Prisons: facilities for female offenders.

Assembly Member Quirk-Silva's corrections reform legislation creates a new Division of Female Programs and Services within California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, establishing dedicated oversight of facilities and programs serving incarcerated women. The division, operating under the Undersecretary for Operations, will manage women's prisons, conservation camps, and community programs while developing gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches to rehabilitation.

The measure restructures institutional leadership by appointing three subordinate officers to oversee male facilities and one dedicated to female institutions. The director of the new division must possess at least five years of experience working with female correctional populations. The bill also establishes a Gender Responsive Strategies Commission comprising community organizations, researchers, policy experts, legislators, union representatives, and formerly incarcerated women to guide program development through quarterly meetings.

Under the legislation, the department must provide implementation updates on its Female Offender Reform Master Plan to the Legislature every three years starting March 2026, with all reports posted publicly online. The Undersecretary for Operations will appoint an ombudsperson specifically for women's facilities, expanding the existing prison ombudsperson program. These changes aim to create specialized oversight and gender-specific approaches within California's correctional system.