Prisons

A poll shows most voters support for Prop. 36, a sign Gavin Newsom's governorship is approaching lame duck status.

This fall, California voters will decide whether to reclassify certain theft and drug penalties under Proposition 36. If more people end up in prisons under the stricter laws, some worry it could eliminate funding for key rehabilitation programs and increase recidivism.

While incarcerated Californians who aren’t serving a state or federal felony sentence are eligible to vote, most county jails don’t make it very easy. A bill on Gov. Newsom’s desk would test in-person voting in jails in three counties.

A 51-year-old California law requires the state to give $200 to prisoners upon release. Many wind up with less, according to a new class-action lawsuit.

For a formerly incarcerated person, the opportunity to vote for the first time is filled with mixed emotions. After years of disenfranchisement, voting is an act of empowerment.

A 2016 penal reform ballot measure proposed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown had loopholes that eventually benefitted perpetrators of sex crimes. The Legislature recently voted to close one loophole that allowed notorious serial rapist Andrew Luster to be granted parole.

Proposition 6 would amend the state Constitution and abolish forced prison labor in California. The November ballot measure is a critical step toward justice and equality.

A California prison doctor accumulated more than 1,000 hours of personal time off and used some of it to work a second job. He claimed he faced retaliation when officials began scrutinizing his time and then clawed back much of his leave bank.

California courts have long upheld below-minimum wage pay for prison inmates working a wide range of jobs. A 2024 ballot measure that would ban forced labor could alter those decisions.

California prison workers were wrongly excluded from indoor heat regulations passed earlier this year, despite facing brutal conditions that will only get worse in the coming decades.