Prisons

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association faces a complicated political environment as inmate populations decline and calls to close prisons increase.

California's constitution allows forced labor as a form of criminal punishment. That would change if voters approve an anti-slavery amendment this fall.

Workers hired through a nonprofit could lose their jobs at a California state prison this fall. The State Personnel Board found their contract violated state outsourcing rules.

A federal judge in April ordered Alameda County to review more than 30 of its death penalty convictions after evidence emerged suggesting the District Attorney’s Office blocked Black and Jewish people from serving on juries. This week, the California Supreme Court upheld a capital sentence from a trial that had no Black jurors.

California’s Black Legislative Caucus is touring the state to promote reparations bills that address forced prison labor and efforts to improve health, longevity and financial equity. The six-city tour is meant to urge the public to get involved in lobbying lawmakers.

Instead of closing prisons to help close a budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to close 46 total housing blocks. The cost of housing inmates will keep growing unless access to rehabilitation programs improves.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is recommending small cuts to the state prison system, avoiding the closures of additional facilities.

“Jail suicides are extraordinarily difficult to protect against,” a retired California sheriff said. One jail in the San Joaquin Valley is changing routines to keep inmates from harming themselves.

Finance and Corrections officials won’t release records on cost estimates for state prisons to comply with rules to protect workers from indoor heat. Prisons have been exempted from the regulations that are in the works.

Anti-recidivism nonprofit helps formerly incarcerated people start businesses and get tech jobs.