CASI history

In July 1852, California opened its first land-based adult correctional institution, San Quentin State Prison, housing 68 individuals. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s California experienced low incarceration rates, and by 1940 state prisons housed only 8,180 people.

In 1977, the Determinate Sentencing Law (DSL) passed in California, eliminating rehabilitation as a goal of sentencing in favor of more punitive practices that emphasized incarceration. Consequently, incarceration rates soared resulting in overcrowding and a deterioration of conditions within the state's prisons and jails. In May 2011, pursuant to the Plata litigation the United States Supreme Court mandated that California reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 due to unconstitutional prison conditions. In response, Governor Brown passed Assembly Bill 109 (AB 109), which realigned responsibility for adults with non-serious, non-violent, non-sex offenses to the county level. AB 109 was implemented on October 1, 2011.

Other efforts to reduce prison overcrowding and reduce recidivism in the state include Proposition 47, which changed certain low-level offenses from potential felonies (such as drug possession and thefts of property valued under $950) to misdemeanors. Prop 47 implemented on November 5th, 2014.

Passed by voters in November 2016, Proposition 57 was known as the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act. It created new parole considerations and credit-earning opportunities for people imprisoned for non-violent felony offenses. Prop 57 also amended state law to grant judges, not prosecutors, the sole authority to transfer a youth's case from juvenile to adult court.

Proposition 36, which was passed by voters in November 2024, increased penalties on certain drug and property offenses, while creating a new category of crimes called a “treatment mandated felony”. Early evidence suggests that the initiative is impacting jail and prison populations.

In 1858, California opened its first juvenile justice facility, the San Francisco Industrial School, to care for orphaned, abused, neglected, and delinquent children. In 1903, California became one of the first states to establish a separate court system for youthful offenders, acknowledging that youth were distinct from adults and deserving of individualized attention and rehabilitation.

The Industrial School closed in 1892 following 30 years of documented abuse and mismanagement, but its model of congregate institutional care remains the foundation of the state's youth correctional facilities. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, following concern about the rise of youth crime and system leniency, several punitive laws were passed including mandatory sentenced and automatic adult court transfers for certain crimes and the state institutional population began to grow.

In the 1990s, youth crime rates began to plummet. However, counties continued to heavily rely on state-run institutional care and the state facilities became overcrowded—peaking at 150% of design capacity. Violence in the facilities skyrocketed and rehabilitation became difficult.

In 1996, a sliding scale fee was introduced to provide accountability to counties who were unnecessarily sending low-level youth to the state facilities. In 2003, the Farrell litigation, a class action lawsuit was filed against the state facilities alleging the system was prison-like, violent, and failed to educate or rehabilitate its youth. The state entered into a consent decree, acknowledging the system's failures and agreeing to replace it with a modern, rehabilitative system. These events caused a dramatic decline in the state institutional population.

In 2007, Senate Bill 81 was passed, realigning youth with non-violent, non-serious offenses to the local level and providing funding to county probation systems to improve their capacity to serve youth offenders. The bill resulted in a further decline in institutional commitments and spurred the development of innovative programs at the county level. In 2008, The Little Hoover Commission called for the closure of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), with 7 facilities closing between 2003-2011. While the Farrell lawsuit oversight ended in 2016, the culture of staff abuse and violence continued in DJJ. In 2020, Governor Newsom, recognizing its long history of harm and failure, proposed to close California’s youth prison system. SB 823 (2020) and SB 92 (2021) outlined the shift to an entirely county based system.

DJJ closed officially on June 30th, 2023, making California the first state to close a state-operated youth prison system. Juvenile justice sentencing and detainment practices are now being tracked at a county level.