The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California in the United States responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacramento.

Staff size CDCR is the 3rd largest law enforcement agency in the United States behind the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the New York City Police Department, which employ approximately 67,000 federal officers and 42,000 police officers respectively. CDCR correctional officers are sworn law enforcement officers with peace officer powers.

As of 2013, CDCR employed approximately 24,000 peace officers (state correctional officers), 1,800 state parole agents, and 150 criminal investigators.

Jeff Macomber was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on December 12, 2022.

History In 1851, California activated its first state-run institution. This institution was a 267-ton wooden ship named The Waban, and was anchored in San Francisco Bay.California Department of Justice. California Criminal Justice Time Line 1822–2000 . Accessed April 27, 2008. The prison ship housed 30 inmates who subsequently constructed San Quentin State Prison, which opened in 1852 with approximately 68 inmates.Reed, Dan. "Killer Location May Doom San Quentin Prison. Also Calling It Outdated, State to Consider Razing Infamous Bayside Penitentiary for Housing". San Jose Mercury News, August 20, 2001.

Since 1852, the department has activated sixty-seven prisons across the state. CDCR's history dates back to 1912, when the agency was called California State Detentions Bureau. In 1951 it was renamed California Department of Corrections. In 2004 it was renamed California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 2018-2019 it cost an average of $81,203 to house an inmate for one year.

About CDCR

Divisions Division of Adult Institutions (DAI) Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) Division of Health Care Services (DHCS) Facility Planning, Construction and Management (FPCM) Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) - closed effective July 1, 2023 Division of Rehabilitative Programs (DRP) Division of Investigation (ISU)

Offices Office of Appeals (OOA) Office of Audits and Court Compliance (OACC) Office of Business Services (OBS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) Office of Legislation Office of the Ombudsman Office of Peace Officer Selection (OPOS) Office of Personnel Services Office of Public and Employee Communications (OPEC) Office of Research Office of Training and Professional Development (OTPD) Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSRS)

Other programs COMPSTAT Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) Budget Management Branch (BMB) CCHCS Direct Care Contracts Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST) Council on Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health (CCJBH) - closed effective July 1, 2025 California Correctional Training and Rehabilitation Authority (CALCTRA)

Facilities

CDCR operates all state institutions, oversees a variety of community correctional facilities and camps, and monitors all parolees during their entry back into society.

Institutions

According to the Department's official Web site, "Currently there are 33 adult correctional institutions, 13 adult community correctional facilities, and eight juvenile facilities in California which house 92,298 adult offenders (as of 6/15/2025) and nearly 3,200 juvenile offenders."CDCR Division of Adult Institutions. Visitors Information Page (). Retrieved November 30, 2007. This inmate population makes the CDCR the largest state-run prison system in the United States.Moore, Solomon. "New Court to Address California Prison Crowding". The New York Times, July 24, 2007.

Regarding adult prisons, CDCR has the task of receiving and housing inmates that were convicted of felony crimes within the State of California. Adult inmates arriving at a state prison are assigned a classification based on the offense committed via a point system. Each prison is designed to house different varieties of inmate offenders, from Level I inmates to Level IV inmates; the higher the level, the higher risk the inmate poses. Selected prisons within the state are equipped with security housing units, reception centers, and/or "condemned" units. Security levels are able to fluctuate depending on good or bad behavior while in prison once per year.

CDCR security levels are defined as follows:

Level I: "Facilities and Camps consist primarily of open dormitories with a low security perimeter." Level II: "Facilities consist primarily of open dormitories with a secure perimeter, which may include armed coverage." Level III: "Facilities primarily have a secure perimeter with armed coverage and housing units with cells adjacent to exterior walls." Level IV: "Facilities have a secure perimeter with internal and external armed coverage and housing units or cell block housing with cells non-adjacent to exterior walls." Restricted Housing Unit (RHU): "The most secure area within a Level IV prison designed to provide maximum coverage."Bureau of auditors (September 1998). California Department of Corrections: The Cost of Incarcerating Inmates in State-Run Prisons Is Higher Than the Department’s Published Cost, p.14. These are designed to handle inmates where prison staff believe the prison general population poses an immediate threat to the inmate's own safety or the safety of others; endangers institution security; or jeopardizes an investigation into serious misconduct, criminal activity, or safety concerns.

Reception Center (RC): "Provides short term housing to process, classify and evaluate incoming inmates." Condemned (Cond): "Holds inmates with death sentences."

Inmates on Condemned Status

Historically, state law mandated male prisoners on condemned status be housed at San Quentin State Prison and women on condemned status be housed at Central California Women’s Facility. Proposition 66, a ballot measure passed by California voters in 2016, allows prison officials to transfer condemned inmate to any state prison which provides the necessary level of security.

The State of California took full control of capital punishment in 1891. Originally, executions took place at San Quentin and at Folsom State Prison. Folsom's last execution occurred on December 3, 1937."History of Capital Punishment in California" (). California Department of Corrections. Retrieved on August 16, 2010. In previous eras the California Institution for Women housed the death row for women."Court Ruling Won't Mean Bloodbath On Death Row". Associated Press at the Tuscaloosa News. Tuesday February 15, 1972. p. 10. Retrieved on Google News (6/15) on March 27, 2013. "There are five women under a sentence of death. Three of Manson's convicted accomplices, Susan Atkins, Leslie Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, are in a special women's section of the row built at the California Institute for Women at Frontera."

On March 13, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order instituting a moratorium on the death penalty in California in the form of a reprieve for all people sentenced to death. The executive order also calls for repealing California's lethal injection protocol and the immediate closing of the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison. The order does not provide for the release of any individual from prison or otherwise alter any current conviction or sentence.

Parole According to the Department's official Web site, "there are more than 148,000 adult parolees and 3,800 juvenile parolees supervised by the CDCR." A 2002 article found that "California's growth in the numbers of people on parole supervision—and in the numbers whose parole has been revoked—has far exceeded the growth in the rest of the nation."Travis, Jeremy, and Lawrence, Sarah. California's Parole Experiment (). California Journal, August 2002. California accounted for 12 percent of the U.S. population but 18% of the U.S. parole population, and almost 90,000 California parolees returned to prison in 2000.

At San Quentin, the non-profit organization California Reentry Program "helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences."

CDCR Peace Officers

Correctional Officers and Parole Agents are sworn Peace Officers per California Penal code sections 830.5, as their primary duties are to provide public safety and correctional services in and outside of state prison grounds, state-operated medical facilities, and camps while engaged in the performance of their duties.

The primary duties of these officers include, but are not limited to, providing public safety and law enforcement services in and around California's adult and youth institutions, fire camps, and state-operated medical facilities and hospitals, and community correctional facilities. These officers also monitor and supervise parolees who are released back into the general public. Other primary duties include investigation and apprehension of institutional escapees and parolees at large (PAL), prison gangs, statewide narcotics enforcement and investigations (involving institutions), etc.

Agents of the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) are peace officers per California Penal Code 830.2 whether assigned to the Special Service Unit (Special Agents), the Fugitive Apprehension Team (Special Agents, PAI, II & IIIs), or other entity of OCS, which serves are the special operations division of the department. OCS Agents are classified as full time peace officers.

Correctional Peace Officer Academy CDCR Peace Officers are trained to become Sworn Peace Officers of the State of California at the Basic Correctional Peace Officer Academy located in Galt, California. Cadets must complete a 13-week formal and comprehensive training program. The curriculum consists of 640 hours (four months) of training. Instruction includes but is not limited to firearms, chemical agents, non-lethal impact weapons, arrest and control techniques, state law, penal codes and department policies and procedures.

Cadets must also successfully complete the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) minimum requirement course. Upon completion of the academy, cadets are sworn in as CDCR peace officers. Upon assignment to their work institution or location, these officers also undergo further training for two years as vocational apprentices (one year of which is spent on probation). Upon completion of their two-year training they are then considered regular state correctional peace officers (CDCR officers)

Rank structure

TitleInsigniaDepartment DirectorWardenChief Deputy WardenAssociate WardenCaptainLieutenantSergeantCorrectional Officer

Specialized Units

Fugitive Apprehension Team