AB 788: Prisons: facilities for female offenders.

Official summary

Legislative Counsel’s Digest (official, as of the latest version). Written by nonpartisan legislative staff; reproduced verbatim.

Existing law creates within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, under the Undersecretary for Operations, the Division of Adult Institutions, among others, and requires each division to be headed by a director, who is appointed by the Governor, as specified. Existing law also requires the Governor to appoint 4 subordinate officers to the division, as specified. Existing law requires each subordinate officer appointed to oversee an identified category of adult institutions, one of which oversees female offender facilities.

This bill would instead require the Governor to appoint 3 subordinate officers, as specified, who would oversee an identified category of male adult institutions, and one subordinate officer, as specified, who would oversee female adult institutions. The bill would create within the department, and under the Undersecretary for Operations, the Division of Female Programs and Services. The bill would require the director of this division to be responsible solely for female adult institutions and community facilities housing female offenders. The bill would require the director to report to the undersecretary and to have a minimum of 5 years of experience serving a female correctional population in a custody setting. The bill would also require this new division to manage and provide oversight of adult female programs, including prisons, conservation camps, and parole and community programs and to develop gender-responsive, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive approaches to program and policy development.

Existing law requires the department to create a Female Offender Reform Master Plan and present it to the Legislature by a specified date. Existing law requires the department to, among other things, create policies and operational practices that are designed to ensure a safe and productive institutional environment for female offenders.

This bill would require the department to establish the Gender Responsive Strategies Commission (GRSC) to develop active partnerships and to support successful implementation of gender responsive practices and rehabilitation programs for incarcerated individuals. The bill would require the department to provide a report to the Legislature on the implementation of the plan, and update statistics contained in the plan, by March 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter. The bill would require the department to maintain the plan, including subsequent updates and reports, in consultation with the GRSC and others, as specified. The bill would also require the department to post the plan, any reports, and any updates to the plan to the department’s internet website.

This bill would require the GRSC to be composed of 19 representatives, as specified, and would require the department, by June 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to provide a written report to the Legislature on appointments to the GRSC and the department’s response and progress toward implementing the GRSC’s recommendations.

Existing law also requires the department to contract with nationally recognized gender-responsive experts in prison operational practices, staffing, classification, substance abuse, trauma treatment services, mental health services, transitional services, and community corrections to, among other things, conduct a staffing analysis of all current job classifications assigned to each prison that houses only females, as specified, and develop programs and training for department staff in correctional facilities.

Sponsors

Sponsors by party (alphabetical): Democratic 24

“Support” is shown only as formal sponsorship recorded by the legislature. Roll-call votes are available on the official bill page.

Recent official actions

1. September 27, 2026Vetoed by Governor.
2. September 9, 2026Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
3. August 30, 2026Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 6929.).
4. August 30, 2026In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
5. August 30, 2026Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0.).
6. August 30, 2026Ordered to special consent calendar.
7. August 24, 2026Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
8. August 20, 2026Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
9. August 13, 2026Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
10. August 13, 2026From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 13).
11. August 29, 2025In committee: Held under submission.
12. August 18, 2025In committee: Referred to suspense file.