Today's Law As Amended


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AB-2717 Prisoners: California Healthy Start Act.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Legislature recognizes that an estimated 90,000 children in California have a parent or caregiver who is incarcerated.
(b) The Legislature acknowledges that while a parent is incarcerated, a child may experience a range of emotions, including sadness, shame, isolation, concern for the parent’s well-being, and anger toward the parent, the caregiver, or the system. Parental incarceration may also have long-term impacts on child well-being outcomes, including higher risk for learning disabilities and developmental delays, and problems with school performance and engagement.
(c) The Legislature recognizes that research demonstrates that a child’s negative reactions to parental incarceration can be buffered by protective factors, including the personal characteristics and temperament of the child, the quality of their home environment, caregiver support following the incarceration, and frequent and meaningful opportunities to have contact with the incarcerated parent.
(d) The Legislature declares that the opportunity for children to have regular, frequent, and meaningful visits with an incarcerated parent is a fundamental right to ensure those children have the best chance to flourish and thrive.
SEC. 2.
 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Healthy Start Act.

SEC. 3.

 Section 3408.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

3408.5.
 Each incarcerated pregnant person shall be referred to a social worker who shall discuss with the incarcerated person options for parenting classes and other classes relevant to caring for newborns and options for visiting with the newborn.

SEC. 4.

 Section 3411 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

3411.
 The Department of Corrections shall on or before January 1, 1980, establish and implement a community treatment program under which women inmates sentenced to state prison pursuant to Section 1168 or 1170  who have one or more children under the age of six years,  six years of age,  whether born prior to or after January 1, 1976, shall be eligible to participate within the provisions of this section. The community treatment program shall provide for the release of the mother and child or children to a public or private facility in the community suitable to the needs of the mother and child or children, and which will provide the best possible care for the mother and child. In establishing and operating such that  program, the department shall have as a prime concern the establishment of a safe and wholesome environment for the participating children.

SEC. 5.

 Section 3415 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

3415.
 (a) The probation department shall, no later than the day that any woman is sentenced to the state prison, notify such the  woman of the provisions of this chapter, if the term of the state imprisonment does not exceed six years on the basis of either the probable release or parole date computed as if the maximum amount of good time credit would be granted. The probation department shall determine such term of state imprisonment at such time for the purposes of this section. chapter. 
(b) The woman may, upon the receipt of such that  notice and upon sentencing to a term in state prison, give notice of her desire to be admitted to a program under this chapter. The probation department or the defendant shall transmit such that  notice to the Department of Corrections, and to the appropriate local social services agency that conducts investigations for child neglect and dependency hearings.

SEC. 6.

 Section 3417 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

3417.
 (a) Subject to reasonable rules and regulations adopted pursuant to Section 3414, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall admit to the program any applicant whose child was born prior to the receipt of the inmate by the department, whose child was born after the receipt of the inmate by the department, or who is pregnant, if all of the following requirements are met:  
(1) The applicant has a probable release or parole date with a maximum time to be served of six years, calculated after deduction of any possible good time credit.
(2) (1)  The applicant was the primary caretaker of the infant prior to incarceration. “Primary caretaker” as used in this chapter means a parent who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, and safety of the child prior to incarceration. A parent who, in the best interests of the child, has arranged for temporary care for the child in the home of a relative or other responsible adult shall not for that reason be excluded from the category, “primary caretaker.”
(3) (2)  The applicant had not been found to be an unfit parent in any court proceeding. An inmate applicant whose child has been declared a dependent of the juvenile court pursuant to Section 300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall be admitted to the program only after the court has found that participation in the program is in the child’s best interest and that it meets the needs of the parent and child pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section 361.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The fact that an inmate applicant’s child has been found to come within Section 300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall not, in and of itself, be grounds for denying the applicant the opportunity to participate in the program.
(3) The offense underlying the applicant’s commitment does not involve a violation of Section 273a, 273ab, 273d, or 273i.
(b) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall deny placement in the community treatment program if it determines that an inmate would pose an unreasonable risk to the public, public  or if any one of the following factors exist, except in unusual circumstances or if mitigating circumstances exist, including, but not limited to, the remoteness in time of the commission of the offense: the applicant has been convicted of a sex offense requiring registration pursuant to Section 290. It is not the intent of the Legislature to exclude a victim of human trafficking from the community treatment program. 
(1) The inmate has been convicted of any of the following:
(A) A sex offense listed in Section 667.6.
(B) A sex offense requiring registration pursuant to Section 290.
(C) A violent offense listed in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5, except that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall consider an inmate for placement in the community treatment program on a case-by-case basis if the violent offense listed in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 was for robbery pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 or burglary pursuant to paragraph (21) of subdivision (c) of Section 667.5.
(D) Arson as defined in Sections 450 to 455, inclusive.
(2) There is probability the inmate may abscond from the program as evidenced by any of the following:
(A) A conviction of escape, of aiding another person to escape, or of an attempt to escape from a jail or prison.
(B) The presence of an active detainer from a law enforcement agency, unless the detainer is based solely upon warrants issued for failure to appear on misdemeanor Vehicle Code violations.
(3) It is probable the inmate’s conduct in a community facility will be adverse to herself or other participants in the program, as determined by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or as evidenced by any of the following:
(A) The inmate’s removal from a community program which resulted from violation of state laws, rules, or regulations governing Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s inmates.
(B) A finding of the inmate’s guilt of a serious rule violation, as defined by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which resulted in a credit loss on one occasion of 91 or more days or in a credit loss on more than one occasion of 31 days or more and the credit has not been restored.
(C) A current written opinion of a staff physician or psychiatrist that the inmate’s medical or psychiatric condition is likely to cause an adverse effect upon the inmate or upon other persons if the inmate is placed in the program.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall consider the placement of the following  inmates in the community treatment program on a case-by-case basis:  basis. 
(1) An inmate convicted of the unlawful sale or possession for sale, manufacture, or transportation of controlled substances, as defined in Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11350) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, if large scale for profit as defined by the department, provided that an inmate convicted pursuant to Section 11358 or 11359 of the Health and Safety Code shall be admitted to the program pursuant to subdivision (a).
(2) An inmate with a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.
(d) A charged offense that did not result in a conviction shall not be used to exclude an applicant from the program.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to limit the discretion of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to deny or approve placement when subdivision (b) does not apply.
(f) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall determine if the applicant meets the requirements of this section within 30 days of the parent’s application to the program. The department shall establish an appeal procedure for the applicant to appeal an adverse decision by the department.

SEC. 7.

 Section 3430 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

3430.
 The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall do all of the following:
(a) Create a Female Offender Reform Master Plan, and shall present this plan to the Legislature by March 1, 2008.
(b) Create policies and operational practices that are designed to ensure a safe and productive institutional environment for female offenders.
(c) Contract with nationally recognized gender responsive experts in prison operational practices staffing, classification, substance abuse, trauma treatment services, mental health services, transitional services, and community corrections to do both of the following:
(1) Conduct a staffing analysis of all current job classifications assigned to each prison that houses only females. The department shall provide a plan to the Legislature by March 1, 2009, that incorporates those recommendations and details the changes that are needed to address any identified unmet needs of female inmates.
(2) Develop programs and training for department staff in correctional facilities.
(d) Create a gender responsive female classification system.
(e) Create a gender responsive staffing pattern for female institutions and community-based offender beds.
(f) Create a needs-based case and risk management tool designed specifically for female offenders. This tool shall include, but not be limited to, an assessment upon intake, and annually thereafter, that gauges an inmate’s educational and vocational needs, including reading, writing, communication, and arithmetic skills, health care needs, mental health needs, substance abuse needs, and trauma-treatment needs. The initial assessment shall include projections for academic, vocational, health care, mental health, substance abuse, and trauma-treatment needs, and shall be used to determine appropriate programming and as a measure of progress in subsequent assessments of development.
(g) Design and implement evidence-based gender specific rehabilitative programs, including “wraparound” educational, health care, mental health, vocational, substance abuse abuse,  and trauma treatment programs that are designed to reduce female offender recidivism. These programs shall include, but not be limited to, trauma-informed group or individual therapy,  educational programs that include academic preparation in the areas of verbal communication skills, reading, writing, arithmetic, and the acquisition of high school diplomas and GEDs, and vocational preparation, including counseling and training in marketable skills, and job placement information.
(h) Build and strengthen systems of family support and family involvement during the period of the female’s incarceration. incarceration by providing for parenting classes, transportation for minor children to visit on a monthly basis in a dedicated child-friendly location on the prison grounds, and overnight family visits. 
(i) Establish a family service coordinator at each prison that houses only females.
(j) Establish an additional day of in-person visitation at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and California Institution for Women (CIW). This additional visiting day shall present a family-friendly environment, which includes, but is not limited to, ensuring there are available children-centered books, toys, and games, as well as trauma-informed staff, and would limit visitors to only include incarcerated mothers, their children, and their children’s caregivers.
(k) CCWF and CIW shall ensure that those incarcerated with young children less than 18 years of age are given priority when applying for overnight family visitation if that applicant has not had an overnight family visit with their children in three months.