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New Cost-Containing Rehabilitation Model Announced

The State’s fiscal crisis is resulting in a reduction of $250 million in Fiscal Year 2009-10 to CDCR’s rehabilitative programs for adult offenders, including  education, vocational, substance abuse and other programs for inmates and parolees.  In order to achieve these savings without compromising public safety, CDCR is developing new ways of delivering rehabilitation programs to reach as many inmates as possible with reduced funding. 

“The new budget reality has forced our Department to make tough choices as we weigh population reductions, staff layoffs, and a significant cut to our rehabilitation programming,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “We must target our limited resources for programs most likely to reduce recidivism and keep our communities and our prisons safe.”

“We are changing the way we do business to reach as many offenders as possible with less funding,” said Elizabeth Siggins, Acting Chief Deputy Secretary for Adult Programs. “We are working on strategies to shorten the length of in-prison substance abuse treatment, utilizing long-term offenders as counselors and literacy tutors, developing alternative methods of delivering education, and increasing volunteer activities.”

For additional information, see “CDCR Reduces Rehabilitation Programs, Headquarters Budget To Contain Costs and Increase Efficiencies"; and “Fact Sheet, Adult Rehabilitation Program Reductions/New Rehabilitation Model, FY 2009-10.”

The ABCs of Adult Rehabilitation

  • Access to basic education and drug treatment;

  • Basing programs on evidence-based practices to reduce recidivism; and

  • Capturing the skills of inmates and volunteers to augment the capacity of rehabilitative programs.

Evidence-based Rehabilitation Reforms

Adult Programs has led landmark reforms to bring evidence-based programs and tools to turn prison bars into bridges of opportunity.  As of September 2009, reform measures completed include:

  • Added 2,000 in-prison substance abuse treatment slots
  • Increased education program utilization
  • Obtained additional rehabilitation services
  • Launched the California Logic Model based on eight evidence-based principles and practices shown to reduce recidivism.
  • Launched COMPAS offender risk and needs assessment instrument.
  • Developed a prison-to-employment program
Newest Achievements:

Offender Mentor Certification Program

The first class of 47 certified alcohol and drug counselors trained at California State Prison, Solano (CSP-Solano) graduated on August 28, 2009. Graduates from the Offender Mentor Certification Program (OMCP) will provide substance abuse counseling services to other inmates anbd be able to use the certification to obtain employment upon release.  California is the first state in the nation to certify long-term inmates as alcohol and drug counselors who will assist other inmates in their recovery – thereby expanding treatment for addiction without increasing costs to taxpayers.  For additional information, see www.cdcr.ca.gov/DARS.

Risk and Needs Assessments

For the first time, CDCR is using an evidence-based instrument - Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) - to assess offender needs and assign them to appropriate programs for maximum effectiveness. As of September 1, 2009, more than 40,000 COMPAS assessments have been completed. The next step is to roll out the COMPAS instrument to all 33 prisons.

The California Static Risk Assessment (CSRA) uses the offender’s past criminal history and characteristics such as age and gender to predict the likelihood they will re-offend.  The CSRA has been integrated into the COMPAS risk and needs assessment tool.

Inmates work on construction skills

Sex Offender Treatment Symposium

On July 27-28, 2009, CDCR hosted a Symposium and Working Group on In-Prison Sex Offender Treatment to begin developing a response to this critical need in the state’s corrections system. The Symposium was sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections, which brought national and international experts to assist CDCR in developing a plan for California.

ab 900 and Expert Panel

In May 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 900, the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007. This important legislation fundamentally reforms California’s system of incarcerating and rehabilitating prisoners – to improve public safety by reducing the rates at which offenders re-victimize communities and return to prison.

The Act is a major effort to reform California’s prison system by reducing prison overcrowding and increasing rehabilitative programming.  Implementation of these reforms has been guided by the finding of the Expert Panel on Adult Offender Recidivism Reduction Programming (Expert Panel), comprised of correctional experts from around the country, and the Governor's Rehabilitation Strike Team.   In June 2007, the Expert Panel issued a Report to the California State Legislature: A Roadmap for Effective Offender Programming in California.  This report provided recommendations to guide the Department in creating a rehabilitation model based on evidence-based practices, known as the California Logic Model. 

Converting California Prisons to Institutions for Change
Inmate Graduates
  • Use evidence-based programs
  • Reduce victimization
  • Prepare offenders for success
  • Strengthen public safety
  • Decrease offender re-incarceration
  • Save taxpayer costs
CDCR Lays Groundwork for California
New Start Prison To Employment Program

Holding a job is one of the best predictors of parolee success and key to reducing victimization and strengthening public safety. The link between in-prison rehabilitation programs and employment is critical.  California’s New Start prison-to-employment program is modeled after the best practices from other states. The New Start Program has several key elements:

  • Use labor market data to determine the types of jobs that will actually be available in each county;
  • Matching existing training and work opportunities in prison to jobs available in communities;
  • Providing individual documents needs to secure employment prior to release from prison (e.g., social security card, birth certification, selective service registration, etc)
  • Providing essential job prerequisites such as resumes, trade certificates, licenses, trade union members, etc; and,
  • Providing support to seek, secure and maintain employment through a collaborative partnership with the community to link offenders to jobs and a support system.

For additional information on the California New Start, see “Inmate Treatment and Prison to Employment Plan,” Legislative Report, 2008.

California Rehabilitation Oversight Board Reports CDCR Progress

The California Rehabilitation Oversight Board (C-ROB) is mandated to regularly examine and report biannually to the Governor and the Legislature on rehabilitative programming provided to inmates and parolees by the CDCR.  In its most recent report (September 15, 2009), found that:

  • CDCR graduated its first classes from the evidence based programs Thinking for a Change (T4C) and Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage (CALM) at the proof project at Solano.

  • C-ROB commends the Office of Research for the progress it has made with data collection, quality, and distribution.

  • With a possible population reduction and guaranteed budget cuts in the near future, CDCR must allocate its limited rehabilitation programming resources effectively.

  • Throughout the budget negotiations, CDCR has shown a dedication to ensuring rehabilitation program resources are allocated to those inmates designated as the target population by the Expert Panel Report (moderate-to-high risk to recidivate, moderate-to-high need and 7-36 months to serve).

  • For California New Start, $5.4 million was allocated to local community based one-stop career centers to provide employment services to parolees.

Why We Must Change

The mission of the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services is to maintain a comprehensive victim services program and establish justice practices to ensure rehabilitation to offenders—and accountability to their victims.

In July 2005, the “R” was added to the CDCR – to emphasize the importance of rehabilitating offenders so that they succeed when they are released, and do not return to a life of crime. Through the implementation of AB 900 and other reforms, California is moving away from an outdated mode of prison prisoner incarceration to institutions that create opportunities for change.

  • 95 percent of California state prison inmates will be released to society.
  • CDCR's rehabilitation reforms are designed to prepare inmates for a successful reintegration into their communities in order to reduce re-victimization and recidivism.
  • Nearly 50 percent of all California prisoners released in 2006 were not assigned to any rehabilitation program or job assignment during their most recent prison sentences, according to the Expert Panel on Adult Offender and Recidivism Reduction Programming (June 2007).
  • California has among the highest recidivism rates in the nation.
  • The waste of human potential and the devastation to families will be alleviated if inmates are better prepared for success upon release.
  • Overall prison population reductions due to the reforms included in AB 900 and recommendations of the Expert Panel could result in significant savings for the state.

Adult Programs

Adult Programs is at the heart of rehabilitation activity in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Its goals are to:

  • Provide effective evidence based programming to adult offenders.
  • Create strong partnerships with local government, community based providers, and the communities to which offenders return in order to provide services that are critical to offenders’ success on parole.
  • Establish and nurture collaborative partnerships linking Department facilities and communities in which they are located.

Adult Programs is comprised of the:

For additional information on Adult Programs and on California’s landmark rehabilitation reforms, see:

Reform Fact Sheets
Reform Design
Reform Reports
Legislative Reports
California Rehabilitation Oversight Board (C-ROB) Reports