AB958, Strengthening Prison Visitation, Passes CA Assembly

As a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 958 (Miguel Santiago-D54) Felony Murder Elimination Project is happy to report that yesterday, AB-958 passed the California Assembly by a 52-15 vote. AB-958 seeks to strengthen visiting opportunities and connections between incarcerated people and their families and children in California’s state prisons to support their emotional health, improve in-custody conduct, and reduce recidivism.  The bill, a crucial step towards promoting family unity between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones, now heads to the California Senate Public Safety Committee for the next step of the legislative process.

Less than 30% of incarcerated people receive visits in California prisons, and it is by and large not due to lack of interest on behalf of incarcerated people and their loved ones. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) impose several administrative barriers to family members wishing to visit incarcerated loved ones.

CDCR currently denies visitation to:

• Family members with past convictions, even when those convictions are decades old.
• Applicants who inadvertently forget to list a law enforcement contact, and these "contacts" can include being detained with without an arrest or conviction.
• Incarcerated persons with rule violations that have absolutely nothing to do with a violation of visiting rules.

AB-958 would restore an incarcerated person's right to receive personal visits in state prisons, a right that was part of California law from 1975 to 1997 and potentially save taxpayers millions of dollars by reducing recidivism, improving in-custody conduct, and supporting healthy development of children with incarcerated parents.