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2011

Other Budget Issues

Further Detail

Governor’s Proposal. The Governor’s budget proposes a total of 153.7 positions and a $15.9 million General Fund augmentation for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in 2011-12 to activate four new prison facilities. Under the department’s request, the proposed number of positions and level of funding will increase to 740.1 positions and $75.2 million in 2012-13. According to CDCR, the new facilities are part of the department’s overall plan to provide constitutionally adequate care as required by the federal court in the Coleman v. Schwarzenegger case pertaining to inmate mental health care. The four projects for which operational funding is being requested are:

• A 45-bed Correctional Treatment Center at the California Institution for Women in Corona scheduled to open in December 2011 ($10.1 million).
• A 64-bed Intermediate Care Facility at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville scheduled to open in October 2011 ($2 million).
• A 50-bed Mental Health Crisis Bed Facility at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo scheduled to open in August 2012 ($1.1 million).
• A 1,000-bed Level II facility in Paso Robles scheduled to open in September 2012, which will be known as the Estrella Correctional Facility and include both general population and mental health treatment beds ($2.7 million). 

Requests Do Not Account for Cost Reductions in Other Facilities. The above funding requests are based on total costs that would be incurred at the new prison facilities to house and treat about 1,200 inmates upon full implementation. However, in estimating these costs, the department did not take into account that the 1,200 inmates would be placed in these facilities would otherwise have been housed in other CDCR facilities. Thus, fewer staff would be required elsewhere in the prison system.

Recommendation. In view of the above, we recommend that the Legislature reduce the Governor’s proposal to account for cost reductions that would be incurred at other facilities resulting from the activation of the four new prison facilities. In order to determine the appropriate adjustments, we recommend the Legislature require CDCR to provide at budget hearings a detailed accounting of the offsetting savings that would be incurred, which could be a couple of millions of dollars in 2012-13 and increase to tens of millions of dollars in 2012-13.