BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 759 (Anderson) - Prisoners: Secured Housing Units ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: May 5, 2015 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 6 - 1 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 28, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED. Bill Summary: SB 759 would provide for the following activities to increase accountability and transparency in the use of solitary confinement in state prisons: Requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to collect specified data regarding inmates subject to a term in a Secured Housing Unit (SHU). Requires the Inspector General (OIG), commencing January 1, 2018, and biennially thereafter, to use the data collected by CDCR to prepare reports to the Legislature pertaining to inmates in a SHU, as specified. Requires the CDCR to establish regulations to allow specified inmates placed in a SHU, or other similar units, to earn credits, as specified. Fiscal Impact (as approved May 28, SB 759 (Anderson) Page 1 of ? 2015): CDCR regulations : One-time costs of $100,000 (General Fund) to promulgate regulations. SHU credits : Potentially significant future cost savings (General Fund) to the extent the regulations are implemented and the provision of good time credits to inmates while in the SHU results in shorter prison sentences. Background: On October 9, 2013, the Assembly and Senate Committees on Public Safety held a joint informational hearing on California's prison segregation policies. One of the panelists, Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the National Prison Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, reported on the status of the national dialogue of scrutiny, analysis, and reform of the policy and practice of segregated housing in prisons. An article published online by the American Correctional Association noted in part: According to Winter, segregation should only be used for those who pose a serious violent threat to others, and only for as short a time as possible. "We can agree that corrections professionals must have the option, in extreme situations, to separate inmates in order to maintain security," she said. "But even when there is compelling need for physical separation for security reasons, that is not justification for extreme social isolation, sensory deprivation or enforced idleness." ?Winter also said that it is crucial for inmates to be able to earn their way out of segregation for good behavior, and that juveniles should never be housed in segregation long term? She indicated that several recent court rulings have deemed the segregation of inmates with disabilities or serious mental illnesses to be a violation of the eighth amendment. "We can expect to see more and more of these cases challenging segregation, not just for the mentally ill, but for anyone." In summary, this hearing highlighted the widely held principle that while short term segregation is an important tool, long term segregation can have a detrimental impact not only on inmates but also on overall public safety. SB 759 (Anderson) Page 2 of ? Under existing law, a person who is placed in a SHU, Psychiatric Services Unit (PSU), Behavioral Management Unit (BMU), or an Administrative Segregation Unit for specified misconduct or upon validation as a prison gang member or associate is ineligible to earn credits during the time he or she is in the SHU, PSU, BMU, or the Administrative Segregation Unit for that misconduct. This bill seeks to increase accountability and transparency of the placement of offenders in the SHU through increased data collection, additional review and reporting responsibilities for the OIG. This bill also seeks to allow inmates placed in the SHU, PSU, BMU, or Administrative Segregation Unit to earn good time credits. Proposed Law: This bill: Requires the CDCR, commencing July 1, 2016, to collect the following data regarding inmates subject to a term in a SHU: o Information relating to each offender who is going through, or has gone through, the validation process for determining a security threat group affiliate. o Information relating to all offenders being housed in a SHU or Psychiatric Services Unit (PSU), as specified. o The number of administrative appeals filed by offenders in the SHU or PSU, the subject matter of the appeals, and the outcome of the appeals. Requires the OIG, commencing January 1, 2018, and biennially thereafter, to use the data to prepare reports to the Legislature that include data including but not limited to: o The number of offenders investigated for security threat group validation. o The number of cases in which the Office of Correctional Safety recommended against validation and the outcome of those cases. o The number of cases in which the security threat group committee decided not to validate the offender. o The number of offenders who were not initially placed in the SHU or PSU but were sent to the SHU or PSU within six months of validation. o The number of offenders placed for an indeterminate SHU SB 759 (Anderson) Page 3 of ? term or PSU, or both. o The number of offenders placed for a determinate SHU term or in the PSU. o The average length of time offenders serving an indeterminate SHU term spent in the SHU or the PSU, or both. o The number of offenders in the SHU and PSU who were paroled directly out of the SHU and PSU into the community. o The number of visits by persons other than staff to offenders in the SHU or PSU. o The number of phone calls provided to offenders in the SHU or PSU. Deletes existing statute prohibiting inmates in the SHU, PSU, BMU, and the Administrative Segregation Unit from earning credits. Requires the CDCR to establish regulations to allow specified inmates placed in a SHU, or other similar units, to earn credits, as specified. o Provides that the regulations may establish separate classifications of serious disciplinary infractions to determine the rate of restoration of credits, the time period required before forfeited credits may be restored, and the percentage of forfeited credits that may be restored, as specified. o Requires the regulations to provide for credit earning for inmates who successfully complete specific program performance objectives. o Specifies no credits shall be awarded to those inmates until the CDCR has adopted regulations, as specified. Prior Legislation: SB 892 (Hancock) 2014 would have placed additional due process procedures for determining whether a prison inmate is a member of, or an associate of, a gang, for purposes of placing the inmate in a SHU. This bill was ordered to the inactive file on the Assembly Floor. Staff Comments: The CDCR has indicated the provisions of this measure will result in new workload that cannot be absorbed within existing resources. Because specified data points required in the bill are not currently being collected in CDCR's electronic SB 759 (Anderson) Page 4 of ? tracking systems, the information will require manual file reviews. While some information is recorded in electronic files, the data points are not specifically available in reports generated by the current electronic systems. The CDCR estimates that additional personnel would be needed to collect the data that is not currently being collected in any of its electronic tracking systems, to do file reviews to compile additional information, and to conduct comparisons of data from different tracking systems and manual files. The CDCR has indicated one additional position at each of the five SHU facilities and one additional staff at CDCR headquarters would cost in excess of $550,000 (General Fund) annually. To the extent these designated positions could complete the ongoing required workload on a half-time basis would result in annual costs of about $250,000. Author amendments (as adopted May 28, 2015): Require the CDCR to establish regulations no later than July, 1, 2017, and delete the provision stating no credits shall be awarded to the specified inmates until CDCR adopts regulations. Committee amendments (as adopted May 28, 2015): Delete Section 1 of the bill that imposes new data collection and reporting requirements on the CDCR and the OIG. -- END --