Report 2010-124 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2010-124: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: The Benefits of Its Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions Program Are Uncertain (Release Date: September 2011)

Recommendation #1 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of

To ensure that the State does not spend additional resources on COMPAS while its usefulness is uncertain, Corrections should suspend its use of the COMPAS core and reentry assessments until it has issued regulations and updated its operations manual to define how Corrections' use of COMPAS will affect decision making regarding inmates, such as clarifying how COMPAS results will be considered when sending inmates to different prison facilities, enrolling them in rehabilitative programs to address their criminal risk factors, and developing expectations for those on parole.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2017

Revisions to DOM were necessary to incorporate updated Casework Supervision guidelines for both CPSRM and SOMP. Labor negotiations are still in progress. DAPO will continue with the revision of regulations to California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Division 3, Subsection 6, Article 1, Parole Supervision, incorporating the COMPAS Re-Entry Assessment and Case Plan. Once negotiations with CCPOA are complete, the regulations will be routed to the DAPO Director for approval. The regulations will then be sent to RPMB for the required public comment period and to the Office of Administrative Law for final approval. This process is anticipated to take several more months for completion.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2016

CDCR's Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) has incorporated the COMPAS Re-Entry Assessment and Case Plan into the 08/24/16 revision of the Department Operations Manual, Chapter 8, Article 49, Pre-Release Re-Entry Case Planning, Sections 86040.1 - 86040.10.

In addition, DAPO is in the process of revising the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Division 3, Subsection 6, Article 1, Parole Supervision, to incorporate the COMPAS Re-Entry Assessment and Case Plan, with an anticipated completion date of June 2017.

(See provided proof of practice: Notice of Change to Department Operations Manual, #16-08.)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2015

CDCR's Division of Rehabilitative Programs developed emergency regs adding a new section to the CCR, Title 15 Section 3375.6, Automated Needs Assessment which was adopted into law effective 2/25/13. Title 15, Section 3375.6 amendment filed 10/29/13 added Subsection (a)(3), which specified the criminogenic needs indicated by the COMPAS assessment. Additional established regulations include: Title 15 Section 3375(b) which states that the classification process shall take into consideration an inmate's needs, interests and desires, behavior, and placement score. Section 3375(l) states that an automated risk and needs assessment tool that identifies criminogenic needs shall be administered pursuant to Section 3375.6. Section 3375.6(b) states that the results of the automated needs assessment tool shall be evaluated during committee actions to assist determining the inmate's placement and sequencing into rehab programs. Section 3375(f)(7) states that Classification committee decisions shall be based on evaluation of available information. Reentry Hubs regs were put in place 10/29/13. In addition, the SOMS Case Plan which is under development will allow the Department to draw a direct line connecting an offender's program assignments to assessed criminogenic needs, providing a complete continuum of care throughout the lifecycle of incarceration.

CDCR's Division of Adult Parole Operations has decided not to promulgate regulations until a determination can be made on an appropriate re-entry needs assessment tool to use for parole case plan development. The criterion for considering an alternative is that it must ensure that the case plans will effectively address the parolee's needs and build upon the parolee's in-custody program achievements.

Due to character limitations, additional detail can be found in CDCR's submitted proof of practice.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2014

CDCR's Division of Rehabilitative Programs has developed regulations in response to this recommendation. California Code of Regulations, Title 15, section 3375.6, Automated Needs Assessment was adopted into law effective February 25, 2013. An amendment added subsection (a)(3), which specified the criminogenic needs indicated by the COMPAS assessment.

Additional established regulations include Title 15 section 3375(b), the inmate classification process; section 3375(l), automated risk and needs assessment tool; section 3375.6(b), automated needs assessment results; and section 3375(f)(7), basis of Classification Committee decisions. The Office of Administrative Law is currently reviewing regulations regarding the Reentry Hubs Emergency regulations which add section 3379(a)(10)(A), in part, "An inmate with the following case factors shall be given priority for placement at a Reentry Hub: ...3. A medium or high need for one or more rehabilitative treatment programs as indicated by a validated automated needs assessment tool."

CDCR's Division of Adult Parole Operations has developed the text of The Proposed Regulations (TPR) for the COMPAS Re-Entry Assessment and the Initial Statement of Reason (ISOR) for California Code of Regulations, Title 15, section 3502, Pre-Parole Referral and section 3503, Automated Needs Assessment (See supporting TPR and ISOR documents dated October 2014).

The regulation file has been submitted for CDCR Stakeholder Review and to initiate the public notice/comment period. CDCR intends to submit the regulation package to the Office of Administrative Law for review within 90 - 120 days and it is anticipated that the regulations will be adopted in 2015.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2013

California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3375.6, Automated Needs Assessment was adopted into law effective January 15, 2013.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Corrections' regulations lack specificity as to how its staff will use COMPAS when making decisions about inmates who are going through the classification process. Draft regulations defining how Corrections staff will use COMPAS on inmates going through the re-entry process also lack specificity and Corrections' operations manual does not discuss how its employees should use COMPAS. Although Corrections did provide guidance to its staff in a March 2013 memo explaining what factors should be considered when transferring inmates to a rehabilitative hub to address their COMPAS-identified rehabilitative needs, our recommendation was for Corrections to solidify and clarify its process through regulation and the public rulemaking process.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2012

Partially Implemented:

Emergency regulations were filed with the Office of Administrative Law to promulgate the new section into California Code of Regulations, Title 15, § 3375.6, Automated Needs Assessment Tool, operative May 10, 2012. The emergency regulations were re-filed and operative on

October 17, 2012.

Plan for full implementation:

The CDCR is in negotiations with the COMPAS software developer to make necessary changes. Once the necessary software updates have been completed, the department will complete the process of revising the regulations and filing the revision in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. Full regulatory requirements will be met no sooner than June 30, 2013.

Current Status:

Completion of the final regulatory requirements are on hold. Ongoing negotiations with the software vendor will define the scope and terms of the contract for necessary software changes to the COMPAS tool. Once completed, the CDCR will then be able to determine the time frame for completing the regulatory requirements based on the release of the updated software.

Upon completion of the Regulations, the new section of the Department Operations Manual

will be developed accordingly.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2010-124

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.