History of the Re-Organization

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
History of the Re-Organization
Forthcoming Goals and Activities

November/December 2003

• Appointments of new Agency Secretary and Undersecretary
• Began to re-structure the Agency leadership by establishing oversight positions in:
  • Health Care Administration
  • Labor Relations
  • Victims Services

January - June 2004

• Re-structured the Department’s investigative processes
• Implemented Zero Tolerance regarding the “Code of Silence”
• Report from federal court master recognized Agency “…remedial plan is better organized and staffed today…”
• Began Strategic Planning efforts
• Developed the new Agency Vision/Mission/Values

July 2004

• Held a week-long Strategic Planning conference:  Future Focused Leadership; A Call to Action
  • Conference designed to engage:
    • Executive Leadership
    • Wardens
    • Superintendents
    • Healthcare Managers
    • Agency Stakeholders/Partners

August 2004

• Formed the first 20 Structural Teams to work on re-structuring the Agency
• Developed training curriculum for the “Code of Silence” and the Disciplinary Matrix
• To assist with reforming the Agency, identified a group of consultants that specialize in:
  • Strategic Planning
  • Business Process Re-engineering
  • Organizational Development
  • Customer Service
  • Performance Measurement
  • Parole Re-entry
  • Information Technology
  • Healthcare
  • Human Resources
  • Communications
  • Education

September – October 2004

• Held workshops with organizational leadership and Structural Teams on:
  • Organizational development
  • Customer Service
  • Performance Measures
  • Ethics and Code of Silence
  • Risk Management
• Formed Teams to work on the Strategic Plan Goals, Strategies and Objectives

November 2004

• Submitted the first ever Agency Strategic Plan and proposed Structural Reorganization to the Governor's Office
• Met with Facility Captains, Correctional Captains, Majors, and Treatment Team Supervisors on strategic plan efforts and re-organization plans

December 2004

• Farrell vs. Allen lawsuit settlement reached
• Governor approved Agency Strategic Plan and Structural Reorganization plan          

The CDCR Participated in the following major 2004 Legislative Hearings:

• Folsom lockdown
• Code of Silence
• Investigations
• Health Care
• Parole
• Adverse Actions

January 2005

• Governor addressed the YACA structural reorganization during his State of the State address
• Governor submitted YACA reorganization plan to the Little Hoover Commission
• YACA consolidated six functions under the Agency
  • Legislative Affairs
  • Public Affairs
  • Labor Relations
  • Legal Affairs
  • Internal Affairs
  • Information Technology
• Conducted kick-off Community Collaboration meeting January 25-26
• First Ever Agency newsletter, YACA News begins production and distribution, now called Staff News

February 2005

• Conducted Ethical Decision Making training session for YACA executives
• Little Hoover Commission approves the Strategic Plan and Structural Reorganization plan – sends to the Legislature
• Second meeting with Facility Captains, Correctional Captains, Majors, and Treatment Team Supervisors on Agency reform efforts and Ethical Decision Making

March 2005

• Establish Strategic Planning Implementation Teams
• Established outcome measure and performance indicators for each strategic goal area

April 2005

• Developed first ever Community Resource Directory on the YACA website
• Consolidated three additional functions:
  • Administrative Services (Fiscal Management, Contracts & Business Services, Facilities Management, Human Resources)
  • Civil Rights
  • Victim and Survivor Services
• Legislative Hearings on SB 737 – companion bill to GRP
• Governor honored Victims’ Rights organizations for more than 25 years of continuous service to crime victims
• Meeting with Educational, Vocational, and Mentoring Community organizations
• April 25th - Legislature approves the Strategic Plan and Structural Reorganization plan
• Meeting held with Chief Deputy Wardens, Associate Wardens, and Youth Superintendents on the Agency’s reform efforts and strategic planning implementation process 
• A Governance/Matrix training session was held on April 21-22, 2005 for all Agency leadership

May 2005

• Legislature approves SB 737 (Governor’s Reorganization Plan)
• The Governor’s Reorganization Plan (Chapter 10, Statutes of 2005) was modified and signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger on May 10, 2005, which called for the new California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to begin operation July 1, 2005.

This reorganization allows the department to better manage the resources that the state dedicates to protecting the public from criminals. It's not the final solution, but it’s the first major step toward reforming corrections in California.

The department’s most fundamental mission – public safety – is not going to change.

Beginning July 1, an innovative Global Positioning Satellite pilot began statewide to increase public safety and improve tracking of the highest-risk parolees.  Nearly 100 high risk sex offender parolees are being monitored by CDCR, and local law enforcement.

To date, more than a dozen offenders have had their parole revoked because of the remarkable tracking of these devices.

This GPS pilot is a clear example of the kind of public safety activities this new department will continue to use – as long as there is clear evidence to support its continued effectiveness toward improving public safety.

All the work to date is considered the first stage of the re-organization.

The CDCR has already begun work on stage two.  These are some of the highlights of what can be expected of department in the coming months and years.

• Our immediate areas of effort include:
• Providing greater training, and more comprehensive recruitment efforts to ensure we have the best staff possible to replace an anticipated wave of retiring staff.
• Establishing an Academy and continuing education and leadership programs that provide ongoing training and development for veteran employees, similar to the approach we take with new recruits to our academy.
• Consolidating all our information technology resources under one roof, including computers, local area networks, disaster recovery plans and ongoing security efforts with critical and sensitive inmate data.
• Develop a priority list for the new organization, to make sure the most mission critical software applications are developed, tested and brought online statewide to support these necessary programs in a more efficient, and effective manner.
• As the organization and critical components such as juvenile justice and adult operations are placed into direct reporting to the Secretary, the department will set up consistency in how individuals and program areas are held accountable for performance. 
• A comprehensive risk management program will be used to identify ongoing practices, any policies and specific conditions that pose risks not only to human life or safety, but also to budgeting and litigation.
• The department will use evidence-based measures and national standards to evaluate the relative strengths or weakness of specific programs to ensure that money is being spent prudently, with a positive return.
• In an effort to avoid class action lawsuits for failure to follow our own policy or constitutional standards, The department will use risk management approach to identify patterns of risk, review and monitor compliance of policies – not just the ones under present court review – and ensure that timelines are met when we have been statutorily charged with new policy directives by the Legislature and Governor.
• Develop a comprehensive crime prevention program and use evidence-based research to reduce criminality and victimization.

The department will accomplish this by doing the following:

• Linking offender risk and needs to successful community reintegration by developing those resources outside prison walls.
• Ensuring safe and secure facilities for both staff and offenders, including rehabilitating legacy facilities to meet minimum constitutional standards.
• Expanding and improving existing, evidence-based educational vocation, and training programs to prepare an inmate for their return to the community from which they came.
• Elevating victims rights and considerations to those of offenders, and establish restorative justice practices so offenders are held accountable and can use the experience in their rehabilitation and return to their communities.

• Continue to seek out partnerships and develop meaningful programs and processes to promote shared responsibility for community safety – knowing that offenders must have options to successfully reintegrate into the communities they came from.

• Those partnerships will include intergovernmental collaborations with departments and agencies such as Mental Health, Employment Development, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to give parolees returning to their communities the best possible chance for re-integration.
• An ongoing collaboration with academic and research communities will continue to identify evidence-based strategies as well as evaluate the effectiveness of various offender programs.
• Health care delivery is a mission-critical effort and will require an improved organization design, as well as an efficient method to deliver quality health care. 
• The department is presently undergoing federal receivership in this area.  This oversight will improve our ability to deliver healthcare to inmates and youth offenders.
  •  To accomplish this the department must:
• Develop and implement a managed care system that meets constitutional and community levels of care while being cost effective
• Like our efforts in ensuring that our policies are being followed correctly by managers and line staff, a process to continually improve and evaluate the quality of health care delivered to inmates must be developed.

• To accomplish these goals, we will have to establish partnerships, both private and public to manage and deliver necessary health care services.
• In an effort to increase public safety and enhance public health, we must establish mental health services and health care transitional programs for offenders to use when the return to their home communities.

The elements of phase two are detailed in a comprehensive and realistic strategic plan delivered to the Governor in December 2004. However, the timeline to accomplish these goals and overcome these challenges are easily five to 10 years.