Youth offenders: security placement.

Existing law begins the term of imprisonment upon the actual delivery of a defendant into the custody of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and requires the place of reception to be an institution under the direction of the Secretary. Existing regulations require that an inmate be assigned to a facility with a security level that corresponds to specified placement score ranges and establishes classification committees for making these determinations. This bill would require the department to conduct a youth offender Institutional Classification Committee review at reception to provide special classification consideration for every youth offender. The bill would require the department to consider placing a youth offender at a lower security level than corresponds with his or her classification score, or placing a youth offender in a facility that permits increased access to programs, based on the Institutional Classification Committee review and other factors, including, among others, the youth offenders recent in-custody behavior. The bill would require the department to transfer a youth offender to a lower security level facility if the department determines, based on a specified review, that he or she may appropriately be placed at a lower security level facility. The bill would require a youth offender who is denied a lower security level, or who did not qualify for a placement permitting increased access to programs, and is placed in the highest security level to be eligible to have his or her placement reconsidered at his or her annual review until age 25. The bill would require the department to revise existing regulations and adopt new regulations pursuant to these provisions, as necessary. The bill would make these provisions operative July 1, 2015.