General Information
If you are a friend or a family member of a person incarcerated in a State Prison your life has changed in many ways. This can be a difficult time for you. You may have lost the person who supported you financially or who cared for your children. Relatives and friends may act differently. Your relationship with the inmate has now changed. Your contacts with the inmate will now be subject to the rules of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. There are restrictions on the times an inmate can call home and the days an inmate can visit. This can be very frustrating for the person on the outside who has to adapt his or her life to maintain a relationship with the inmate.
Navigating the correctional system can be difficult if you are not aware of the Department’s regulations. Our office has put together some basic information to assist you in navigating this system. Hopefully this information will guide you as you cope with these changes in your life.
How can I locate an inmate who has just entered the California State Prison system?
The Search Population web page is an online database, updated daily. It was designed to help family members find inmates housed within CDCR prisons and includes the location of other CDCR inmates transferred/housed in California out of State Correctional Facilities (COCF) pursuant to a California placement agreement. The website also provides driving directions to facilities and includes other helpful links such as general information, visiting guidelines, and how to send money, packages and messages to inmates. The website is provided as an informational service only and does not constitute and should not be relied upon as an official record of the CDCR. It may contain errors or omissions and may not reflect the true name, age, CDCR number, current location, or admitted date of any individual. You may search by an inmate’s last name or CDCR number. If the inmate’s location cannot be found, contact the Department’s Identification Unit at (916) 445-6713.
How do I find the Rules and Regulations of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation?
California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Division 3
Regardless of commitment circumstances, every person confined in or residing in facilities of the department is subject to the rules and regulations of the Secretary, and to the procedures established by the Warden, Superintendent, or Parole Region Administrator responsible for the operation of that facility or Parole Region. These Department Regulations have the force of law. When the Department proposes to amend or adopt a regulation, it is announced in a Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR). These notices are sequentially numbered by year (e.g., 08 for 2008, 09 for 2009, etc.) and in the order in which they were issued. (01, 02, 03, etc.)
Department Operations Manual (DOM)
These guidelines govern how the Department operates. They have their authority through specific, related laws and regulations found throughout the Penal Code and the California Code of Regulations (Title 15).
How do I become involved in CDCR’s regulation process?
When the Department proposes to amend or adopt a regulation, it is announced in a Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR), distributed to institutions law libraries and posted on the Office of Administrative Law webpage. These notices are sequentially numbered by year (e.g., 08 for 2008, 09 for 2009, etc.) and in the order in which they were issued (01, 02, 03, etc.). The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) ensures that agency regulations are clear, necessary, legally valid, and available to the public. OAL is responsible for reviewing administrative regulations proposed by over 200 state agencies for compliance with the standards set forth in California’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA), for transmitting these regulations to the Secretary of State and for publishing regulations in the California Code of Regulations.
To further understand the process and how you can be involved, please view: http://www.oal.ca.gov/
How do I contact the prison for general information?
The Department is committed to providing the public access to information. Each institution has a Public Information Officer (PIO). View the list of PIO’s