By Dale Hurd
In February 2023, the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) issued a brief examining the CDCR’s implementation of Gov. Newsom’s plan to significantly reduce the states’s overall prison-bed capacity. Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek, primary author of the LAO brief, examined the department’s proposal to deactivate two prisons and six yards at various other prisons in the 2023-2024 timeframe.
The LAO brief criticizes the CDCR for not being transparent in how it selects prisons for deactivation. Also the brief faults the deportment for failing to justify the current 15,000 empty prison beds it proposes to continue operating in 2023-2024, which are projected to reach 20,000 by 2027. The main criticism, however, is that the CDCR does not have a comprehensive capacity reduction plan.
“Without a capacity reduction plan, the state is at risk of incurring unnecessary prison operational and infrastructure costs,” note the LAO brief.
Deduction of entire prisons allows the state to avoid funding infrastructure repairs that would otherwise be needed to continue operating these facilities, notes Petek. The LAO uses the example of the Deuel Vocational Institute (DVI), which resulted in the 
state not having to build a water-treatment project, necessary to comply with safe drinking water standards, projected to cost over $32 million. Along with the $190 million operating cost savings from the closure of DVI and yards in the California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Tehachipi and Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, the abandoned capital and operating costs add up to almost a quarter of a billion dollars in savings for the state’s General Fund.
According to Petek, the CDCR indicated that it used the factors outlined in California Penal Code section 2067 to inform its selection of prisons for deactivation but “it is not clear how the department weighed these different factors… Not knowing how the CDCR weighed the different factors that went into its decision makes it difficult for the legislature to evaluate whether it agrees with the department’s selections.”
The CDCR-proposed reductions consist of; 1) $132 million and 777 positions through deactivation of CCC (Susanville), 2) $136 million and 647 positions through deactivation of California City Correctional Facility (CAC), and 3) $150 million and 877 positions from six yard (facility) deactivations.
The LAO recommends the department become more transparent in how its criteria are established and how its decisions are made. The LAO brief recommends that the legislature direct the CDCR to; 1) Report on long term empty bed needs (excess capacity), 2) determine a long-term capacity reduction target, 3) report on the major implications of deactivating each prison and the costs to address them, and 4) develop a long-term capacity reduction plan through whole-prison deactivation.
“State prisons have significant infrastructure repair needs – many of which be addressed for health and safety reason. Without a capacity reduction plan, it is difficult for the state to avoid funding projects at facilities that may be activated shortly thereafter, the LAO brief status.
Because full-prison deactivation results in substantial cost saving over scattered yard closures and full prison deactivation requires significant advanced planning, it is imperative for the department to develop a long-term capacity reduction plan focused on full-prison deactivation,” states the LAO brief.
The prison deactivations envisioned by Gov. Newsom are shown in the state’s budget and reflected in department reductions of $280 million and 1,602 positions in 2023-2024; increasing to $420 million and 2,301 positions annually beginning in 2024-2025. For future years, “projected changes in the overall prison and parole populations” are expected to result in General Fund savings of $259 million annually,” wrote Petek.
A revised LAO update is expected in May 2023.
