Bill Text: CA AB1119 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Postrelease reentry pilot program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1119 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1119-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1119 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hagman
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to add and repeal Section 3016 to the Penal Code, relating
to parole.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1119, as introduced, Hagman. Postrelease reentry pilot program.
Existing law requires that all persons released from prison on and
after October 1, 2011, after serving a prison term for a felony, be
subject to postrelease community supervision provided by a county
agency for a period of 3 years immediately following release, except
for persons released after serving a term for a serious felony, a
violent felony, an offense for which the person was sentenced
pursuant to the Three Strikes law, a crime where the person is
classified as a High Risk Sex Offender, or a crime where the person
is required to undergo treatment by the State Department of State
Hospitals because the person has a severe mental disorder. Existing
law requires these persons to be subject to parole supervision by the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation following release from
state prison. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a parole reentry
accountability program, and, subject to the availability of funding,
to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Administrative
Office of the Courts for the establishment and operation of reentry
court programs for parolees and persons on postrelease community
supervision.
This bill would, until January 1, 2018, require the Secretary of
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a
3-year postrelease reentry pilot program, using an existing
Sacramento area-based parole reentry program as a model, in 3
additional counties to provide comprehensive, structured reentry
services for offenders released from state prison. The bill would
require the Counties of San Bernardino, San Joaquin, and San Mateo to
participate in the pilot program, and would provide that parolees,
persons on postrelease community supervision, and probationers are
eligible for participation in the program. The bill would require the
secretary to submit a report on the effectiveness of the program for
the 3 years of its operation to the Legislature on or before March
1, 2017, and a summary of the report to the Governor and the
Legislature outlining the successes of the program. The bill would
state the intent of the Legislature to appropriate $1,200,000 per
year per site from the state General Fund for the operation of the
program, subject to matching funds from the county, and to
appropriate an additional amount for the cost of evaluating the
program. By imposing new and additional duties on local agencies in
the participating counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The Sacramento Community Based Coalition is an innovative,
intensive, and integrated program for parolees that provides
individualized treatment services necessary for a successful
transition back into the community.
(2) According to a 2011 report by the Pew Center on the States,
State of Recidivism - The Revolving Door of America's Prisons,
between 2004 and 2007, California had the second highest recidivism
rate in the United States.
(3) Reducing recidivism reduces criminal victimization and the
cost to the prison system, courts, and county jails.
(4) The annual cost to incarcerate 43 inmates would have funded
the Sacramento Community Based Coalition for one year and provided
services for 523 parole clients.
(5) Only 3.6 percent of graduates of the Sacramento Community
Based Coalition returned to prison with a new term and only 8.5
percent of clients who participated in the program returned to prison
with a new term.
(6) The overall rate of recidivism, including parole violation
return to custody, of Sacramento Community Based Coalition graduates
was 18.8 percent.
(7) Key components of the Sacramento Community Based Coalition
include an individualized treatment plan and wraparound reentry
services, including substance abuse services, job placement and
preparation, computer literacy training, GED testing and preparation
services, parenting courses, community-based sober living, community
service opportunities, family reintegration programs, life skills
courses, sexually transmitted disease prevention and education, and
gender-specific programming with structured phases for program
participants.
(8) The Sacramento Community Based Coalition has a goal of
reducing the recidivism of participants at least 50 percent.
(9) Promising programs should be expanded to other locales so that
the effectiveness of the model can be tested.
(10) Assisting parolees and those on postrelease community
supervision by providing them with structured reentry services, while
holding them accountable for compliance with legal and program
requirements, and while promoting the elimination of criminogenic
attitudes and behaviors, is a smart way to assist them with the
transition back to the community consistent with the needs of public
safety.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting
this act to attempt to replicate the Sacramento Community Based
Coalition model in additional counties, to measure the success of the
model in reducing recidivism and improving program outcomes for
offenders who participate in the program, and to determine whether
the program should be further geographically expanded or extended in
order to promote better outcomes for parolees and those on
postrelease community supervision, lower recidivism rates, and safer
communities.
SEC. 2. Section 3016 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
3016. (a) The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation shall establish a three-year postrelease reentry pilot
program, using an existing Sacramento area-based parole reentry
program as a model, in three additional counties to provide
comprehensive, structured reentry services for offenders released
from state prison.
(b) The Counties of San Bernardino, San Joaquin, and San Mateo
shall participate in the pilot program established pursuant to
subdivision (a). The pilot program shall be operated for a three-year
period from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, inclusive.
(c) Parolees, persons on postrelease community supervision, and
probationers are eligible for participation in the program, except
that an offender who has been convicted of, or had a juvenile
adjudication for, any crime described in subdivision (c) of Section
290 committed against a minor victim is not eligible to participate.
Program participants shall be referred by a parole officer or
probation officer.
(d) Features of the program shall include an individualized
treatment plan and wraparound reentry services, including, but not
limited to, substance abuse services, job placement and preparation,
computer literacy training, GED testing and preparation services,
parenting courses, community-based sober living, community service
opportunities, family reintegration programs, life skills courses,
sexually transmitted disease prevention and education, and
gender-specific programming with structured phases for program
participants. The program may include other types of rehabilitative
programming appropriate for the needs of program participants.
(e) The managers and staff of each of the three county programs
shall coordinate operations and share insights with each other and
with the Sacramento Community Based Coalition.
(f) (1) The secretary shall submit a report on the effectiveness
of the program for the three years of its operation to the
Legislature on or before March 1, 2017, and a summary of the report
to the Governor and the Legislature outlining the successes of the
program.
(2) Each of the three county programs shall submit data to be
compiled and included in the report described in paragraph (1)
outlining whether, and to what extent, the program accomplished both
of the following:
(A) Improvement of offender outcomes in terms of acquiring GEDs or
other educational certificates.
(B) Success in placing program participants in jobs and reduced
recidivism. As used in this paragraph, "recidivism" shall be measured
by the return to prison rate, the parole or postrelease community
supervision violation rate, and conviction rate, and the arrest rate
for participants, each measured separately. The program shall employ
an evaluator to monitor and compile this information.
(3) The report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate one million
two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) per year per site from the
state General Fund for the operation of the program, subject to
matching funds from the county's Community Corrections Partnership,
or other available county funds. The operating costs of the program
shall be split between the state and the county, except that the
county is responsible for the full cost of probationer participation.
The program shall serve 125 to 150 clients, inclusive per site at
any given time, and a total of 400 clients throughout the year. It is
the intent of the Legislature to appropriate an additional amount
for the cost of evaluating the program.
(h) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.
