Welcome to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
About CDCR

Focusing on the “R” in CDCR

Sitting with his father, a proud graduate of an in-prison education program receives a General Education Degree

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has a comprehensive approach to increasing effective offender rehabilitative programs that will contribute to offender success upon return to their home community, reduce recidivism, and improve public safety.  This plan will:

Increasing Utilization of Existing Resources
CDCR has developed a plan to increase rehabilitation programming in two phases:

  • In Phase I, CDCR is increasing utilization of existing programming resources and maximize offender participation in current programs;

  • In Phase II, CDCR will increase capacity through redirection of resources or by requesting new resources and space, as needed.

Provide For Integrated “Pathways to Rehabilitation Project”

  • This integrated rehabilitation model will demonstrate and test implementation of a California Logic Model [see chart on pg. 11] recommended by the Expert Panel on Adult Offender Recidivism Programming.  The project will provide an integrated program including use of secondary assessments tools, and preparation of an offender case plan, and will offer at least one program from each of the six core program components.  The project will be piloted using a reception center (Deuel Vocational Institution), a general population institution (California State Prison, Solano), a Secure Community Reentry Facility (Northern California Women’s Facility) and a parole region (Region I) for a period of approximately two years.

Additional Accomplishments:

  • Upwards of 2,000 beds for substance abuse treatment have been sited at eight institutions.  The last program site will be installed by December 2008.  All eight sites will identify alternative locations to provide the program if modular space is delayed.  CDCR expects some contracts may be in place as early as the Fall of 2008;

  • Given current participation rates, CDCR fully expects to meet the 75% participation rate for substance abuse treatment as required by AB 900.  In December 2007, participation in the Substance Abuse Treatment program was 9,086 (94 percent) with 9,669 slots available;

  • CDCR has begun using the Correctional Offender Management Profiling Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) assessment tool at all 12 reception centers.  At the present time, only a portion of the new commitments being received are having an assessment completed, due to the limited number of staff performing the assessment.  However, most offenders leaving prison to parole will receive a COMPAS assessment;

  • The teacher hiring and retention plan has been implemented and now:

  • The teacher workforce has been increased from 1,217 to 1,392 over the prior year;

  • Successful negotiation of teacher pay parity is equal to school districts.

  • CDCR completed the California Static Risk Model project, resulting in the state’s first validated risk to re-offend tool.  This validated risk tool will now be incorporated into the COMPAS assessment as well as other departmental risk assessment tools such as parole earned discharge, parole violation matrix, and Board of Parole Hearings risk assessments;

  • An assessment is currently underway to review infrastructure and support needs related to new program development (i.e., facility space, staffing needs, and staff training)

  • CDCR is developing a system of participation incentives to encourage inmate participation in and achievement of identified goals/milestones.  CDCR is developing a plan using information from a variety of sources (e.g., data collected from other states, substance abuse program practices, and wardens) to create a menu of core incentives and optional best practices.  Incentives include reinstatement of the previous privilege card system, enhanced yard time, night yard, expansion of visiting, additional quarterly packages, additional canteen draw, first to access canteen, and many others.  This effort is currently underway in partnership with Adult Programs and the Division of Adult Institutions.  Executive approval of the program participation incentive plan is anticipated in mid 2008. This is a key part of the effort to increase utilization of existing program resources.