Out of State Prisoners

Recent Developments Regarding Out-of-State Transfers

October 2006 – The Governor’s Proclamation

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is facing an overcrowding crisis. On October 4, 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and issued a Proclamation on overcrowding. The Proclamation recognized that the current level of overcrowding threatens the health and safety of prisoners and prison staff. To address the overcrowding crisis, the Governor ordered CDCR officials to enter into contracts to transfer adult California prisoners to out-of-state prisons operated by private companies or by state or county agencies. The Governor ordered that the CDCR start by transferring prisoners who volunteer for out-of-state placement. The Governor’s Proclamation also over-rode the theneffective version of Penal Code § 11191, which stated that no prisoner could be transferred to serve a California sentence prison in another state without the prisoner’s written consent the Proclamation authorized the CDCR to transfer prisoners involuntarily if the CDCR deemed such transfers to be