Title PEN — California Penal Code

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall require of every able-bodied prisoner imprisoned in any state prison as many hours of faithful labor in each day and every day during the prisoner’s term of imprisonment as shall be prescribed by the rules and regulations…

Section 2700 applies to inmates sentenced to death, except as otherwise provided in this section. Every person found guilty of murder, sentenced to death, and held by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pursuant to Sections 3600 to 3602 shall be required to work as m…

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is hereby authorized and empowered to cause the prisoners in the state prisons of this state to be employed in the rendering of services as are now, or may hereafter be, needed by the state, or any political subdivision thereof…

No person imprisoned after conviction of a violation of Section 502 or of subdivision (b) of Section 502.7 shall be permitted to work on or have access to any computer system of the department.

All prisoners shall be employed under supervision of the wardens respectively, and such skilled foremen as they may deem necessary in the performance of work for the state.

The director is further authorized and empowered to purchase, install, and equip, such machinery, tools, supplies, materials, and equipment as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.

No inmate of any State prison shall be employed in the manufacture or production, of any article, intended for the private and personal use of any State officer, or officer, or employee, of any State institution; provided, that this act shall not prevent repairing of any kind nor…

(a) (1) An incarcerated person imprisoned in a state prison shall be allowed relief from prison employment after the death of an immediate family member of the incarcerated person. (2) If the incarcerated person is enrolled in an educational program instead of, or in addition to,…

Whenever an inmate is paid for his labor, performed under the supervision of the Department of Corrections or any other public agency, and is discharged, all sums due him shall be paid upon release. If an inmate is released on parole all sums due him shall be paid to the inmate a…

In addition to any other payment to which he is entitled by law, each prisoner upon his release shall be paid the sum of two hundred dollars ($200), from such appropriations that may be made available for the purposes of this section. The department may prescribe rules and regula…

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall examine and report to the Legislature on whether the provisions of existing law related to payments to inmates released from prison are hindering the success of parolees and resulting in their rapid return to prison for parol…

In addition to the credits received pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2933.3, incarcerated individual hand crew members shall be paid an hourly wage equal to seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) while assigned to an active fire incident. The wage rate shall be reviewe…

Land belonging to the State of California may, with the approval of the Department of Finance, be transferred to the jurisdiction of the director for the purpose of establishing thereon a prison farm and prisoners in the state prisons may be transferred to such farm. Products fro…

(a) The Director of Corrections may enter into agreements with other state agencies for the use of inmates confined in the state prisons to perform work necessary and proper to be done by them in facilities of such state agencies for the purpose of vocational training and the imp…

(a) There is hereby established the Prerelease Construction Trades Certificate Program, hereinafter referred to in this section as “the program,” in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, hereinafter referred to in this section as the “department,” to increase employme…

The Department of Corrections shall require prisoners who are working outside the prison grounds in road cleanup crews pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 2760) or fire crews pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 2780) to wear distinctive clothing for identifi…

Definitions. (a) For the purposes of this section, joint venture program means a contract entered into between the Director of Corrections and any public entity, nonprofit or for profit entity, organization, or business for the purpose of employing inmate labor. (b) Joint venture…

The Director of Corrections shall establish joint venture programs within state prison facilities to allow joint venture employers to employ inmates confined in the state prison system for the purpose of producing goods or services. While recognizing the constraints of operating …

The Director of Corrections shall prescribe by rules and regulations provisions governing the operation and implementation of joint venture programs, which shall be in furtherance of the findings and declarations in the Prison Inmate Labor Initiative of 1990.

(a) There is hereby established within the Department of Corrections the Joint Venture Policy Advisory Board. The Joint Venture Policy Advisory Board shall consist of the Director of Corrections, who shall serve as chair, the Director of the Employment Development Department, and…

In establishing joint venture contracts the Director of Corrections shall consider the impact on the working people of California and give priority consideration to inmate employment which will retain or reclaim jobs in California, support emerging California industries, or creat…

(a) No contract shall be executed with a joint venture employer that will initiate employment by inmates in the same job classification as non-inmate employees of the same employer who are on strike, as defined in Section 1132.6 of the Labor Code, as it reads on January 1, 1990, …

Notwithstanding Section 2812 of the Penal Code or any other provision of law which restricts the sale of inmate-provided services or inmate-manufactured goods, services performed and articles manufactured by joint venture programs may be sold to the public.

The compensation of prisoners engaged in programs pursuant to contract between the Department of Corrections and joint venture employers for the purpose of conducting programs which use inmate labor shall be comparable to wages paid by the joint venture employer to non-inmate emp…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a prisoner who participates in a joint venture program is ineligible for unemployment benefits upon his or her release from prison based upon participation in that program.

The Department of Transportation of the State of California may employ or cause to be employed, prisoners confined in the state prisons in the improvement and maintenance of any state highway.

“Department,” as used in this article, means the Department of Transportation.

The Director of Corrections shall determine which prisoners shall be eligible for employment by the Department of Transportation in the improvement and maintenance of state highways, and shall establish lists of prisoners eligible for such employment. Upon the requisition of said…

The Director of Corrections shall fix a daily rate to be expended for convict labor, and when so fixed, the Department of Transportation shall monthly set aside funds to the director to pay for this labor from funds appropriated in the Budget Act for this purpose, and where no fu…

When any prisoner shall wilfully violate the terms of his employment or the rules and regulations of the Department of Corrections, the Director of Corrections may in his discretion determine what portion of all moneys earned by the prisoner shall be forfeited by the said prisone…

This article is not intended to restore, in whole or in part, the civil rights of any prisoner used hereunder, and such article shall not be so construed.

No prisoner while engaged in such construction, maintenance and improvement of a state highway shall drive a motor truck or other vehicle or wagon outside of the limits established for the camp or construction work.

Said prisoners when employed under the provisions of this article shall not be used for the purpose of building any bridge or structure of like character which requires the employment of skilled labor.

The Department of Transportation shall designate and supervise all road work done under the provisions of this article. It shall provide, supervise and maintain necessary camps and commissariat, except that where no funds are available to the Department of Transportation, the dir…

The Director of Corrections shall have full jurisdiction at all times over the discipline and control of the prisoners employed on said roads.

Any person who, without authority, interferes with or in any way interrupts the work of any prisoners employed pursuant to this article, and any person not authorized by law, who gives or attempts to give to any prisoner so employed any controlled substances or any intoxicating l…

Any department, division, bureau, commission or other agency of the State of California or the Federal Government may use or cause to be used convicts confined in the state prisons to perform work necessary and proper to be done by them at permanent, temporary, and mobile camps t…

Money received from the rendering of services under the prison camp work program shall be paid to the Treasurer monthly and shall be credited to the support appropriation of the prison rendering such services, in augmentation thereof. The appropriation to be credited shall be the…

The Director of Corrections may, during declared fire emergencies, allow the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to use prisoners for fire suppression efforts outside of the boundaries of California, not to exceed a distance in excess of 25 miles from the C…

(a) Notwithstanding paragraph (9) of subdivision (a) of Section 3370 of the Labor Code, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, shall, pursuant to subdivision (b), pay a death benefit in an amount calculated pursuant to subdivision (c) for the death of any state prison …

The Director of Corrections shall determine which prisoners shall be eligible for employment under Section 2780, and shall establish and modify lists of prisoners eligible for such employment. Upon the requisition of an agency mentioned in Section 2780, the Director of Correction…

The director may fix a daily rate to be expended for such convict labor, and when so fixed, the agency shall monthly set aside funds to the director to pay for such labor, and where no funds are available from the agency the director may set aside the department’s own funds to pa…

Whenever prisoners are paid for their labor under this article and a prisoner wilfully violates the terms of his employment or the rules of the camp or the Department of Corrections the Director of Corrections may in his discretion determine what portion of all moneys earned by t…

All money received pursuant to this article in the Inmate Welfare Fund of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is hereby appropriated for educational, recreational, and other purposes described in Section 5006 at the various prison camps established under this article…

The secretary shall make weight training equipment available to inmates assigned to fire suppression efforts pursuant to this article. The weight training equipment shall be used in accordance with the provisions of Section 5010.

(a) (1) The Legislature finds and declares both of the following: (A) The Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program was launched by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in August 2023 at Growlersburg Conservation Camp #33 in Georgetown as a pilot program to temporaril…

The agency providing work for convicts under this article shall designate and supervise all work done under the provisions of this article. The agency shall provide, erect and maintain the necessary camps, except that where no funds are available to the agency, the director may p…

The director shall have full jurisdiction at all times over the discipline and control of the convicts performing work under this article.

Any person, who, without authority, interferes with or in any way interrupts the work of any convict used pursuant to this article and any person not authorized by law, who gives or attempts to give to any state prison convict so employed any controlled substances, or any intoxic…

This article is not intended to restore, in whole or in part, the civil rights of any convict used hereunder, and such article shall not be so construed.