Justice

California police and fire unions are backing bills that would create new retirement benefits or raise pay. Lawmakers approved them overwhelmingly.

Immigrant detainees work for $1 a day inside a Geo Group facility in the San Joaquin Valley. The company settled a state complaint over conditions inside.

Private prison company CoreCivic will continue operating two large ICE detention centers in California after selling the properties to the Department of Homeland Security.

California police are making arrests after killings more often, a trend that could be contributing to the state's record-low homicide rate.

A new California law gives just more flexibility to keep defendants in jail rather than releasing them to community-based mental health treatment programs.

California prisons are limiting access to programs for incarcerated people as the system manages it overtime budget. The state spends about $18 billion a year on corrections.

California disciplinary records show officers who used racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ language often kept their jobs after agencies sustained misconduct findings.

California prisons have given 30,000 laptops to incarcerated students. Inmates say using technology prepares them to enter the workforce. As community colleges start replacing correspondence courses by mail with online-only classes, students and professors debate whether this type of learning is any more effective.

Gov. Gavin Newsom gave condemned prisoners a chance to live differently when he suspended the death penalty. They aren't free and many will never be released, but now they have opportunities to grow.

California is one of just two states that provides no money for the basic defense of poor people accused of crimes.