A California bill aimed at providing California inmates with more comfort and entitlements passed a key legislative hurdle Tuesday.
Backed by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), Senate Bill 551 seeks to make some of the vaguely worded California Model pillars an official state policy.
SB 551 has cleared the Assembly Public Safety Committee and would embed the principles of “normality and dynamic security” into California’s prison system—a policy shift intended to make incarceration a more joyful experience for the inmates. “Normality” and “dynamic security” are two of the four pillars of the already implemented California Model of prison management. The California Model was implemented to make inmates happier while in prison but has resulted in less safe conditions for both inmates and staff.
“This bill is designed to help decrease the early death rate of our state’s prison guards due to stress and prepare people who are incarcerated for a successful reentry into the community,” Cortese said in the release. “Re-offenses have been as high as 70 percent in California. This bill is designed to dramatically reduce recidivism.”
National data shows the average life expectancy of a correctional officer is just 59 years, about 16 years shorter than that of the general population. Cortese and other supporters frame the legislation as a public health initiative as much as a workplace reform.
Cortese’s bill codifies the principles of dynamic security. Many would assume this would mean adjusting security to the threat, but California re-defined dynamic security to mean forcing staff to have personal conversations with the incarcerated population. Dynamic security also forced the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to change the entirety of its polices to remove the word “inmate” with “incarcerated person.”
The bill also codifies “normalization” which would force CDCR to make prison life mirror life outside of prison. The bill would amend Penal Code 1170 to read: “Active steps should be taken to make conditions in prison as close to normal life as possible, aside from loss of liberty.” CDCR, under the guise of the California Model, has already been attempting to make prison more pleasant for the inmates under the normalization pillar.
Rehabilitation is important, but prison should still be a form of consequence and should not be indistinguishable from freedom. For prison to work as part of the criminal justice system, it should be distinguishable from civilian life.
Part of rehabilitation is providing structure and routine, SB 551 aims at removing all structure and security, making inmate joyfulness the law.
The California Model has already put inmates and staff at greater risk. SB 551 would make official policy some of the pillars of the failed California Model making it more difficult to ensure safety and security within California’s prisons.
SB 551 now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers will evaluate its costs and potential to reshape California’s prison culture.
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