMMARY:  Requires the California Department of Corrections and  
          Rehabilitation (CDCR) to strongly consider the use of libraries  
          and librarians in its literacy programs.  Specifically, this  
          bill:  



          1)Requires CDCR, in complying with its goals to reduce  
            illiteracy, to give strong consideration to the use of  
            libraries and librarians in its prison literacy programs.  









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          2)Repeals provisions of law concerning the fiscal formula for  
            supporting the academic education program for inmates.  


          3)Includes the completion of a community college or four-year  
            academic degree by an inmate in the existing requirement that  
            CDCR incentivize inmate participation in educational  
            programming.


          EXISTING LAW:  



          4)Requires CDCR to implement literacy programs designed to  
            ensure that upon release inmates are able to achieve specified  
            goals, such as, increasing reading levels to at least a  
            ninth-grade level, obtaining a general education development  
            certificate or its equivalent, or a high school diploma.   
            (Pen. Code, § 2053.1.)
          5)Requires CDCR, in complying with its goals to reduce  
            illiteracy, to give strong consideration to computer-assisted  
            training.  (Pen. Code, § 2053.1.)


          6)Provides for $40 per inmate for each fiscal year to be  
            provided, upon appropriation, to CDCR to support academic  
            programs for inmates.  (Pen. Code, § 2054, subd. (d).)


          7)Specifies proportional increases or decreases to the funding  
            level in relation to median salaries for full-time high school  
            teachers.  (Pen. Code, § 2054.1.)


          8)Requires CDCR to determine and implement a system of  
            incentives to increase inmate participation in academic and  
            vocational education.  (Pen. Code, § 2054.2.)








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          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown





          COMMENTS:  



          1)Author's Statement:  According to the author, "SB 343 requires  
            the CDCR to strongly consider integrating its libraries and  
            correctional librarians into the department's prisoner  
            literacy program.  Prison libraries foster literacy,  
            self-improvement, insight, pro-social behavior, the ability to  
            navigate an information age society and provide valuable  
            parole planning resources."

          2)Educational Programs in Prisons:  According to the CDCR  
            Website, "As part of CDCR's Division of Rehabilitative  
            Programs, the Office of Correctional Education (OCE) offers  
            various academic and education programs at each of  
            California's adult state prisons.  The goal of OCE is to  
            provide offenders with needed education and career training as  
            part of a broader CDCR effort to increase public safety and  
            reduce recidivism."   
            (.)

          One of the services offered through the OCE is library services.  
             The CDCR Website states the following in regard to its  
            library services:  "Library services are offered at all  
            institutions, and provide inmates with an extensive collection  
            of recreational fiction and non-fiction books as well as  
            reference reading materials; e.g. selected periodicals,  
            encyclopedias, selected Career Technical Education and College  
            level textbooks, and basic literacy materials recommended by  
            the American Library Association and the American Correctional  








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            Association.  Additionally, institution libraries provide  
            legal research materials, as required by the courts, along  
            with rehabilitative support services which include resources  
            on employment, community reentry, and life skills."   
            (<  http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/rehabilitation/library-services.html  >. 
            ) 

          3)California Rehabilitation Oversight Board (C-ROB)  
            Recommendations:  C-ROB is required to regularly examine and  
            annually report to the Governor and the Legislature regarding  
            rehabilitative programming provided to inmates and parolees by  
            CDCR.  (Pen. Code, § 6141.)  In its last report issued  
            September 2014, C-ROB noted the following regarding CDCR  
            libraries:

            "The current vacancy rate for CDCR librarians is approximately  
            25 percent.  Libraries are a fundamental program support area  
            for literacy, reentry resources, continuing education,  
            tutoring, legal research, and recreational reading.  Many  
            librarians from non-reentry institutions have independently  
            created reentry binders for inmates containing information on  
            housing, employments, social services agencies, family  
            services, and other reentry information specific to counties  
            in California.  Not all institutions offer this type of  
            service, yet inmates are released from non-reentry  
            institutions on a regular basis.  Libraries are a logical  
            nexus to find information specific to the county the inmate  
            will be released, regardless of whether the inmate is released  
            under county supervision or assigned to a parole agent.   
            (Sept. 15, 2014 Annual Report, p. 13,  
            .)  The C-ROB report noted that there  
            were 87 budgeted librarian positions, but only 68 filled.   
            (Id. at p. 40.)  C-ROB recommended that CDCR "develop a  
            strategy to address the chronic staffing shortages of CDCR  
            librarians across the state."  (Ibid.)  "The strategy should  
            address recruitment and retention of qualified librarians and  
            plans to increase librarian positions to provide access to  
            library programs."  (Ibid.)








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          4)Argument in Support:  According to SEIU Local 1000, the  
            sponsor of this bill, "This bill recognizes the role of  
            librarians in literacy and reintegration activities that are  
            taking place in prisons and includes libraries as a location  
            where these activities occur.  This helps inmates recognize  
            that upon release, they can use public libraries as a resource  
            for finding jobs and medical care through the use of their  
            publicly available computers.  Librarians also work with  
            inmates to make tapes or videos of the prisoner reading  
            stories to their children that can be mailed home for them,  
            and thus continue a family bond that can be critical for  
            reintegration in the family when they return to civilian life.  
             Libraries are already doing this work, but without  
            recognition as a part of the staff that rehabilitates  
            prisoners."

          5)Prior Legislation:  SB 1391 (Hancock), Chapter 695, Statutes  
            of 2014, allows California Community Colleges to receive full  
            funding for credit-course instruction offered in correctional  
            institutions and seeks to expand the offering of such courses.



          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:





          Support


          


          SEIU Local 1000 (Sponsor)










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          California Public Defenders Association
          Legal Services for Prisoners with Children



          Opposition


          


          None





          Analysis Prepared by:Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916)  
          319-3744