PROBLEM: The impact of climate change on the carceral system has emerged as a critical area of concern, particularly as extreme weather events become increasingly common. Recent years have seen a rise in incidents of excessive heat, cold snaps, wildfires, floods, and deteriorating air quality, all of which have disproportionately affected vulnerable populations including those incarcerated in California’s correctional facilities.

SOLUTION:

• Establish temperature safety standards in correctional facilities.

• Ensure incarcerated individuals have access to climate-appropriate clothing, increased access to showers and personal fans, and hydration stations.

• Provide for and strengthen workplace protections for incarcerated workers who currently face high risk of injury, illness, or death due to increased temperatures as a result of climate change, including their right to report unsafe working conditions.

• Implement emergency response protocols for climate-related disasters.

PROBLEM: Many in California’s county jails and juvenile facilities often lack access to basic hygiene essentials like shampoo, toothpaste, and soap due to financial barriers. County policies set extremely narrow financial thresholds for indigence, often requiring incarcerated individuals to have little to no money for consecutive days before qualifying for limited free hygiene supplies.

SOLUTION:

• Guarantee free and consistent access to basic hygiene items in county jails and juvenile detention facilities by prohibiting the use of these products as rewards or punishments.

• Establish a universal indigence standard by defining indigence as an individual possessing $25 or less in their “inmate account” for a period of seven days. This change will create a fair and consistent threshold across all county facilities.

• Prohibit counties from charging indigent individuals for hygiene products or allowing them to accumulate debt for these essential items.

• Provide debt forgiveness for individuals currently burdened with hygiene-related commissary debt accrued during incarceration.

• Ensuring access to hygiene products is a matter of basic human dignity and public health. SB 498 will create a standardized, humane, and just system that upholds the rights of all incarcerated individuals and improves their well-being.

PROBLEM: This program is currently a pilot program. Fire camp programs have been repeatedly shown to foster positive rehabilitation and to significantly lower recidivism rates, especially for people who spend 1 year or longer in the program. According to recent data from CDCR, recidivism rates for fire camp participants are as much as 14.5 percentage points lower than for the general incarcerated population.2 By making the Youth Offender Conservation Camp initiative permanent, it provides a sustainable pathway for young people to participate in this successful program. The state of California must do significantly more to promote rehabilitation efforts, and making this program permanent is a strong step in the right direction.

SOLUTION: Passing AB 952 will allow for the Youth Offender  Camp Pilot Program to become a permanent  opportunity for incarcerated youth to access  workplace training and rehabilitation. Also, AB 952  would allow for the expansion of this program.