BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1359
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 14, 2009
Counsel: Kimberly A. Horiuchi
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 1359 (Huffman) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUMMARY : Authorizes the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to house condemned inmates in any
state prison that contains level four security or a condemned
facility designated by CDCR, as specified. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires that when a condemned inmate is housed in a level
four prison, as specified:
a) Local procedures relating to privileges and
classification procedures provided to condemned inmates at
San Quentin State Prison shall be similarly instituted at
any level four prison for condemned inmates housed at that
prison. Those classification procedures shall include the
right to review the classification no less than every 90
days and the opportunity to petition for a return to San
Quentin Prison.
b) Similar attorney-client access procedures that are
afforded to condemned inmates housed at San Quentin shall
be afforded to condemned inmates housed in any level four
prison. Attorney-client access for condemned inmates
housed at an institution for medical or mental health
treatment shall be commensurate with the institution's
visiting procedures and appropriate treatment protocols.
2)Mandates condemned inmates housed in a level four prison, as
authorized by this bill, shall be returned to San Quentin
State Prison at the time appellate counsel has been approved
to an inmate's automatic appeal with a judgment of death.
3)Increases the number of death row inmates that CDCR may
re-house at the California State Prison in Sacramento, as
specified, from 15 to 30 inmates.
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4)Deletes provisions of existing law requiring female condemned
inmates to be delivered to or housed in the Central California
Women's Facility.
5)Makes other technical, non-substantive corrections.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States if the judgment is for imprisonment in the state prison
the judgment shall direct that the defendant be delivered into
the custody of the CDCR Director at the state prison or
institution designated by the CDCR Director as the place for
the reception of persons convicted of felonies, except where
the judgment is for death in which case the defendant shall be
taken to the warden of the California State Prison at San
Quentin. Unless a different place or places are so designated
by the CDCR Director, the judgment shall direct that the
defendant be delivered into the custody of the CDCR Director
at the California State Prison at San Quentin. The CDCR
Director shall designate a place or places for the reception
of persons convicted of felonies by order, which order or
orders shall be served by registered mail, return receipt
requested, upon each judge of each superior court in
California. (Penal Code Section 1202a.)
2)Provides that every male person, upon who has been imposed the
judgment of death, shall be delivered to the warden of the
California state prison designated by CDCR for the execution
of the death penalty, there to be kept until the execution of
the judgment. [Penal Code Section 3600(a).]
3)States a condemned inmate who, while in prison, commits an
offense, as specified, or who, as a member of a gang or
disruptive group, orders others to commit any of these
offenses, may, following disciplinary sanctions and
classification actions at San Quentin State Prison, pursuant
to regulations established by CDCR, be housed in secure
condemned housing designated by the CDCR Director, at the
California State Prison, Sacramento. Offenses include
homicide, assault with a weapon or with physical force capable
of causing serious or mortal injury, escape with force or
attempted escape with force, and repeated serious rules
violations that substantially threaten safety or security.
[Penal Code Section 3600(b)(1)(A) to (D).]
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4)Requires the condemned housing program at California State
Prison, Sacramento, shall be fully operational prior to the
transfer of any condemned inmate. [Penal Code Section
3600(b)(3).]
5)States an inmate whose medical or mental health needs are so
critical as to endanger the inmate or others may, pursuant to
regulations established by CDCR, be housed at the California
Medical Facility or other appropriate institution for medical
or mental health treatment. The inmate shall be returned to
the institution from which the inmate was transferred when the
condition has been adequately treated or is in remission.
[Penal Code Section 3600(b)(4).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "The condemned
inmate complex is a bottomless money pit that will drain
hundreds of millions of dollars from the state's massive and
ever-increasing budget deficit. AB 1359 will help obviate the
need for this ill-conceived and costly Condemned Inmate
Complex (CIC) by allowing CDCR to house condemned inmates at
other prisons that meet specific requirements. With about 11
people sentenced to death every year and executions on hold
since 2006 due to a federal court order, overcrowding will
continue to be a problem until CDCR has the flexibility to
house condemned inmates at other facilities. AB 1359 also
addresses the disparity between condemned male and condemned
female inmates. While all condemned males are required to be
housed at San Quentin, all condemned females are required to
be housed at the Central California Women's Facility in
Chowchilla. This bill requires the same housing requirements
for all condemned inmates.
"The California Penal Code requires that all male condemned
inmates be housed at San Quentin and that all executions occur
at San Quentin. The current requirement prevents CDCR from
looking into alternative housing locations for California's
condemned inmates. As a result, any site other than San
Quentin is illegal and thus 'infeasible.' Currently, San
Quentin is experiencing severe overcrowding. CDCR began
exploring the need for a new CIC in 1992 due to condemned
inmate population growth and safety and security reasons.
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"Since 2003, the CDCR has been appropriated a total of $356
million in lease-revenue bond financing to build a new
1,024-cell CIC at San Quentin. The State Auditor predicts by
the time construction is completed, the true capital costs of
the CIC will top $400 million ($500,000 per cell), and will
cost $58.8 million annually in operation and maintenance
costs, despite CDCR's 25% decrease in the number of cells
planned for the CIC. The State Auditor's projected capital
and operating costs for the CIC over the next 20 years exceed
$1.6 billion.
"In the California State Auditor's report released June 10,
2008, the Auditor projected that if CDCR's plan to double-cell
up to two-thirds of the condemned inmates does not turn out to
be a feasible approach, the CIC at San Quentin will reach its
cell capacity in 2014 - just three years after it is projected
to open. If that is the case, CDCR will be back at square one
in 2014 after having sunk $400 million into a three-year
housing solution.
"With about 11 people sentenced to death every year and
executions on hold due to a court order since 2006,
overcrowding will continue to be a problem until a better
solution to housing condemned inmates is addressed. One
solution is housing condemned inmates at other facilities
equipped with level four security until better housing
alternatives can be researched.
"According to former San Quentin Warden Robert Ayres, more than
one-half of the condemned inmate population could easily be
integrated into other facilities and that they don't need an
entirely separate death row unit.
"There are numerous reasons alternative sites need to be
considered, specifically the unusually high annual operating
and maintenance costs at San Quentin, lack of security, and
the substandard health care conditions for the condemned
prisoners at San Quentin's aging and dilapidated death row.
"Eleven prisons, including Pelican Bay State Prison, High Desert
State Prison, California State Prison-Sacramento, Salinas
Valley State Prison, and California Correctional Institution
in Tehachapi house level four inmates in a180-degree housing
unit, which is the most secure general population housing
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unit. AB 900 (2006) authorized $7.4 billion in bond capitol
to build 53,000 prison and jail beds.
"CDCR officials modified the bill's plan after the Governor had
signed it to include more celled housing for higher-security
inmates and fewer dorms for the less risky. The
Administration was an advocate for codifying CDCR's fixes to
AB 900, which will provide more funding for level four
housing."
2)Condemned Inmate Complex Project : Plans have long been in the
works to expand and modernize California's death row.
According to CDCR's Web site, "San Quentin was established in
July 1852 at Point Quentin in Marin County on approximately
432 acres. San Quentin's first condemned row was established
in 1893. North Block was built in 1934 and housed all males
sentenced to death in the State of California. San Quentin's
original condemned unit was designed to house 68 inmates based
on California demographics and average stay of a condemned
inmate (less than 3 years) when the facility was first
established. Even though San Quentin State Prison has the
capacity to house over 6,200 inmates, today, San Quentin State
Prison houses approximately 5,850 total inmates, which
includes California's condemned male population. The prison
includes a reception center that houses approximately 3,000
new commitments and a main facility that houses approximately
600 condemned inmates, approximately 1,900 medium and low
security inmates, and approximately 265 minimum security
inmates.
"As a result of today's lengthy sentence and appeal process and
the increase in number of individuals convicted under the
sentence of death, the number of condemned inmates has
exceeded the reasonable design capacity of facilities suitable
for this use. Court intervention has also resulted in the
classification of condemned inmates based on the level of
management required, escape risk, and level of allowed
interaction, all resulting in the need for additional
condemned facilities.
"The condemned inmate population largely consists of violent and
aggressive individuals that must be separated from the
remainder of the inmate population. Because of the aggressive
nature of these individuals, condemned inmates should be
classified and housed in small, manageable groups that are
AB 1359
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physically separated from one another. However, the design of
San Quentin State Prison and the growing population of
condemned inmates in California have forced CDCR to house
condemned inmates in four separate housing areas with other
institutional inmates rather than in one isolated and managed
area. Furthermore, the design of the existing facilities
provides physical barriers limiting the ability of CDCR to
maintain the appropriate controls, separation, and security
required to house condemned male inmates. To address these
issues, CDCR has determined that a new housing complex and
associated support facilities should be built to house the
condemned male inmate population at San Quentin State Prison.
"CDCR proposes to construct a new CIC on approximately 40 acre
site on the westerly side of the grounds San Quentin State
Prison. The facility would be constructed in an area
currently developed with minimum security, warehouse, and
other support buildings. The CIC would include 1,028 cells
capable of housing up to 1,408 condemned male inmates at
maximum capacity. Facilities will be designed to provide
maximum security and will be within a secured perimeter that
includes a lethal electrified fence. Primary access to the
site will be from the existing Main Gate in San Quentin
Village. The proposed CIC would consist of two
semi-autonomous maximum-security facilities providing a total
of approximately 618,000 square-feet of housing, service, and
support space. The CIC would be separated from the rest of
the prison by an outer patrol road, electrified fencing and an
inner patrol road.
3)The Legislative Analyst Office's Report on CIC at San Quentin :
In its 2007-2008 Budget Analysis, the Legislative Analyst's
Office made the following recommendations regarding San
Quentin:
"We recommend canceling the condemned housing project at San
Quentin and using the remaining funding authorized for this
expensive project to build additional prison capacity for
condemned and maximum-security inmates at a lower cost per bed
elsewhere. The budget requests an additional $117 million to
complete the construction of a new death row facility, known
as CIC, at the state prison at San Quentin. These new costs
are due primarily to inflation and other increases in site
construction costs. It is now estimated that, when finally
completed, the project will cost $337 million. According to
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CDCR, it has spent about $15 million to date on the CIC
project, leaving $205 million in funding appropriated for the
project available for our alternative approach. The CIC would
have 768 cells, providing capacity for a total of 1,152 male
inmates on death row. As of September 2006, there were 640
male inmates on death row.
"While the Legislature has previously authorized the CIC
project, important aspects of the project have changed, which
we believe warrant reconsideration of the merits of the
project. The estimated increase in construction costs of $117
million represents a 53 percent increase in estimated costs
since 2003 despite the fact that the department reduced the
size of the project by 25 percent in 2005. At the revised
project cost estimate, each CIC bed would cost almost $300,000
to construct, more than twice the cost of other high-security
beds. These higher costs are primarily due to the location of
the project. In particular, engineering requirements are more
challenging at San Quentin because of the instability of the
soil. Also, labor and materials are more expensive in the Bay
Area than other potential sites for such a facility.
"Moreover, this high level of expenditure may not add to overall
prison system capacity. We are advised that the state agreed
in the project's Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to a
restriction on the total number of inmates that can be housed
at the San Quentin state prison (6,558). Consequently, even
though the construction of CIC would allow the state to vacate
the existing cells housing death row inmates, this agreement
might prevent CDCR from using all of those cells to increase
the prison's overall capacity. We recommend canceling the CIC
project and using the remaining funding already authorized for
this expensive project to build additional prison capacity at
a lower cost per bed elsewhere. This could include: (1)
building a new death row complex at an existing prison or at a
new site or (2) constructing new Level IV capacity and moving
condemned inmates to Level IV housing.
"Using the funds currently designated for CIC to build Level IV
beds for both Level IV and death row inmates at another
location would have significant benefits. The state could use
these funds to obtain additional beds for both condemned
inmates and Level IV inmates. . . . [T]he Governor's plan
does not resolve the current deficit of Level IV beds. Based
on our discussions with correctional experts, housing
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condemned inmates in Level IV facilities would be safe for
staff and inmates if properly designed and staffed. In fact,
one option would be to house condemned inmates with the Level
IV population in a single facility. At least one other state,
Missouri, takes this approach.
"Our proposed approach would also allow CDCR to house its
current and future condemned inmate population. The current
death row housing unit could house other groups of inmates
without violating the EIR, thereby adding more than 600 beds
to CDCR's total capacity. Given the age and design of the
condemned cells at San Quentin, these beds are probably
best-suited for lower security inmates, and could help address
the significant statewide shortage of Level I and II beds."
4)Impact on Appeals : A prisoner sentenced to death must have
exhausted all appeals before the execution can occur. Capital
appeals are lengthy and expensive and investigation into the
defendant's life begins soon after conviction. Not many
attorneys can accept these cases; a large number these
attorneys are located in San Francisco. The State Public
Defenders Office, which handles most of death row appeals, has
offices in Sacramento and San Francisco. Motions, petitions,
and applications must be filed with the California Supreme
Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals, both located in
San Francisco. Thus, moving death row inmates to institutions
far from San Francisco may hinder their ability to find
counsel and make their appeal process more difficult.
Amendments taken in this Committee specify an inmate must be
returned to San Quentin when he is appointed counsel.
5)Arguments in Support : According to the Marin County Board of
Supervisors , "San Quentin is presently experiencing severe
overcrowding, particularly among death row inmates. Even if
the proposed new CIC is ultimately built as proposed, a
California State Auditor's analysis indicates that the new
facility will reach its capacity by 2014 - just three years
after it is projected to open. With approximately 30 people
sentenced to death every year, and executions on hold to court
order, overcrowding will continue to be a problem until the
CDCR has flexibility to move condemned inmates to additional
facilities. Your bill would give the CDCR the flexibility to
house condemned inmates at any prison facility equipped with
Level IV housing security, while still requiring the same
level of access to legal representation, medical and mental
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health treatment, and visitation with family. While this
flexibility would obviate the need for the new CIC, as
currently proposed, your bill would not change the location of
death row executions. All condemned inmates would continue to
be required to be housed at San Quentin during the last 60
days of this or her sentence, regardless of health, security,
or gender considerations.
6)Arguments in Opposition : According to the American Civil
Liberties Union , "We are opposed to moving death row inmates
from San Quentin. Death row inmates moved elsewhere in the
state prison system will have less access to legal counsel,
many of whom live in the Bay Area. Death penalty cases are
incredibly complex and require in depth investigation into the
life history and mental health of the defendant. This
requires much more frequent contact between the attorney and
the client and the ability to discuss sensitive topics such as
child sexual abuse. Other more remote prisons do not provide
similar access and will, among other things, increase the
costs of representation by increasing the travel expenses for
attorneys and experts."
7)Related Legislation : SB 28 (Denham) establishes requirements
for the decommissioning and redevelopment of San Quentin State
Prison. Decommissioning is required to be completed not later
than December 31, 2014 and SB 28 authorizes the Governor to
designate the state prison that would house condemned inmates.
SB 28 was held in the Senate Committee on Public Safety as an
aggravation of prison overcrowding.
8)Prior Legislation :
a) AB 1743 (Huffman), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session,
would have required the Bureau of State Audits to conduct
and Evaluation of Condemned Inmate Facility Alternatives,
and would have required that CDCR not expend any money on a
proposed condemned inmate complex at San Quentin State
Prison until specified conditions are met. AB 1743 was
vetoed.
b) SB 228 (Denham), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session, was
identical to SB 28 and failed passage in the Senate
Committee on Public Safety.
c) AB 1715 (Nation) ,of the 2005-06 Legislative Session,
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would have provided that defendants sentenced to death
shall be housed in a prison that contains level-four
security or in a condemned facility, designated by the CDCR
Director. AB 1715 failed passage in the Senate Public
Safety Committee.
d) SB 901 (Denham), of the 2005-06 Legislative Session, was
identical to SB 28 and SB 228 and was never heard in the
Senate Committee on Public Safety.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
American Civil Liberties Union
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744