Prisons.

Senator Ashby's prison reform legislation establishes pension forfeiture requirements for correctional staff convicted of sexually assaulting inmates while mandating security upgrades at California women's facilities. The bill requires Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees convicted of sexually assaulting inmates to forfeit their public retirement benefits from the date of the offense, with complete forfeiture applying to new employees hired after January 1, 2026.

The legislation directs the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to construct 100 new single-cell housing units at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. It also requires women's prison facilities to install fixed surveillance cameras in designated areas by 2028, add thermal sensor cameras in inmate bathrooms, and eliminate solo shifts for correctional officers. The bill authorizes correctional lieutenants to approve inmate requests for transfer to restrictive housing.

Under the pension provisions, convicted employees and prosecutors must notify employers within 60 days of a conviction, and employers must then inform retirement systems within 90 days. The bill includes protections for innocent spouses through alignment with community property laws and allows benefit restoration if convictions are reversed. Public retirement systems may assess employers for costs related to implementing these requirements.