CDCR Coordinated Strategy To Address California Overcrowding

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released a comprehensive strategic plan for integrated prison system reform and construction to address inmate overcrowding in the 33-facility state prison system.

“Integrated Strategy to Address Overcrowding In CDCR’s Adult Institutions” outlines the department’s plan to overhaul the corrections system, coordinating new construction and healthcare improvement efforts, rehabilitation initiatives and policy reforms to relieve chronic overcrowding, address substandard conditions, meet state prison population projections and enhance public safety.

“This integrated plan is a realistic approach that will allow California to move forward with much-needed prison reforms, even as the courts and other outside entities continue to influence our corrections system,” says newly appointed CDCR secretary Matthew Cate.

In order to realize much-needed improvements in the short-term and achieve effective system reform in the long-term, the CDCR must implement an integrated strategy that expands housing capacity through the implementation of AB 900 — the 2007 legislative initiative designed to tackle prison overcrowding and conditions — and delivers on the construction of healthcare facilities sought by the federally appointed state prison healthcare system receivership, according to the report.

The state should immediately begin construction of 4,800 infill beds as part of the two-phase 8,600 infill-bed component of AB 900, according to the report.

The total number of infill beds proposed is lower than originally planned due to several factors, including increasing construction cost projections and a need to provide more high-security beds, officials say.

The acquisition and construction of secure community re-entry facilities to provide up to 11,000 beds in two phases as part of AB 900 should also be continued, according to the report.

The report also calls for state leaders to support the federally mandated receivership’s plan to return the prison healthcare system to constitutional standards.

In August, court-appointed receiver J. Clark Kelso filed a motion with U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to seize $8 billion from the state treasury to build 10,000 beds at new regional healthcare facilities.

Seeking more than $3.1 billion in the current fiscal year, the funding request includes $6 billion for seven new medical facilities, $900 million for the renovation of existing medical facilities throughout the state and $1.1 billion to fund improvements to prison dental facilities.

Immediate implementation of the integrated strategic plan will yield a significant reduction in overcrowding and allow the state to end the practice of temporary beds in adult prisons, according to the CDCR.

“The construction, reform and interim components described as part of this integrated strategy are necessary to reduce overcrowding,” Cate says.

However, in order to be effective and generate successful outcomes, the integrated strategy must consider analyses of short- and long-term population trends and lawmakers’ proposed policy reforms, according to the report. Implementation of the strategy must also take account of the state’s budgetary crisis and the ongoing court proceedings involving the state prison system.

“It is imperative that lawmakers, stakeholders and law enforcement partners across the state support this plan, and are able to unite behind a common goal of implementing comprehensive prison reforms that improve public safety,” Cate says.

Although recognizing that several factors have changed since AB 900 was enacted in May 2007, the report proposes the introduction of policy reforms and new measures in areas, such as parole, as key elements of the integrated plan.

Since the enactment of AB 900 in 2007, CDCR has made progress in several areas to address prison overcrowding and conditions, according to a June 17 letter to legislative leaders from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Approximately 6,700 infill beds are in the planning and environmental impact report stages, with the first re-entry center scheduled to open in mid-2009, says Schwarzenegger.

The department removed more than 5,000 nontraditional beds that housed inmates in gymnasiums, dayrooms and classrooms. The number of state inmates in nontraditional beds decreased from a high of 19, 618 in August 2007 to 14,733 in May 2008.

More than 13 gymnasiums were reopened for recreational use and classroom and dayroom space at a number of facilities was again available for inmate programming and recreation.

To further reduce overcrowding, the department has also continued to transfer inmates to other states or private prison operators, Schwarzenegger says. As of May 2008, more than 4,000 California state inmates are being housed in out-of-state correctional facilities.

The number of parolees discharged from supervision early increased from more than 32 percent to more than 37 since 2006, while the number of parolees placed in community treatment beds increased 42 percent to more than 7,100 offenders since the end of 2005.