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Results for three-stikes la

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Author: California State Auditor. Bureau of State Audits

Title: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Inmates Sentenced Under the Three Strikes Law and a Small Number of Inmates Receiving Speciality Health Care Represent Significant Costs

Summary: As requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the California State Auditor presents this audit report concerning the effect of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (Corrections) operations on the state budget. This report concludes that inmates sentenced under the three strikes law, and a small number of inmates receiving specialty health care, represent significant costs. Specifically, about 25 percent of the inmate population was incarcerated under the three strikes law, which requires longer terms for individuals convicted of any felony if they were previously convicted of a serious or violent crime as defined in state law. On average, we estimate that these individuals’ sentences are nine years longer because of the requirements of the three strikes law and that these additional years of incarceration represent a cost to the State of $19.2 billion. Furthermore, the current conviction for which many of these individuals are incarcerated is not for a serious or violent crime, as defined in state law, and many were convicted of multiple serious or violent crimes that occurred on the same day. Our review also found that of the $529 million that California Prison Health Care Services incurred for contracted specialty health care providers in fiscal year 2007–08, $469 million could be associated with individual inmates. Among the inmates with specialty health care costs, 70 percent averaged slightly more than $1,000 per inmate and cost $42 million in total, while the remaining 30 percent of inmates amassed specialty health care costs totaling more than $427 million. Furthermore, specialty health care costs for 1,175 inmates, or just one-half of 1 percent of the inmates incarcerated during the year, totaled $185 million. In addition, specialty health care costs totaled $8.8 million for the 72 inmates who died during the last quarter of the year, exceeding $1 million in the case of one inmate. Finally, a significant amount of custody staff overtime is the result of a medical guarding and transportation workload that does not have associated authorized positions. Overtime is also necessary when custody staff positions are vacant, but is decreased by staff who do not use the full amount of leave they earn. However, the unused leave of custody staff—increased by the additional leave provided through the furlough program—represents a liability to the State that we estimate is at least $546 million and could be more than $1 billion.

Details: Sacramento; California State Auditor, 2010. 80p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 7, 2010 at: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2009-107.2.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2009-107.2.pdf

Shelf Number: 119755

Keywords:
Costs of Imprisonment
Health Care, Inmates
Inmates, Medical Care
Three-Stikes La