BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1266
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1266 (Liu) - As Amended: August 3, 2010
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote:4-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop and implement an alternative
custody program for inmates who are primary caregivers of
dependent children. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes CDCR to contract with county agencies, non-profits,
for-profits and others for alternative custody placements.
Alternative custody programs could include, confinement during
specified hours to a residential home, a residential drug
treatment program, or a transition care facility.
2)Limits program participation to inmates with no convictions
for serious or violent offenses who also clear a risk
assessment screening. Registered sex offenders are also
ineligible.
3)Requires the use of electronic monitoring to help verify
program compliance.
4)Specifies the secretary or his or her designee has sole
discretion to permit program participation as an alternative
to custody in state prison.
5)Specifies a participant may retain employment in the
community, attend counseling sessions, educational or
vocational training classes, participate in life skills or
parenting training, or seek medical or dental assistance.
Participation in other rehabilitative services may be allowed
SB 1266
Page 2
if specified as a requirement of the participant's
individualized treatment plan.
6)Specifies failure to return to the place of detention after a
period where he or she was authorized to leave, unauthorized
departures from the place of detention, or tampering with an
electronic monitoring device subjects the participant to a
return to custody.
7)Defines "primary caregiver of a dependent child" as a person
who had physical custody and primary responsibility for a
child, stepchild, or foster child under the age of 17 years.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown annual GF savings, potentially in the low hundreds of
thousands of dollars, to the extent the program results in (a)
lower per capita costs than state prison; (b) reduced
recidivism rates as a result of more effective programming;
and (c) reduced foster care and group home costs. For example,
if 50 inmates spent one year in the alternative custody
envisioned by this bill, at a per capita cost of $18,000,
rather than the marginal CDCR per capita cost of about
$24,000, the annual per capita savings alone would be
$300,000.
Depending on the program, however, the cost differential
between CDCR and a community placement could range from a
significant state savings to a state cost. For example,
residential drug programs would likely be more costly than the
CDCR per capita cost, and individualized treatment plans could
result in more costly services that those provided by CDCR.
Conversely, electronic monitoring in a residential home would
be considerably less than the CDCR per capita. Presumably CDCR
would not place inmates in alternative custody settings that
cost more than the CDCR per capita.
2)Unknown annual GF costs, to the extent CDCR opts to utilize
the program, to develop regulations, conduct program-efficacy
research, and screen inmates for eligibility. These costs
would likely be absorbable and would be offset by program
savings.
SB 1266
Page 3
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author's intent is to provide CDCR with a
cost-effective option for dealing with low-level inmates who
are primary caregivers to minors, with goals of family
maintenance/reunification, reduced criminality - for parent
and child, and GF savings.
According to the author, "Children of inmates are much more
likely than their peers to become incarcerated. Research
suggests that mothers who are able to maintain a relationship
with their children are less likely to return to prison.
Alternative custody will allow families to maintain
relationships, and mothers will be less likely to re-offend.
"While the vast majority of children of incarcerated men
continue to live with their mothers, children of incarcerated
women are more likely to end up living with relatives or in
foster care. Approximately, 67% of incarcerated women are
mothers, and many of them are single parents. In 2005,
approximately 19,000 Californian children had mothers in
prison? SB 1266 will lower recidivism rates, encourage
community and family involvement, result in fewer children in
the child welfare system, and reduce the likelihood that
inmates' children will embark on a life of crime."
2)Opposition. The California District Attorneys Association
states, "Central to our criminal justice system is the tenet
that criminal activity carries consequences. Those
consequences should not be mitigated by factors that are
irrelevant to the relationship between the crime and the
penalty. As such, we must object to the policy espoused by
this bill inasmuch as it would allow a large number of
offenders to potentially avoid a commitment to state prison
simply by virtue of the fact that they are female, pregnant,
or caregivers. The simple state of being a female inmate
should not make a person any less culpable for her actions,
and yet this bill would allow thousands of inmates to "serve
their time" from their homes or non-secure facilities instead
of state prison. And notwithstanding the family issues that
arise when a primary caregiver is incarcerated, having a child
in and of itself should not be enough to excuse a convict from
the punishment of a prison sentence."
3)Current law authorizes two programs for inmate mothers, the
Pregnant and Parenting Women's Alternative Sentencing Program
SB 1266
Page 4
Act ("PPWASPA") and a community treatment program for women
sentenced to state prison who have one or more children under
the age of six. Currently, CDCR operates 50 contract beds for
the Prisoner Mother Program and 63 contract beds for the
Family Foundations Program.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081