Rehabilitation programs: recidivism.

Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to operate the state prison system. Existing law establishes various rehabilitation programs for inmates in the state prison, including literacy, education, and vocational training programs. Existing law requires the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board to regularly examine these programs and to annually report to the Governor and the Legislature on specified findings, including the effectiveness of treatment efforts and recommendations with respect to rehabilitation and treatment programs. This bill would, in response to the State Auditor's recommendations as contained in the 2019 report titled "Several Poor Administrative Practices Have Hindered Reductions in Recidivism and Denied Inmates Access to In‑Prison Rehabilitation Programs," require the department to contract with an external researcher to analyze the effectiveness of its rehabilitation programs, as provided, and to submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2024. The bill would require the report to contain specified information, including a recidivism analysis that includes the number of sanctions or other adverse actions taken against rehabilitation program vendors in the previous calendar year and data on inmates receiving rehabilitation programs in their areas of expressed need, as well as performance targets, a corrective action plan, and the identification of programs that should be modified or eliminated based on their effectiveness. The bill would, if the external research is unable to provide recidivism analysis on specified data elements, require the department to, independently or by separate contract, provide data or analysis on those elements in a separate report, as specified.