BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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AB 2570 (Skinner) 0
As Introduced: February 21, 2014
Hearing date: June 10, 2014
Penal Code
JRD:sl
PRISONS:
CALIFORNIA REHABILITATION OVERSIGHT BOARD
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: AB 900 (Solorio) - Chapter 7, Statutes of
2007
Support: California CURE; Courage Campaign; Legal Services for
Prisoners with Children; Root & Rebound
Opposition:None known
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 78 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD THE CALIFORNIA REHABILITATION OVERSIGHT BOARD EXAMINE HEALTH
CARE PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO INMATES AND PAROLEES?
PURPOSE
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The purpose of this legislation is to require the California
Rehabilitation Oversight Board (C-ROB) to add health care
programs as one of the types of programs for inmates and
parolees operated by the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) that C-ROB must regularly examine, and
make reports, findings, and recommendations.
Existing law creates C-ROB within the Office of the Inspector
General (OIG), and states that C-ROB shall consist of the
following 11 members:
a) The Inspector General, who shall serve as chair;
b) The Secretary of CDCR;
c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his or
her designee;
d) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
or his or her designee;
e) The Director of Health Care Services, or his or her
designee;
f) The Director of State Hospitals, or his or her
designee;
g) A faculty member of the University of California who
has expertise in rehabilitation of criminal offenders,
appointed by the President of the University of
California;
h) A faculty member of the California State University,
who has expertise in rehabilitation of criminal offenders,
appointed by the Chancellor of the California State
University;
i) A county sheriff, appointed by the Governor;
j) A county chief probation officer, appointed by the
Senate Committee on Rules; and,
aa) A local government official who provides mental
health, substance abuse, or educational services to
criminal offenders, appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly.
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(Penal Code � 6140)
Existing law requires C-ROB to meet at least quarterly, and
regularly examine the various mental health, substance abuse,
educational, and employment programs for inmates and parolees
operated by CDCR. C-ROB shall report to the Governor and the
Legislature biannually, on March 15th and September 15th, and
may submit other reports during the year if it finds they are
necessary. The reports shall include, but are not limited to,
findings on the effectiveness of treatment efforts,
rehabilitation needs of offenders, gaps in rehabilitation
services in CDCR, and levels of offender participation and
success in the programs. C-ROB shall also make recommendations
to the Governor and Legislature with respect to modifications,
additions, and eliminations of rehabilitation and treatment
programs. (Penal Code � 6141.)
This bill adds health care programs as one of the types of
programs for inmates and parolees operated by CDCR that the
C-ROB must regularly examine, and make reports, findings, and
recommendations.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA"
(which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis
Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new
felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or
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otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner
which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under
these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral,
provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did
not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by
passing legislation, which would increase the prison population.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State
submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons
has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when
public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000
inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly
42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the
state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which
currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of
capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is
constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29,
2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension
to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31,
2013.
The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state
of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply
with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to
reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by
December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the
Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In
response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27,
2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to
enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants
can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including
means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or
accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to
the prison crowding problem."
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The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the
meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered
briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10,
2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the
in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity
to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the
following interim and final population reduction benchmarks:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position
created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of
inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark.
In a status report to the Court dated May 15, 2014, the state
reported that as of May 14, 2014, 116,428 inmates were housed in
the State's 34 adult institutions, which amounts to 140.8% of
design bed capacity, and 8,650 inmates were housed in
out-of-state facilities.
The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison
capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement
remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison
population have been made, even greater reductions may be
required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore,
the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may
impact the prison population - will be informed by the following
questions:
Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the
prison population;
Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
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legislative drafting error;
Whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and,
Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Legislation
According to the author:
There are a variety of programs that assist inmates and
parolees become productive citizens in our communities.
Under current law, the California Rehabilitation
Oversight Board (The Board) is the entity charged with
reviewing these rehabilitation and treatment programs.
The goal of this review is to ensure that the State has
adequate services for inmates and parolees and also to
identify deficiencies. The Board was created in 2007 to
provide recommendations to the Legislature and the
Governor on whether inmate rehabilitation and treatment
programs need modification, additions, or elimination.
Successful rehabilitation programs would mean less
recidivism throughout the state.
Currently, the Board is not required to review health
care programs that would help inmates and parolees
rehabilitate. The health care of an inmate is a key
factor in whether he or she will be able to successfully
reintegrate into society. Inmates who need medical
attention in prison are likely to also need health care
once released. Research shows that formerly incarcerated
individuals who have access to medical services upon
release have reduced recidivism rates, increasing the
likelihood they will become productive citizens. A recent
report studying the social and health factors affecting
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recently released inmates concludes that health insurance
coverage for recently released inmates is strongly
associated with reduced recidivism rates for men and
women. Adding health care review to the Board's purview
would allow the state to identify programs to assist
inmates who will need medical services upon release.
2. Office of the Inspector General: Medical Inspection
Program
In 2011, subdivision (f) was added to the Penal Code section
6126 to require the Office of the Inspector General to "conduct
an objective, clinically appropriate, and metric-oriented
medical inspection program to periodically review delivery of
medical care at each state prison."
According to the Office of the Inspector General the
medical inspection program pre-dates the addition of
subdivision (f) to 6126:
The Plata v. Brown federal court class action lawsuit
resulted in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California (Court) appointing a
federal Receiver to raise medical care standards,
manage the delivery of medical care, and develop a
sustainable system that provides constitutionally
adequate medical care to inmates at California's 33
adult correctional institutions. At the request of the
federal Court and the Court-appointed Receiver, and
authorized by California Penal Code section 6126, in
2007 the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
developed a comprehensive inspection program in
cooperation with current key stakeholders to
periodically review delivery of medical care at each
state prison and measure compliance with health care
policies and procedures
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(Comparative Summary and Analysis of the First,
Second, And Third Medical Inspection Cycles of
California's 33 Adult Institution, Office of the
Inspector General, July 2013.)
The Office of the Inspector General has visited each institution
and has prepared reports outlining its findings on the medical
care provided. (http://www.oig.ca.gov/pages/reports.php.)
GIVEN THAT THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL IS CURRENTLY
EVALUATING MEDICAL CARE IN STATE PRISONS, IS IT DUPLICATIVE TO
HAVE THE CALIFORNIA REHABILITATION OVERSIGHT BOARD ALSO DO AN
ASSESSMENT?
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3. Office of the Inspector General: California Rehabilitation
Oversight Board
The C-ROB is required to regularly examine the various mental
health, substance abuse, educational, and employment programs
for inmates and parolees operated by the CDCR. (Penal Code �
6141.) C-ROB is required to meet no less than quarterly and to
submit reports to the Legislature no less than biannually.
(Id.) These reports must include, "findings on the
effectiveness of treatment efforts, rehabilitation needs of
offenders, gaps in rehabilitation services in the department,
and levels of offender participation and success in the
programs." (Id.) C-ROB is also required to make
recommendations to the Governor and Legislature with respect to
modifications, additions, and eliminations of rehabilitation and
treatment programs. (Id.)
Assembly Bill 2570 would expand C-ROB's purview to include
medical care. The author reasons:
Medi-Cal has been expanded to previously uncovered
populations in California, including single men making
less than 133% of the federal poverty rate. Under the
expansion, a portion of individuals currently
sentenced, and those recently released, are now
eligible for Medi-Cal. The Board should review health
care programs to better understand ways to help
formerly incarcerated individuals take advantage of
the recent Medi-Cal expansion.
This legislation, however, would be more expansive and, as
drafted, would require C-ROB to regularly examine all
medical programs in state prisons and programs available to
parolees, and to make reports, findings, and
recommendations about those programs.
SHOULD THIS LEGISLATION BE LIMITED TO AN ASSESSMENT OF
MEDICAL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO PAROLEES?
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