What is the CDCR Inmate Classification System?

As of June 30, 2023, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) housed approximately 93,870 inmates in California’s state prisons. 

The population is significantly lower that it was fifteen years ago, largely due to federal courts finding that extreme overcrowding resulted in cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.  Coleman v. Schwarzenegger (E.D. Cal. 2009) 922 F. Supp. 2d 882; see also Brown v. Plata (2011) 563 U.S. 493, 131 S. Ct. 190, 179 L. Ed. 2d 969.

Most people in California prisons are housed in the CDC’s 32 prisons for men and two prisons for women (a few women are also housed at CSP Folsom, which is otherwise a prison for men).  Some of the prisons have associated fire camps.  However, due to the need to reduce overcrowding, the CDCR sends some people to other types of prisons.  These include in-state contract facilities run by other agencies or private companies and out-of-state prisons run by private companies.  Some people in CDCR prisons are also placed in Department of State Hospitals (DSH) facilities for mental health treatment (i.e., Patton and Lompoc); most of these are on the grounds of CDCR prisons.

To place a new inmate in the correct facility, as well as to determine movement restrictions, privileges and programs, the CDCR classifies each inmate through at thorough classification process, considering each inmates needs, interests, behavior, and placement score.  The CDCR classification system also takes into account factors such as medical and mental health needs, safety concerns and disabilities, as well as the practical matter of where there simply is space for each inmate. 

There is a rather detailed classification process by correctional counselors and classification committees.

Most people assigned to prison are keen to know where they will be housed, particularly if their family or friends have difficulty traveling to remote prisons or they wish to be involved in a program at a particular prison.  After all, maintaining family relationships and community relationships reduced recidivism.  Penal Code § 6350.

This may be impossible to accommodate.  For example, all male death row inmates are housed at San Quentin and no where else.

 

It also may be very important to accommodate a prisoner’s need to avoid a certain prison if placement there would place him or her with known enemies, i.e., rival gang members, who are likely to seriously harm them.  See Farmer v. Brennan (1994) 511 U.S. 825, 832-834, 114 S. Ct. 1970, 128 L. Ed. 2d 811.

The classification process begins at the reception center (Delano for Los Angeles County prisoners) with a medical exam, screening for mental health and developmental disabilities, educational tests and a needs-assessment evaluation.  Reception center staff also review court documents concerning the commitment offense and prior criminal history and social history such as the probation reports and the person’s rap sheet.  This information in summarized in an inmates Legal Status Summary, or “LSS.”

The LSS also includes information on a person’s credit status and expected release date.  It will also include information on known enemies, gang affiliation and other safety concerns.

An important part of the reception center process is calculating a person’s classification score to determine the person’s security level so that the person is placed in the appropriate prison.  The score is based on one’s age at the first arrest, sentence length, prior criminal history and certain social factors.  A lower score indicates the person has fewer security and custody needs than a person with a higher score.  The “cut off” points and security levels are as follows:

        Level IV – Classification Score 60 and higher.

Generally, lower security level housing is in dormitories and higher level security is in cells. 

An inmate’s Placement Score is also calculated, which considers certain background factors (particularly one age at the time of one’s first arrest, age at the time of the current reception into CDCR, the length of the current sentence, gang affiliation, and one’s prior length of sentence(s)).  The placement score also considers one’s prior incarceration behavior, particularly for serious disciplinary rule violations.

There are certain mandatory points that are automatically assigned depending upon the sentence, i.e., a person serving a death sentence (60 points), LWOP sentence (36 points), a sex offense (19 points) and a history of escape (19 points).

The score is then used to place the inmate in an appropriate prison.

The placement score is then reviewed annually to update it with lower points or more points depending upon favorable or unfavorable behavior or changes to one’s sentence.

This article would be impossible to write without reference to the Prison Law Office’s excellent treatise, The California Prison and Parole Law Handbook.