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Inspector General seeks staff and funding to monitor staff misconduct and assume rehab oversight duties
Summary
The Office of Inspector General told a Senate budget subcommittee it needs new positions and funding to implement Senate Bill 1069, expand monitoring of staff misconduct, and take on functions of the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board as that board’s role winds down.
Amariq Singh, Inspector General of California, told the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5 that his office has broadened authority and seeks additional staff to monitor investigations into alleged staff misconduct in the California prison system.
Singh said the OIG is an independent state agency that monitors CDCR use-of-force reviews, internal affairs investigations, discipline, grievance processes and medical care. He said the OIG already maintains a statewide intake complaint process and a 24-hour staffer for critical incidents, and that in 2024 the office published 20 reports and seven so far this year.
Singh described recent statutory changes and resource requests tied to Senate Bill 1069, which gives the OIG additional discretion over investigations of staff misconduct. He told the committee the OIG seeks to monitor or investigate roughly 350 staff-misconduct cases per year — about 25 percent of current case volume that involves incarcerated people — and to expand grievance review capacity to monitor an additional 9,600 grievances annually. To do that, Singh said the OIG is requesting attorney-level positions to perform and oversee monitoring and, when necessary, conduct supplemental administrative investigations.
Committee members asked how duties performed historically by the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board (CRO B) would be handled if the board’s functions are cut. Singh said the OIG will absorb program monitoring duties, and said OIG authority and staffing increases since 2019 position the office to audit and perform special reviews of rehabilitative programs. He added OIG reports are publicly posted and that the agency serves as chair to the rehabilitation oversight board.
Lawmakers pressed Singh on oversight of recent violent incidents in prisons that produced multiple deaths. Singh said the OIG is notified of critical incidents, reviews documentation, communicates with CDCR executive leaders, and may monitor incidents in real time; he said some incidents may result in separate OIG reports as the department closes its investigations.
Senators also questioned intake and confidentiality: Singh said calls to the OIG hotline and tablet communications are not recorded or monitored by CDCR and are confidential. He described the OIG’s intake and field outreach and noted that complaint volume has increased from several hundred per month to more than 1,000 per month.
Singh told the committee the OIG will publish case summaries monthly and an annual summary of staff-misconduct monitoring, and that attorneys in the proposed positions are Attorney 4 classifications intended to support investigations and recommendations to CDCR.
