BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2114
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016
Consultant: Matt Dean
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2114 (Eduardo Garcia) - As Amended April 12, 2016
SUMMARY: Appropriates $1.5 million for the purpose of creating reentry
service pilot programs in Alameda, Riverside, Los Angeles,
Monterey and Santa Clara counties. Specifically, this bill:
1)Finds and declares all of the following:
a) Studies have consistently found that prisoners who
maintain close contact with their family members while
incarcerated have better post-release outcomes and lower
recidivism rates. Despite this, corrections officials are
often obstinate in supporting this communication with
respect to written correspondence, visitation, and phone
calls;
b) Revising visitation policies to facilitate visits by
family members, investing in prison-based literacy programs
and less restrictive mail policies, and reducing intrastate
prison and jail phone rates would provide prisoners with
greater opportunities to maintain close relationships with
their families;
c) Research cites that positive fatherhood involvement
improves life trajectory for a child. Also, fatherhood
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involvement in a child's life protects against risk factors
that pose harm to children, such as problematic behavior,
maternal depression, and family economic hardship.
Fatherhood involvement is also associated with promoting
children's social and language skills; and
d) Specific examples of culturally relevant approaches to
parenting, fatherhood support, and young male mentorship
include Cara y Corazón, El Joven Noble, and Circulo de
Hombres, which have been chosen as the culturally based
family strengthening interventions in other initiatives.
2)States that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that accomplishes all of the following:
a) Supports and creates culturally competent programs that
increase opportunities for family friendly contact during
and after imprisonment;
b) Funds and creates culturally competent programmatic
support services and reentry strategies outside of
imprisonment that support fatherhood involvement, family
reunification, and family strengthening; and
c) Supports expanded funding for innovation on culturally
relevant parenting, fatherhood support, and young male
mentorship to decrease the risk of violence, suicide, and
other traumas that children of prisoners who are under 17
years of age may be exposed to by providing education,
skills-based training, and early intervention and treatment
referrals to parents, families, and children.
3)Appropriates the sum of one million five hundred thousand
dollars ($1,500,000) from the General Fund to the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
4)States that the funds appropriated shall be allocated to each
of the following five counties in the event any of these
counties elect to participate in a pilot program: Alameda,
Riverside, Los Angeles, Monterey, and Santa Clara.
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5)Requires these funds to be used to create pilot programs in
each county which will provide reentry services and support to
persons who are, or who are scheduled to be, released from a
county jail. Each pilot program that receives funding pursuant
to this section shall include all of the following components:
a) Support services for recipients who are parent;.
b) A mentorship program that employs a culturally relevant,
population-specific approach that has been employed by
nonprofit organizations such as the National Compadres
Network and the Brotherhood of Elders;
c) The establishment of a collaborative body of training
and technical advisors;
d) The establishment of a Youth Advisory Council to help
inform and guide program leaders;
e) Leadership opportunities, particularly for youth;
f) Services to address mental health issues, including
mental health issues relating to sexual exploitation,
racial and ethnic disparities, and trauma; and
g) An advisory committee in each county to oversee the
establishment and implementation of the pilot program in
the county.
6)States that a pilot program shall be eligible to receive
funding pursuant to this section only if the service providers
meet all of the following criteria:
a) Each provider has a proven track record of providing
meaningful, culturally based programming, including the
support of gender specific and gender fluid approaches;
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b) Each provider offers services that support culturally
based family strengthening, character development, and
community mobilization; and
c) Each provider offers services both before and after the
recipient's release from a county jail.
7)Requires counties that elect to participate in a pilot program
to conduct a study and report to the Legislature on the
effectiveness of the pilot program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Grants and defines the authority of CDCR to operate pilot
programs that affect inmates. (Pen. Code, § 5058.1.)
2)Gives preference to counties siting reentry centers and mental
health day treatment and crisis care so that parolees with
mental health and substance abuse needs can continue to
receive services at the conclusion of their period of parole.
(Gov. Code, § 15820.907, Pen. Code, § 3073.)
3)Creates CDCR authority for the oversight body for
rehabilitation programs under their control. (Pen. Code, §
6140.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 2114 seeks
to address the social and systemic barriers that incarcerated
and previously incarcerated men and woman face through
facilitating healthy relationships with their families.
"Addressing the barriers faced by re-entry from prison not
only supports the well-being of the individual and their
families but also the strengthening of their communities."
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2)Background: According to background submitted by the author,
"As of March 2015, the California prison population stood at
112,300. Less than two thirds of California's adult male
population is nonwhite or Latino (60 percent), but these
groups make up three of every four men in prison: Latinos are
42 percent, Blacks are 29 percent, and other races are 6
percent. Among adult men in 2013, Blacks were incarcerated at
a rate of 4,367 per 100,000, compared to 922 for Latinos, 488
for non-Latino whites, and 34 for Asians.
"About half of men in prison are fathers of minor children and
42 percent of fathers lived with their children at the time of
their arrest.
"Incarceration of fathers destabilizes and harms their
families in many ways. Two-thirds of incarcerated parents are
nonviolent offenders; however, contact between them and their
families is severely restricted and there are very few
policies in place that protect and advocate for the rights of
their children. Children with incarcerated parents are three
times more likely to suffer from developmental or behavioral
problems, along with mental health problems such as
depression."
3)Office of Offender Services: To address and other issues
facing inmates who are about to be released, CDCR has created
many offender programs under the Office of Offender Services.
These programs include Substance Abuse Services Coordination
Agencies, for referral, placement and treatment for drug abuse
with case managers; the Female Offender Treatment and
Employment Program, which allows female parolees to live with
their children in a community setting for up to 15 months; the
Parolee Services Network, which connects CDCR to the
Department of Healthcare Services; and Parolee Service
Centers, which provide residency and support services to help
parolees maintain employment. This bill would create
additional pilot programs to help parents in the criminal
justice system connect with their children while they serve
their commitments.
4)Argument in Support: According to Youth Alliance, "Youth
Alliance supports the National Compadres Network's effort to
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pass this bill because our organization's purpose is in close
alignment with the mission of NCN and the goals of the bill.
NCN's mission is to strengthen, rebalance, and/or redevelop
the traditional "Compadre" extended family system by building
on natural opportunity factors and on what is culturally
considered healthy within an individual, family, community or
culture. The mission of the Youth Alliance is to provide
innovative services that strengthen and enrich youth and
families. Our focus is in rural and semirural communities that
are often struggling to create comprehensive and culturally
relevant services. AB 2114 provides critical support to help
transform lives and families by creating additional paths of
hope and opportunity to a significantly underserved and highly
impacted population.
"This bill will seek to address the social and systemic
barriers that incarcerated and previously incarcerated fathers
face through facilitating healthy relationships with their
families. Addressing the barriers faced by re-entry from
prison not only supports the well-being of fathers and their
families but also the strengthening of their communities.
"Incarceration's impact on family life is made worse by the
fact that facilities are often located far from cities, high
phone costs, and disproportionate sentencing means that
fathers and their families rarely see each other. Re-entering
society also presents obstacles. With access to public housing
and assistance restricted by law to non-felons, many struggle
to find suitable living arrangements and financial support.
Securing employment is also difficult for many returning
fathers, who often have limited education and vocational
skills, while facing significant legal and non-legal barriers
to meaningful employment. All these factors contribute to the
immense challenges facing formerly incarcerated fathers."
5)Prior Legislation: AB 900 (Solorio), Chapter 7, Statutes of
2007, requires CDCR to develop and implement a plan to obtain
additional rehabilitation and treatment services for prison
inmates and parolees, an Inmate Treatment and
Prison-to-Employment Plan, and creates the California
Rehabilitation Oversight Board.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
National Compadres Network (Sponsor)
Boys & Girls Club of Coachella Valley
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Partnership
California Public Defenders Association
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Coachella Valley Unified School District ASES Office
Community Asset Development Redefining Education
Health Career Connection, Inc.
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Mayor of Coachella Steven A. Hernández (or is it City of
Coachella)
MILPA
Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
National Association of Social Workers
One Circle Foundation
Raices Cultura
Raimi + Associates
Riverside County Latino Commission
Soledad Enrichment Action
United Roots
Youth Alliance
YWCA - MC
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared
by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
AB 2114
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