MEASURE :  S.C.A. No. 8
AUTHOR(S) :  Vasconcellos.
TOPIC :  Prisoners: rehabilitation.
HOUSE LOCATION :  SEN

TYPE OF BILL :
                Active
                Non-Urgency
                Non-Appropriations
                2/3 Vote Required
                Non-State-Mandated Local Program
                Fiscal
                Non-Tax Levy

LAST HIST. ACT. DATE:  02/21/2003
LAST HIST. ACTION   :  From print.  May be acted upon on or after  March  23.

TITLE :  A resolution to propose to the people of the State of
 California an amendment to the Constitution of the
 State, by adding Section 15.5 to Article 1 thereof,
 relating to prisoners.

BILL NUMBER: SCA 8 INTRODUCED
 BILL TEXT
 

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Vasconcellos

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2003

   Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8--A resolution to propose to
the people of the State of California an amendment to the
Constitution of the State, by adding Section 15.5 to Article 1
thereof, relating to prisoners.
 
 

 LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
 

   SCA 8, as introduced, Vasconcellos.  Prisoners: rehabilitation.
   Existing law requires the Director of Corrections to cause each
person newly committed to state prison to be examined and studied, as
specified, in order to, among other things, aid in the person's
rehabilitation.
   This measure would require the director to cause each person
incarcerated in state prison, within 90 days of entry, to be
evaluated, as specified, with respect to his or her educational and
vocational level of development and capacity and with respect to his
or her psychosocial level of development and ability to lead a
constructive life.  Based on these evaluations, the measure would
require that a program be prescribed and implemented for the inmate
that addresses his or her deficient levels of educational,
vocational, and psychosocial development, as specified, so as to
better equip him or her to lead a constructive life upon release from
prison.
   The measure would also require the Director of Corrections to make
a parenting education course available to every inmate incarcerated
in the state corrections system who is serving a sentence for a crime
involving his or her child or a child formerly under his or her
care.  This measure would require the parenting course to be
susceptible of completion within the sentences of these inmates, as
specified, and would provide that there could be no reduction in
sentence for one of these inmates who failed to complete an available
parenting course.
   The measure would provide that it would become operative on
January 1, 2005.
   Vote:  2/3.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.
 
 
 

   WHEREAS, California law states that "the Legislature finds and
declares that the purpose of imprisonment for crime is punishment";
and
   WHEREAS, California's rate of recidivism is very high, more than
one in every two inmates paroled returns to prison, when compared to
those of other comparable industrial states and other industrial
western nations; and
   WHEREAS, The manner in which our current system of corrections is
now operating is counterproductive to the goal of promoting the
public safety of all Californians; and
   WHEREAS, We owe it to the people of California and their safety to
far better attend systematically to the constructive rehabilitation
of each of our prison inmates prior to his or her release from prison
so as to better enable each of these inmates, upon emerging from
prison into our midst, to do so constructively and not endanger
public safety; and
   WHEREAS, The purpose of our entire system of law enforcement and
corrections ought also to be to promote the public safety of all
Californians; and
   WHEREAS, This measure proposes to reform the corrections system to
live up to its name, and to advance and ensure the public safety of
all Californians by attending to inmates in ways that hold the most
promise for enabling each of them to cure, or at least curb, his or
her dangerous ways before his or her release from prison back into
our midst; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2003-04 Regular Session
commencing on the second day of December 2002, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
   First--That Section 15.5 is added to Article I thereof, to read:
      SEC. 15.5. For each inmate who becomes subject to the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections on or after January 1,
2005, all of the following apply:
   (a) The Director of Corrections shall cause both of the following
to occur:
   (1) Within 90 days of entry, the inmate shall be evaluated in an
open, public, and comprehensive way with respect to his or her
educational and vocational level of development and capacity.
   (2) Within 90 days of entry, the inmate shall be evaluated
comprehensively with respect to his or her psychosocial level of
development and ability to lead a constructive life.
   (b) Based on the evaluations conducted pursuant to subdivision
(a), the Department of Corrections shall prescribe and implement for
each inmate a smart, comprehensive rehabilitation program that
addresses his or her deficient levels of educational, vocational, and
psychosocial development, so as to better equip him or her to lead a
constructive, safe life upon his or her release from prison into our
midst, as follows:
   (1) The educational program shall be provided, as needed and
insofar as the length of sentence allows, to enable each inmate to
qualify to pass the California high school equivalency certificate
test and to obtain a California high school equivalency certificate,
or high school equivalent, while the inmate is incarcerated, if the
inmate has not yet advanced to that educational level.
   (2) The psychosocial program shall be provided as needed to enable
each inmate to measure up to a standard of normalcy and capacity to
behave constructively and to lead a self-sufficient life, according
to a set of standard capacities as determined by an advisory team of
mental health experts appointed by the Director of Corrections.
   (3) The vocational capacity program shall be provided as needed to
equip each inmate to measure up to set vocational standards,
according to a standard skills level determined by an advisory team
appointed by the Director of Corrections, consisting of persons
knowledgeable in the arenas of employment and vocational education.
   (c) It is the intent of the People of the State of California that
this program be sufficiently funded and fully implemented so that
each inmate is enabled to prepare himself or herself to reenter our
community and live constructively and safely.
   (d) It is the intent of the People of the State of California that
this program be annually monitored and assessed by the office of the
Inspector General, which shall annually report to the Legislature
and Governor with respect to the following:
   (1) How well the program is being operated to live up to its
purpose, goals, and mandates.
   (2) How the program could and should be improved.
   (3) Whether the program is proving successful in reducing
recidivism and improving the public safety of Californians.
   (e) The Director of Corrections shall make a parenting education
course available to every inmate incarcerated in the state
corrections system who is serving a sentence for a crime involving
his or her child or a child formerly under his or her care.  This
parenting education course shall be designed to be susceptible of
completion within the sentences of these inmates, as adjusted for
eligible work, behavior, or other reduction.  However, no otherwise
applicable reduction may be applied to the sentence of any of these
inmates who fails to complete this parenting education, if the
education is provided as required by this subdivision.
   Second--That Section 15.5 of Article I shall become operative on
January 1, 2005.