People sentenced to CDCR held in county jails

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has taken a serious role in ensuring physical distancing in state prisons and ensuring incarcerated people are safe from the spread of COVID-19.  CDCR has resumed intake as normal from all counties, with the exception of Los Angeles. Intake is accepted

County jail intake has been suspended at Wasco State Prison (WSP) since December 29, 2021. Intake at North Kern State Prison (NKSP) is suspended as of January 10, 2022. Intake at both institutions will be suspended at least through the week of January 24, 2022. After that, the situation will be reassessed contingent on COVID cases at the prisons. Intake at Central California Women’s Facility remains open at this time.

CDCR is accepting Prison Packets from Los Angeles County only. CDCR Case Records Services (CRS) has asked  jail staff to forward the prison packets for individuals who appear to have five years or less remaining on their sentence.

The designated CRS staff will complete a thorough review of the legal documents and ensure the release date calculation is correct. A  Release Date Status Sheet will be generated with the incarcerated persons’ CDCR number and release date to be forwarded to the incarcerated person.  Release dates include all pre- and post-sentence credits, as well as Good Conduct Credits as prescribed by law. After a release date is calculated, a CDCR number will be issued to the individual in question.  Prior to reaching the release date, the CRS staff will forward a release memorandum to the county jail so the individual can be processed for release.

The release memorandum sent to the county jail provides the releasing individual instruction to report to the nearest CDCR Parole Unit. Staff at the Parole Unit will connect the individual with an agent who will process the release plans.  The individual will be supervised by either a state parole agent or a county probation officer for Post Release Community Supervision.

Pursuant to Penal Code (PC) 1170 (e)(6), notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the prisoner or his or her family member or designee may independently request consideration for recall and resentencing by contacting the chief medical officer at the prison or the secretary.

1170(e)(11): The provisions of this subdivision shall be available to an inmate who is sentenced to a county jail pursuant to subdivision (h). For purposes of those inmates, “secretary” or “warden” shall mean the county correctional administrator and “chief medical officer” shall mean a physician designated by the county correctional administrator for this purpose.

If an individual meets the criteria set in PC 1170(e):

Compassionate release is designated for incarcerated people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that is likely to produce death in 12 months or less and that condition did not exist at the time of sentencing. If an individual meets that criteria, a request for consideration for compassionate release can be initiated by the incarcerated person or their family by contacting the incarcerated person’s primary care physician in the county jail.