Commitment to focus on health, restorative justice and community integration
SACRAMENTO — The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) have unveiled expanded mission and vision statements meant to reflect the joint priorities of creating a prison environment that provides the incarcerated population with the tools necessary to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society upon their release.
The expanded priorities in the new mission and vision statements focus on enhancing public safety by providing treatment, rehabilitative, and restorative justice programs to our population, in a safe and humane environment. The new vision and mission statements result from legislation in 2016 (AB 2590) that added restorative justice to the purpose of imprisonment, along with punishment and rehabilitation, and directed CDCR to update its mission statement accordingly.
“We are envisioning new ways of fulfilling our mission of public safety that align with our ideals and values for 2020,” said Ralph Diaz, CDCR Secretary, and J. Clark Kelso, CCHCS Receiver, in a joint statement. “Most of California’s incarcerated individuals will one day return to their community. When we address the roots of criminality through addiction treatment, mental health care, and education, combined with reentry services in the community, we are helping to make California safer and more productive.”
Vision
We enhance public safety and promote successful community reintegration through education, treatment and active participation in rehabilitative and restorative justice programs.
Mission
To facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in our care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society by providing education, treatment, rehabilitative, and restorative justice programs, all in a safe and humane environment.
Some highlighted examples of how CDCR and CCHCS are fulfilling their new missions:
Expanding substance use treatment: In 2020, CDCR and CCHCS will roll out an enhanced Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment program, which uses a scientifically based treatment approach to battle the chronic illness of addiction. This program will offer participants medicated assisted treatment, comprehensive cognitive behavioral interventions and safe, therapeutic housing. This initiative will focus on whole-person treatment from incarceration through return to the community.
Addressing criminality: CDCR has increased capacity in Cognitive Behavioral Intervention programs focused on criminal thinking, anger management, family relationships, and victim impact by almost 300 percent over the last five years.
Career training: The department has more than doubled the capacity of Career Technical Education opportunities, providing our population with real-world job skills. The new “Microhome” initiatives at Correctional Training Facility in Soledad and Folsom State Prison in Sacramento provide in-demand job training to help inmates succeed when they return to society.
College education: CDCR offers face-to-face community college programming in 34 prisons, with more opportunities growing every day. When California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi offered only distance learning college courses, it averaged 200 to 250 participants a year. When the prison introduced face-to-face courses, in partnership with Cerro Coso Community College in 2017, enrollment in those classes jumped to 740 with an additional 200 enrolled in distance learning courses. Providing face-to-face instruction at Kern Valley State Prison, offered through Bakersfield College, increased the number of students from 30 to 498.
Restorative justice: In 2019, CDCR awarded grants to eligible nonprofit organizations to implement victim impact programs in California prisons. These programs will share a common goal of giving victims the opportunity for their voices to be heard and for incarcerated men and women to fully understand the consequences of their actions.
Reentry: Since 2014-2015, CDCR has increased its Transitions reentry program capacity from 2,430 to 20,734, a more than 753 percent increase. Transitions is a five-week program provided near the end of an inmate’s incarceration to focus on their community reentry needs; such as, financial literacy, job search skills, and provides community resources. This increase aligns with our priority of facilitating the successful reintegration of individuals in our care back to their communities.
Community partnerships: We continue to expand our relationships with community partners throughout California, including an historic undertaking to open the first-ever firefighter training program for recently-paroled firefighters. Through a partnership with CAL FIRE, California Conservation Corps and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, the Ventura Training Center provides advanced industry training and reentry services aimed at helping those who served as incarcerated firefighters find success in the fire service field.
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January 08, 2019