Increasing Oversight of the State Litigation Deposit Fund

Jan 28, 2021 - Litigation proceeds are deposited into the LDF in cases where the state is a party to the legal action and no other state statutes specifically provide for ( 1)  t he handling and investing of the money and ( 2)  h ow any earned interest is distributed.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4322

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - Online pilots Given the generally poor outcomes of correspondence courses, some community colleges and CDCR are working together to pilot new online instructional models. Require CCC and CDCR to report on pilot outcomes, including course success rates compared with in ‑person and correspondence courses and impact on faculty recruitment to teach high ‑demand courses in prisons.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 6 (Corrections)

Sep 7, 2023 - The normal cost is the amount of money that actuaries determine must be set aside for the benefit employees earn today so that the contribution and any future investment returns on that contribution are sufficient to pay for the benefit after the employee retires.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4800

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - For example, CDCR psychologists, according to the state Auditor, earn between $56 and $85 per hour —well above the average hourly rate paid in other states. According to 2023 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California is the highest paying state for psychologists with the average hourly wage at $64 per hour, whereas psychologists nationwide earned a median of $53 per hour (21  percent less).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2023-24 Budget: Increased Federal Authority For State Crisis Intervention Program

Feb 22, 2023 - For example, if the Legislature determines that the priority should be to ensure people suffering from behavioral health crises are not harmed and receive immediate service locally, the Legislature could consider providing more money from the state share to local entities to support, or test, more programs and activities —such as increased training for law enforcement in dealing
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4697

The 2017‑18 Budget: Implementation of Proposition 57

Apr 6, 2017 - Credits are provided for good behavior or for participating in work, training, or education programs. Currently, inmates are limited in the types of credits that they can earn, as well as the amount that that their sentences can be reduced through credits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3648

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

Jun 12, 2025 - For example, in May 2021, CDCR modified its regulations to allow people with convictions for violent crimes to earn up to 33.3  percent off of their sentence (an increase from 20  percent) for maintaining good behavior.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2020-21 Budget: Effectively Managing State Prison Infrastructure

Feb 28, 2020 - (The IWL program hires inmates to work on infrastructure projects at its prisons. These inmates earn between $0.35 and $1. 00 p er hour and learn various skills, such as roofing or building foundation pads, depending on the nature of the project.)  
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4186

The 2020-21 Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Oct 22, 2020 - Excludes Proposal for Online Adjudication of Infractions. The Legislature rejected a January budget proposal to provide an $11.6  million General Fund augmentation in 2020 ‑21 (growing to $56  million in 2023 ‑24) to expand statewide the use of an online adjudication tool (including an ability to pay component) and backfill resulting reductions in criminal fine and fee revenue for the judicial branch.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4288

The 2019-20 Budget: Analysis of Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals

Feb 19, 2019 - We estimate that such inmates could earn an average of roughly a couple weeks of credit annually through the program. Inmate mentors would also benefit from the program. Over the course of the required m entorship training, inmate mentors could earn up to six weeks of milestone completion credits and an additional 90 ‑day educational merit credit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3940