Publications

The department initially dismissed a sergeant who allegedly communicated with an undercover detective posing as a 16-year-old female with the intent to commit sex acts with a minor. The department later settled the case, allowing the sergeant to resign in lieu of termination and agreeing to remove the disciplinary action from the sergeant’s personnel file. However, the department violated its policy when it failed to include a no-rehire clause prohibiting the sergeant from applying for or accepting employment with the department in the future. As a result, the sergeant is free to apply for and accept employment with any State agency, including the department. In the report, we identify significant concerns with the decision not to include the mandatory no-rehire language and recommend the department include these provisions in all future settlement agreements that permit an employee to resign in lieu of being dismissed from state service.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at Avenal State Prison between June 2020 and November 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at Avenal State Prison during this time period as adequate.

This report summarizes the work we performed in 2020 reviewing 1,131 use-of-force incidents that occurred at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (department) facilities. We concluded that the department’s performance was overall satisfactory. We assessed the department’s performance as superior in 8 incidents, satisfactory in 960 incidents, and poor in 1639 incidents. We issued four recommendations to address concerns we identified while assessing the incidents and the various phases of the use-of-force review process.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at Folsom State Prison between April 2020 and September 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at Folsom State Prison during this time period as adequate.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi between May 2020 and October 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at the California Correctional Institution during this time period as inadequate.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran between January 2020 and June 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran during this time period as inadequate.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at Richard J. Donovan State Prison in San Diego County between January 2020 and June 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at the Richard J. Donovan State Prison during this time period as adequate.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated persons at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad between December 2019 and May 2020. We rated the overall quality of health care provided at the Salinas Valley State Prison during this time period as inadequate.

Investigators working at a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prison performed an inadequate inquiry into allegations that several staff members at the prison failed to wear face coverings in mid-November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a reasonable belief that staff misconduct occurred, the warden failed to refer the case to the Office of Internal Affairs for an investigation, opting to have prison employees perform an inquiry instead. This Sentinel Case report describes the detailed information an incarcerated person provided concerning the alleged offenses, the investigators’ substandard inquiry into the misconduct allegations, the disregard for departmental policy for handling incarcerated persons’ allegations of staff misconduct, and the lack of action taken against the staff members accused of committing the alleged misconduct.