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AB-999 Juveniles: Division of Juvenile Facilities.(2009-2010)

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 20, 2010
Amended  IN  Senate  June 30, 2009
Amended  IN  Senate  June 10, 2009
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 31, 2009

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2009–2010 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 999

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Skinner
 (Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Hall, Swanson, Torlakson)
 (Coauthor(s): Senator Yee)

February 27, 2009

An act to amend Section 1719 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to juveniles.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 999, as amended, Skinner. Juveniles: Division of Juvenile Facilities.
Existing law sets forth the powers and duties of the Division of Juvenile Facilities in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation with respect to wards in its custody, including, but not limited to, the return of persons to the court of commitment for redisposition by the court, determination of offense category, and setting of parole consideration dates. Existing law requires the department to promulgate policies and regulations implementing a departmentwide system of graduated sanctions for addressing ward disciplinary matters, including extending a ward’s parole consideration date, subject to appeal, from one to not more than 12 months, for a sustained serious misconduct violation, as specified. The department is also authorized to promulgate regulations to establish a process for granting wards who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a reduction of up to 50% of any time acquired for disciplinary matters.

This bill would revise and recast these provisions by including good behavior time credits and program time credits among the powers and duties of the division. The bill would require the projected board date, formerly referred to as the parole consideration date, of a ward to be advanced no less than one day earlier for every day of satisfactory performance, as defined, in one or more credit qualifying programs, including performance in education, rehabilitation, therapeutic, work, or other programs meant to prepare a ward for successful reentry into society. The bill would require the division to promulgate policies and regulations implementing a divisionwide system of graduated sanctions for addressing ward disciplinary matters. The bill would prohibit the division from extending or postponing a ward’s projected board date, but would permit forfeiture of not more than 6 months of combined program and good behavior credits for sustained serious misconduct. The bill would require the division to provide a document signed by a division official to each ward defining what conduct constitutes serious misconduct. The bill would also provide that program credits earned before January 1, 2010, would be honored. The bill would require the division to allow wards who received projected board date extensions after January 1, 2009, and before January 1, 2010, and who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a reinstatement of up to 100% of the time added.

This bill would prohibit the department from extending a ward’s parole consideration date, and would require the department to promulgate regulations to establish a process for granting a ward whose parole consideration hearing date was delayed due to disciplinary sanctions prior to January 1, 2011, a reduction of up to 100% of any time acquired for disciplinary matters.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 1719 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

1719.
 (a) Commencing July 1, 2005, the following powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by the Board of Parole Hearings: discharges of commitment, orders to parole and conditions thereof, revocation or suspension of parole, and disciplinary appeals.
(b) Any ward may appeal an adjustment to his or her parole consideration date to a panel comprised of at least two commissioners.
(c) The following powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by the Division of Juvenile Facilities: return of persons to the court of commitment for redisposition by the court, determination of offense category, setting of parole consideration dates, conducting annual reviews, treatment program orders, institution placements, furlough placements, return of nonresident persons to the jurisdiction of the state of legal residence, disciplinary decisionmaking, and referrals pursuant to Section 1800.
(d) The department shall promulgate policies and regulations implementing a departmentwide system of graduated sanctions for addressing ward disciplinary matters. The disciplinary decisionmaking system shall be employed as the disciplinary system in facilities under the jurisdiction of the Division of Juvenile Facilities, and shall provide a framework for handling disciplinary matters in a manner that is consistent, timely, proportionate, and ensures the due process rights of wards. The department shall develop and implement a system of graduated sanctions which distinguishes between minor, intermediate, and serious misconduct. The department may shall not extend a ward’s parole consideration date, subject to appeal pursuant to subdivision (b), from one to not more than 12 months, inclusive, for a sustained serious misconduct violation if all other sanctioning options have been considered and determined to be unsuitable in light of the ward’s previous case history and the circumstances of the misconduct. In any case in which a parole consideration date has been extended, the disposition report shall clearly state the reasons for the extension. The length of any parole consideration date extension shall be based on the seriousness of the misconduct, the ward’s prior disciplinary history, the ward’s progress toward treatment objectives, the ward’s earned program credits, and any extenuating or mitigating circumstances. The department shall promulgate regulations to implement a table of sanctions to be used in determining parole consideration date extensions. The. For wards whose parole consideration hearing dates were delayed due to disciplinary sanctions prior to January 1, 2011, the department also may shall promulgate regulations to establish a process for granting those wards who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a reduction of up to 50 100 percent of any time acquired for disciplinary matters.

SECTION 1.Section 1719 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
1719.

(a)On and after July 1, 2005, the following powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by the Board of Parole Hearings: discharges of commitment, orders to parole and conditions thereof, revocation or suspension of parole, and disciplinary appeals.

(b)Any ward may appeal an adjustment to his or her projected board date to a panel comprised of at least two commissioners.

(c)The following powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by the Division of Juvenile Facilities: return of persons to the court of commitment for redisposition by the court, determination of offense category, setting of projected board dates, conducting annual reviews, treatment program orders, program time credits, good behavior time credits institution placements, furlough placements, return of nonresident persons to the jurisdiction of the state of legal residence, disciplinary decisionmaking, and referrals pursuant to Section 1800.

(d)Program time credits shall apply for satisfactory performance in one or more credit qualifying programs, including, but not limited to, education, rehabilitation, therapeutic, work, vocational education, training, drug treatment, anger management, or other programs meant to prepare a ward for successful reentry into society. For every day of satisfactory performance in one or more credit qualifying programs, as designated by the Chief Deputy Secretary for Juvenile Justice, the projected board date of a ward shall be advanced no less than one day earlier.

(e)For the purposes of this section, “satisfactory performance” means progress in a credit-qualifying program, such as any one of the following: completion of assigned work, continuing or improved participation in programming or class work, continuing or improved cooperation with the instructor or person in charge, substantial compliance with instructions, or meeting requirements for participation in assigned activity.

(1)Failure to work or participate in program activities for reasons which are beyond the ward’s control shall not be cause for denial or forfeiture of participation credit. These circumstances may include, but are not limited to, the following:

(A)The ward is medically excluded or restricted from work or program activities on a temporary basis because of illness or injury.

(B)The ward has failed to perform or participate after demonstrating a reasonable effort in the specified activity.

(C)The ward is restricted from reporting to or participating in an assigned work or program activity by an order or action of institution staff unrelated to a disciplinary infraction by the ward.

(f)Good behavior time credits shall be provided independently of program credit for substantial compliance with rules of the institution, and substantial compliance with instructions from staff, the instructor, or the person in charge. For every day of substantial compliance with disciplinary rules and instructions, a ward shall have his or her projected board date advanced no less than one-half day.

(g)The division shall promulgate policies and regulations implementing a divisionwide system of graduated sanctions for addressing ward disciplinary matters. The disciplinary decisionmaking system shall be employed as the disciplinary system in facilities under the jurisdiction of the Division of Juvenile Facilities, and shall provide a framework for handling disciplinary matters in a manner that is consistent, timely, proportionate, and ensures the due process rights of wards. The division shall not extend or postpone a ward’s projected board date. Sanctions for sustained serious misconduct may include forfeiture of not more than six months of combined program and good behavior credits established pursuant to this chapter, if all other sanctioning options have been considered and determined to be unsuitable in light of the ward’s previous case history and the circumstances of the misconduct. In any case in which a program time or good behavior credit has been forfeited, the disposition report shall clearly state the reasons for the forfeiture. The length of any credit forfeiture shall be based on the seriousness of the misconduct, the ward’s prior disciplinary history, the ward’s progress toward treatment objectives, the ward’s earned program or good behavior credits, and any extenuating or mitigating circumstances. The department shall promulgate regulations to implement a table of sanctions to be used in determining program or good behavior time credit forfeitures. The department also shall promulgate regulations to establish a process for granting wards who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a reinstatement of up to 100 percent of any credit forfeited for disciplinary matters. A document signed by a department official shall be provided to each ward describing what defines “serious misconduct.”

(h)No less than every six months, a ward’s projected board date shall be adjusted according to the net credit earned since the last adjustment.

(i)Program credits earned before January 1, 2010, shall be honored. The division shall allow wards who received projected board date extensions after January 1, 2009, and before January 1, 2010, and who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a reinstatement of up to 100 percent of the time added.

(j)Nothing in this section shall preclude the division from providing credits or other incentives for other desirable behaviors or program participation.