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Inspector General requests funds to expand monitoring of staff-misconduct investigations
Summary
At a legislative budget hearing, the California Office of the Inspector General detailed a budget change proposal to add investigative staff and attorneys to increase monitoring and direct investigation of staff sexual-misconduct cases; the OIG cited a March spike in complaints and limited current coverage.
The California Office of the Inspector General told the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 6 that it needs additional staff and funding to monitor and investigate allegations of staff sexual misconduct inside the state prison system.
“Because we do not yet have funding or staffing to fully implement our new statutory duties, we have begun some preliminary work to develop our process,” Inspector General Amarik Singh told the committee. He described a budget change proposal that would add investigators and attorneys so the office can monitor a larger share of complaints and, when necessary, open its own supplemental investigations.
Why it matters: The OIG is statutorily charged with oversight of CDCR investigations into staff misconduct. At the hearing the OIG said its current staffing allowed monitoring of only a fraction of cases; without more resources it cannot fulfill new responsibilities added by recent legislation.
OIG officials provided concrete numbers. Singh said the OIG requested “$3,600,000 general fund in 22 positions in 25[xx] and $5,715,000 in 29 positions in 2026–27 ongoing” (transcript phrasing reflects testimony). Using a March snapshot, the OIG reported that CDCR opened 203 investigations into alleged staff sexual misconduct in that month; the OIG monitored 31 of those, leaving 172 unmonitored. The OIG said prior projections based on 2024 data estimated about 1,400 complaints annually but that March figures suggest the annual workload might be closer to 2,400 cases.
The OIG proposed that with additional staff it could monitor or investigate roughly 350 staff sexual-misconduct cases per year, representing about 25% of the current volume involving incarcerated people. The office also proposed to publicly report monthly summaries and at least one annual summary of monitored staff-misconduct cases.
Committee members pressed for details about how the OIG would sample and monitor cases and whether its staffing proposal would provide sufficient independent oversight. Several lawmakers, including Assemblymember Bonta, said the Legislature should aim to ensure all complaints receive appropriate scrutiny rather than settling for a representative sample.
Discussion versus decisions: the OIG presented a budget request and described implementation plans; the subcommittee did not vote on funding during the hearing. Members asked the OIG and CDCR for additional documentation on staffing, case routing and prosecution referrals.
Ending: The OIG said it will further develop its implementation plan and report back to the committee. Lawmakers indicated they would review the BCP and related funding requests as part of the budget process.
