| California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | |
| Common name | Department of Corrections |
| Abbreviation | CDCR |
| Patch of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. | |
| Logo of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. | |
| Badge Patch of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2005 |
| Preceding agency | California Department of Corrections, California Youth Authority |
| Employees | 57,641 |
| Annual budget | US$10.1 billion ($NaN in 2012) (2011) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of California, USA |
| Size | 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2) |
| Population | 36,756,666 (2008 est.)[1] |
| Legal jurisdiction | As per operations jurisdiction. |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Sacramento, California |
| Officers | 32,772 |
| Civilians | 24,869 |
| Agency executive | Matthew Cate, Director |
| Website | |
| www.cdcr.ca.gov | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDC&R) is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately 34,000 police officers. As of 2009, CDCR employed approximately 29,000 peace officers (state correctional officers), 1,800 state parole agents, and 692 criminal investigators/special agents. Its headquarters are in Sacramento.
Following are the top 6 largest law enforcement or police agencies in the United States: 1) New York City Police Department (34,000 officers); 2) California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (31,000 officers); 3) Chicago Police Department (15,000 officers); 4) Los Angeles Police Department (9,969 officers); 5) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (9,700 deputies) 6) New Jersey Department of Corrections (9,500 officers).
Contents |
In 1851, California activated its first state run institutions. This institution was a 268-ton wooden ship named "The Waban", and was anchored in the San Francisco Bay.[2] The prison ship housed 30 inmates who subsequently constructed San Quentin State Prison, which opened in 1852 with approximately 68 inmates.[3] Since 1852, the Department has activated thirty one prisons across the state.
CDCR's history dates back to 1912 when the agency was called California State Detentions Bureau. In 1951 it was renamed California Department of Corrections until 2004 when it was again renamed CDCR. In 2004, a Corrections Independent Review Panel appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and led by former Governor George Deukmejian noted "California's $6 billion correctional system suffers from a multitude of problems — out-of-control costs; a recidivism rate far exceeding that of any other state; reported abuse of inmates by correctional officers; an employee disciplinary system that fails to punish wrongdoers; and the failure of correctional institutions to provide youth wards and inmates with mandated health care and other services."[4] Among other recommendations to address these problems, the Panel suggested "Reorganizing the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency."[4] The Agency had consisted of "the Department of Corrections, the Department of the Youth Authority, the Board of Prison Terms, the Board of Corrections, the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training, the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Board and the Youth Authority Board."[5]
Schwarzenegger made a reorganization plan public in January 2005 implementing many of the recommendations of the panel but without "a citizens commission overseeing the state's entire correctional operation."[6] The reorganization became effective on July 1, 2005.[5] The CDCR superseded the:[7]
The CDCR's current Divisions and Boards include (among others):[8][9]
CDCR operates all state institutions, and oversees variety of community correctional facilities and camps, monitors all parolees during their entry back into society.
According to the Department’s official Web site, "Currently there are 33 adult correctional institutions, 13 adult community correctional facilities, and eight juvenile facilities in California that house more than 165,000 adult offenders and nearly 3,200 juvenile offenders."[12] This inmate population makes the CDCR the largest state-run prison system in the United States.[13]
Regarding adult prisons, CDCR has the task of receiving and housing inmates that were convicted of felony crimes within the State of California. When an adult inmate arrives at a state prison, he/she is assigned a classification based on his/her committed offense. Each prison is designed to house different varieties of inmate offenders, from Level I inmates to Level IV inmates; the higher the level, the higher risk the inmate poses. Selected prisons within the state are equipped with security housing units, reception centers, and/or "condemned" units. These security levels are defined as follows:[14]
According to the Department’s official Web site, "there are more than 148,000 adult parolees and 3,800 juvenile parolees supervised by the CDCR."[12] A 2002 article found that "California’s growth in the numbers of people on parole supervision — and in the numbers whose parole has been revoked — has far exceeded the growth in the rest of the nation."[15] California accounted for 12 percent of the U.S. population but 18% of the U.S. parole population, and almost 90,000 California parolees returned to prison in 2000.[15]
At San Quentin, the non-profit organization California Reentry Program "helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences."[16]
CDCR correctional peace officers are law enforcement officers as indicated in California penal code sections 830.2 and 830.5, as their primary duties are to provide public safety, corrections, and law enforcement services in and outside of state institutional grounds, state operated medical facilities, and camps while engaged in the performance of their duties. In addition, CDCR employs approximately 700 Special Agents (criminal investigators) who are assigned statewide (investigations of organized crime involving parolees and inmates, prison gangs, intelligence, and narcotics enforcement).
The primary duties of these officers include, but are not limited to, providing public safety and law enforcement services in and around California's adult and youth institutions, fire camps, and state operated medical facilities and hospitals, and community correctional facilities. These officers also monitor and supervise parolees who are released back into the general public. Other primary duties include investigation and apprehension of institutional escapees and parolees at large (PAL), prison gangs, statewide narcotics enforcement and investigations (involving institutions), etc.
CDCR also operates specialized units such as Investigations Services Unit (ISU), Institutional Gang Investigations (IGI), Transportation Unit, Crisis Response Teams or Special Emergency Response Team (CDCR's version of police SWAT team), Negotiations Management Unit (NMT), K-9 unit, Narcotics Investigations, etc.
As of May 2010, CDCR employed over 30,000 peace officers, classified by titles such as state correctional officers, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, counselors, parole agents, inspector generals, special agents (criminal investigators) and EMPs.
CDCR Peace Officers are trained at the Basic Correctional Peace Officer Academy located in Galt, California. Cadets must complete a 16-week formal and comprehensive training program. The curriculum consists of 640 hours (4 months) of training. Instruction includes but is not limited to firearms, chemical agents, non-lethal impact weapons, arrest and control techniques, state law and department policies and procedures, etc. Cadets must also successfully complete Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) minimum requirement course. Upon completion of the academy cadets are sworn in as CDCR peace officers. Upon assignment to their work institution or location, these officers also undergo further training for 2 years as vocational apprentices (1 year of which is spent on probation). Upon completion of their 2 year training they are then considered regular state correctional peace officers (CDCR officers)[17]
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page Web site, since the inception of what is currently CDCR, 33 employees have been killed in the line of duty.[18] Most recently, on January 10, 2005, Officer Manuel Ariza Gonzalez Jr. was killed in the line of duty at the California Institution for Men located in Chino.[19] An inmate fatally stabbed Officer Gonzalez with a shank (inmate manufactured knife).[20] The suspect was later charged with "assault by a life prisoner," which is a capital crime in California, and with murder;[21] however, as of October 2007 no trial date had been set.[22]
Condemned male prisoners are held at San Quentin State Prison. Condemned female prisoners are held at the Central California Women's Facility. Executions take place at San Quentin. The State of California took full control of capital punishment in 1891. Originally executions took place at San Quentin and at Folsom State Prison. Folsom's last execution occurred on December 3, 1937.[23]
There are at multiple ongoing lawsuits over medical care in the California prison system. Plata v. Schwarzenegger is a federal class action civil rights lawsuit alleging unconstitutionally inadequate medical services, and as a result of a stipulation between the plaintiffs and the state, the court issued a injunction requiring defendants to provide “only the minimum level of medical care required under the Eighth Amendment.” However, three years after approving the stipulation as an order of the court, the court conducted an evidentiary hearing that revealed the continued existence of appalling conditions arising from defendants’ failure to provide adequate medical care to California inmates. As a result, the court ruled in June 2005 and issued an order on October 3, 2005 putting the CDCR’s medical health care delivery system in receivership, citing the "depravity" of the system.[24] In February 2006, the judge appointed Robert Sillen to the position[25] and Sillen was replaced by J. Clark Kelso in January 2008.[26]
Coleman v. Schwarzenegger is a federal class action civil rights lawsuit alleging unconstitutionally inadequate mental health care, filed on April 23, 1990. On September 13, 1995 the court found the delivery of mental health care violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and issued an order for injunctive relief requiring defendants to develop plans to remedy the constitutional violations under the supervision of a special master.
Following the Governor’s issuance of the State of Emergency Proclamation, the plaintiffs in Plata and Coleman filed motions to convene a three-judge court to limit the prison population. On July 23, 2007 both the Plata and Coleman courts granted the plaintiff's motions and recommended that the cases be assigned to the same three-judge court.[13] The Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed and, on July 26, 2007, convened the instant three-judge district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2284.
As of 2008-09 fiscal year, the state of California spent approximately $16,000 per inmate per year on prison health care. [27] This amount was by far the largest in the country and more than triple the $4,400 spent per inmate in 2001[28] The state with the second largest prison population in the country, Texas, spent less than $4,000 per inmate per year. [29]
Officers of the department are represented by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (the CCPOA.) It was founded in 1957 and its stated goals include the protection and safety of officers, and the advocation of laws, funding and policies to improve work operations and protect public safety. The union has had its controversies over the years, including criticism of its large contributions to former California Governor Gray Davis. Since the California recall election, 2003, the CCPOA has been a vocal critic of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In June, 2008, the union came under investigation from the from both the California Office of the Inspector General and the CDCR for its role in the hiring of a 21-year-old parolee by Minorities in Law Enforcement, an affiliate of CCPOA.[30] Upon conclusion of investigations by both agencies, no wrongdoing was found.
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