Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - This would help to ensure that the quality of care is  maintained. Expanding Use of Tele‑Mental Health Expanding Tele ‑Mental Health Could Help Address Prison Environment Concerns. Tele ‑mental health could be a particularly useful tool for providing services at hard ‑to ‑staff prisons.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - Adding More Licensing Exemptions for Those Who Work at Prisons. Currently, providers with out ‑of ‑state licenses are required to obtain a California license to work in CDCR, though some may use their out ‑of ‑state license on a temporary basis.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - Retail theft has implications for economic outcomes, as well as a sense of safety, well ‑being, and fundamental quality of life for Californians. In  response, the Legislature and the voters have approved several law changes intended to reduce retail theft.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

Overview and Update on the Prison Receivership

Nov 8, 2023 - At the request of the federal court and the Receiver, the OIG —which is tasked with conducting various types of oversight of CDCR —developed an inspection program to evaluate the quality of medical care at each prison.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4813

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - For example, one potential funding option discussed in the report was to increase the specific fee added when individuals are convicted of criminal offenses which generates the revenue deposited into the DNA Identification Fund.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - Given that the results of the recommended data and studies have the potential to notably improve legislative decision ‑making on prison postsecondary education policy and programs moving forward, we believe the added administrative workload is warranted.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

Assessing the Provision of Criminal Indigent Defense

Sep 22, 2022 - In contrast to the quality metrics described above, these methodologies reflect assumptions about the time needed to provide effective and quality representation and do not actually evaluate the provision of indigent defense services.  
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4623

The 2022-23 Budget: Monitoring Correctional System Staff Misconduct Investigations

Feb 9, 2022 - However, the Governor ’s proposal does not include resources for OIG to monitor these reports or the quality of review performed by OIA staff. This is notable because concerns about the quality of local inquiries were a key driver for creation of CDCR ’s new process.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4520

The 2023-24 Budget: Office of the State Public Defender

Feb 15, 2023 - Additionally, the state also expanded OSPD ’s mission to include providing assistance and training to indigent defense attorneys as well as improving the quality of indigent defense representation. Governor ’s Proposal Request for Ongoing Resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Work.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4680

A Review of State Standards and Inspections for Local Detention Facilities

Feb 16, 2021 - Quality Reporting to Support Transparency and Accountability. The plan should outline how BSCC will improve the quality of its reporting on the results of inspections, such as by ensuring reports clearly describe violations and issuing special reports to highlight serious violations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4371