State prisons.

Existing law authorizes Security Housing Units for segregation of certain prisoners for disciplinary or security purposes, and because of gang membership or association. This bill would require specified due process procedures for determining if an inmate is a security threat group affiliate. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General, commencing January 1, 2016, to review every security threat group validation and revalidation completed on or after July 1, 2015, in which confidential information was used. Any documents pertaining to the review of security threat group validations would not be subject to a public records request or discovery. The bill would require an inmate subject to an indeterminate Security Housing Unit term as a result of a security threat group validation to be placed in a multistep program with the ultimate goal of returning the inmate back into the general prison population as rapidly as possible. The bill would require the department to prepare a reentry plan for every offender who will parole directly out of the Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit into the community. The bill would require an inmate subject to a determinate Security Housing Unit term or an offender in the multistep program to be provided with promising or evidence-based programming that promotes successful assimilation back into the general prison population. The bill would require the department to prepare a reentry plan for every offender who will parole directly out of the Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit into the community. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General to review the department's compliance with the above provisions and to issue reports, no less than annually, to the Governor and the Legislature summarizing its review. The bill would require an inmate in a Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit to have access to educational programming, to have access to radio or television, and the opportunity to earn additional specified privileges. The bill would require the department to employ 2 ombudsmen to act as offender resource specialists for Security Housing Units and Psychiatric Services Units, to be responsible for, among other things, assisting an inmate with concerns about the inmate's responsibilities and rights during confinement in one of those units, and responding to an inmate's family member's inquiries. The bill would require the department, commencing July 1, 2015, to the extent the data is already being collected, to collect specified data regarding inmates subject to a term in a Security Housing Unit. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General, commencing January 1, 2017, and biennially thereafter, to use the data to prepare reports for the Legislature on specified criteria pertaining to inmates in a Security Housing Unit and a Psychiatric Services Unit. Existing law provides that an inmate placed in a Security Housing Unit for specified crimes or because of gang association or membership, or placed in a Psychiatric Services Unit, is ineligible to earn credits towards reducing his or her sentence during the time the inmate is in the Security Housing Unit. This bill would permit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish regulations to allow specified inmates to earn credits, as specified. The bill would state findings and declarations by the Legislature relative to Security Housing Units. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.