SB337 - Prisons.

Amended IN Assembly August 20, 2026 Amended IN Assembly August 13, 2026 Amended IN Senate May 23, 2025 Amended IN Senate April 10, 2025 Amended IN Senate March 26, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 337 Introduced by Senator Menjivar (Coauthors: Assembly Members Schultz and Sharp-Collins) February 12, 2025 An act to amend Sections 289.6, 2639, and 6065 of, and to add Sections 2608, 2610, 2635.1, 5003.7, 6054, and 6126.1 to, the Penal Code, relating to prisons. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 337, as amended, Menjivar. Prisons. (1) Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (department) and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the administration of correctional facilities and the care and custody of inmates. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to consider specified best practices when establishing policies and procedures for downloading and storing data from body-worn cameras, including, among other things, prohibiting the unauthorized use, duplication, or distribution of the data, and establishing storage periods for evidentiary and nonevidentiary data, as defined. This bill would require the department, by July 1, 2027, to establish policies and procedures that include circumstances under which a body-worn camera may be deactivated and would require the department to ensure that those policies and procedures reflect a minimum amount of time per shift that a body-worn camera be activated, and that the camera is activated when interacting with incarcerated persons. The bill would require the department to develop audit protocols to ensure compliance. The bill would require the department’s policies and procedures to authorize deactivation of a body-worn camera during specified confidential interactions and would require staff to inform the subject the reason for the deactivation and to document the time of the deactivation, the reason for the deactivation, and the time of reactivation. This bill would require the department to adopt, and update regularly, a Prison Sexual Violence Elimination policy that would outline specified principles, including, among others, that the department maintains zero tolerance for sexual violence, staff sexual misconduct, and sexual harassment in its institutions, community correctional facilities, and conservation camps, and for all offenders under its jurisdiction. (2) Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law enumerates certain civil rights of these prisoners. This bill would, by January 1, 2028, require the department to develop and implement protocols for when an incarcerated person is subject to a nonroutine search or scan, including, among other things, obtaining approval from a supervising officer of rank sergeant or above before the search or scan, documenting specified information about the search or scan, and providing the incarcerated person with a written receipt or other documentation with this information. The bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish a pilot program at 3 institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of replacing unclothed body searches with scanning technology, as specified. (3) Existing law requires members of the department’s Office of Internal Affairs to possess certification from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for investigators, except as specified. Existing law requires the department to conduct a complete and thorough background check prior to training a peace officer who is selected to conduct internal affairs investigations and requires each person to satisfactorily pass the background check. Existing law states that any person who has been the subject of a sustained, serious disciplinary action, as specified, shall not pass the background check. This bill would require an investigator to disclose an actual or potential conflict of interest they may have in an investigation in which they are participating. The bill would require the department to take appropriate action to remedy that conflict. The bill would require an investigator to recuse themselves from participating in an investigation or a decision related to an investigation if they have a conflict of interest involving a staff member with whom they have a personal relationship, as defined. (4) Existing law authorizes the secretary of the department to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons. Under existing law, the State Civil Service Act, certain acts, including convictions of certain crimes, are cause for discipline of a state employee or of a person whose name appears on an employment list. This bill would prohibit the department from appointing or promoting a person to a position that may involve any contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for services that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, if the department obtains information that the person or contractor has engaged in sexual misconduct in a prison or other correctional facility or institution, substantiated allegations of sexual abuse in the course of their employment have been reported against them, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department from appointing or promoting any person to a position that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for services that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, if the department learns that the person or contractor has been convicted of certain offenses, including murder and rape, felony domestic battery and specified sex offenses, among others. The bill would also prohibit the department from appointing or promoting any person to a position that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for any services, if it obtains information that the person or contractor has been civilly or administratively adjudicated to have engaged in that conduct. The bill would require the department to consider any information it obtains about substantiated incidents of sexual harassment in determining whether to appoint or promote an applicant and would require the department before appointing a new employee to make best efforts to contact all prior institutional employers for information on substantiated allegations of sexual abuse, among other things. The bill would require the department to conduct criminal background checks every 5 years of existing employees or implement a system to otherwise capture that information. (5) Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employee or officer of a public entity health facility, or an employee, officer, or agent of a private person or entity that provides a health facility or staff for a health facility under contract with a public entity, to engage in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a health facility. Existing law additionally makes it a misdemeanor for specified individuals, including an employee or officer of a public entity detention facility or an employee with a department, board, or authority under the department, to engage in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a detention facility or who is an inmate, ward, or parolee, as specified. Existing law makes it a felony for any subsequent violations for a person who was previously convicted of these violations. Existing law requires a person convicted of a felony violation of the above-described provisions who is employed by a department, board, or authority within the department to be terminated, as specified, and prohibits that person from being eligible to be hired or reinstated by the department. Existing law requires administrators to report criminal sexual abuse by staff to law enforcement authorities. This bill would instead require that a person convicted of any violation of these provisions be terminated and prohibited from being reinstated by the department. The bill would also require that a person convicted of any violation of these provisions who is employed by a public entity health facility be terminated and made ineligible to be hired or reinstated by a public entity health facility. This bill would require administrators to report any known or suspected sexual abuse by staff to a local law enforcement agency. (6) Existing law establishes the Office of the Inspector General that is responsible for, among other things, contemporaneous public oversight of internal affairs investigations and staff grievance inquiries conducted by the department’s Office of Internal Affairs. Existing law requires the Office of the Inspector General to have investigatory authority over all staff misconduct cases that involve sexual misconduct with an incarcerated person, as specified. This bill would authorize an incarcerated person to file an anonymous grievance relating to an allegation of sexual misconduct directly to the Office of the Inspector General, and would authorize the Inspector General to review any grievance filed from an incarcerated person, whether or not that grievance had been previously filed with the institution or hiring authority where the grievance occurred. (7) Existing regulations establish a grievance procedure for individuals in the custody of, or under the supervision of, the department. Under those regulations, a claimant is required to submit a grievance no later than 60 calendar days after discovering an adverse policy, decision, action, condition, or omission by the department. This bill would extend that time period to 120 calendar days. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares both of the following: (a) Sexual abuse by staff is an ongoing issue in Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities, especially in the facilities designated for women where recent lawsuits have revealed serial abuse by staff. (b) The purpose of this act is to implement safeguards that help to prevent future sexual abuse. SEC. 2. Section 289.6 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 289.6. (a) (1) (A) An employee or officer of a public entity health facility, or an employee, officer, or agent of a private person or entity that provides a health facility or staff for a health facility under contract with a public entity, who engages in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a health facility is guilty of a public offense. (B) As used in this section, “health facility” means a health facility as defined in subdivisions (b), (e), (g), (h), and (j) of, and subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (i) of, Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, in which the victim has been confined involuntarily. (2) An employee or officer of a public entity detention facility, or an employee, officer, or agent of a private person or entity that provides a detention facility or staff for a detention facility, a person or agent of a public or private entity under contract with a detention facility, a volunteer of a private or public entity detention facility, or a peace officer who engages in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a detention facility is guilty of a public offense. (3) An employee with a department, board, or authority under the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or a facility under contract with a department, board, or authority under the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who, during the course of their employment directly provides treatment, care, control, or supervision of incarcerated persons, wards, or parolees, and who engages in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is an incarcerated person, ward, or parolee, is guilty of a public offense. (b) As used in this section, the term “public entity” means the state, federal government, a city, a county, a city and county, a joint county jail district, or any entity created as a result of a joint powers agreement between two or more public entities. (c) As used in this section, the term “detention facility” means: (1) A prison, jail, camp, or other correctional facility used for the confinement of adults or both adults and minors. (2) A building or facility used for the confinement of adults or adults and minors pursuant to a contract with a public entity. (3) A room that is used for holding persons for interviews, interrogations, or investigations and that is separate from a jail or located in the administrative area of a law enforcement facility. (4) A vehicle used to transport confined persons during their period of confinement, including transporting a person after the person has been arrested but has not been booked. (5) A court holding facility located within or adjacent to a court building that is used for the confinement of persons for the purpose of court appearances. (d) As used in this section, “sexual activity” means: (1) Sexual intercourse. (2) Sodomy, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 286. (3) Oral copulation, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 287 or former Section 288a. (4) Sexual penetration, as defined in subdivision (k) of Section 289. (5) The rubbing or touching of the breasts or sexual organs of another, or of oneself in the presence of and with knowledge of another, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of oneself or another. (e) Consent by a confined person or parolee to sexual activity proscribed by this section is not a defense to a criminal prosecution for violation of this section. (f) This section does not apply to sexual activity between consenting adults that occurs during an overnight conjugal visit that takes place pursuant to a court order or with the written approval of an authorized representative of the public entity that operates or contracts for the operation of the detention facility where the conjugal visit takes place, to physical contact or penetration made pursuant to a lawful search, or bona fide medical examinations or treatments, including clinical treatments. (g) Any violation of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), or a violation of paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (a) as described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (d), is a misdemeanor. (h) Any violation of paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (a), as described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) of subdivision (d), shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by both that fine and imprisonment. (i) Any person previously convicted of a violation of this section shall, upon a subsequent violation, [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]