Program Profile: California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA)

This is a training and production program for incarcerated individuals, with the overall goal of reducing recidivism. The program is rated Promising. Compared with individuals in the waitlist comparison group, individuals who participated in the program had a statistically significant lower likelihood of being rearrested, reconvicted, or returned to custody during the 3-year follow-up period.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals

The California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA), which operates within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), is a training and production program for individuals who are incarcerated in prison. This self-sustaining program offers training, certification, and employment in a variety of fields to individuals serving sentences at CDCR. The goods and services produced by the program are sold to the state government and to other government entities. By providing individuals with job skills, job support, and basic education, as well as fostering good work habits, the program’s goal is to reduce recidivism of program participants.

Target Population

The qualifications for CALPIA are governed by law (15 CA ADC 15 § 8004). To be eligible for CALPIA, individuals must apply between two and five years before their earliest possible release date and meet a minimum adult basic education score. Additionally, within two years of enrolling in the program, individuals must earn a high school diploma or GED. Certain individuals are not eligible to enroll in CALPIA, including those sentenced to life without parole and individuals convicted of arson (or related offenses), unless an exception is made. Individuals convicted of certain offenses are also not allowed to participate in work-related activities involving those offenses. For example, individuals convicted of fraud cannot be assigned to the CALPIA Specialty Print Plants, and individuals convicted of computer-related offenses cannot have access to a computer. Finally, to maintain a drug-free workplace, CALPIA performs drug testing of its participants (Hess and Turner 2021).

Program Components

CALPIA is operational in all 35 CDCR prisons. In addition to work assignments, CALPIA offers 100 accredited certification programs in a variety of areas, including, but not limited to, manufacturing, agriculture, maintenance, and administration. CALPIA offers participants an hourly wage for their work, ranging from $0.35 to $1.00 (Hess and Turner 2021).

Additionally, CALPIA runs the Career Technical Education (CTE) program. The CTE program offers work opportunities to individuals who are incarcerated, as well as the opportunity to earn accredited certifications. The program offers seven certification programs, in construction, roofing, iron working, commercial diving, facilities maintenance, computer-aided design, computer coding, and culinary arts management.

Study 1

Hess and Turner (2021) used a quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes of the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) participants (treatment group) with a matched comparison group who were eligible to participate in CALPIA but were waitlisted (i.e., waitlist comparison group). Specifically, the study compares CALPIA participants who were enrolled in the program for at least 6 months, and released between August 2014 and July 2018, with incarcerated individuals who were accepted into the program but released prior to participation. Overall, a total of 8,603 individuals who were in custody in CDCR prisons, between August 2014 and July 2018, were included in the study.

The treatment group included 2,453 individuals who participated in CALPIA, whereas the waitlist comparison group included 6,150 CALPIA-qualified individuals who were released prior to their participation in the program. There were statistically significant differences found between CALPIA program participants and the waitlist group on characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, admission age, custody years, controlling offense, prior serious offense count, current serious offense flag, current violent offense flag, risk assessment score, region, destination, and programming. To minimize group differences, propensity score matching was used.

Following matching techniques, no statistically significant differences between the groups remained. The CALPIA treatment group was predominately male (85.6 percent), 34.4 percent Hispanic, 29.8 percent Black, 29.5 percent white, 4.4 percent other, 1 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.8 percent American Indian. Admission age ranged from 14 to 55 years and older, with about 52 percent of the sample serving 0 to 4 years in prison. The most common controlling offense was assault, followed by property offense. Most individuals did not have any prior serious offenses or current violent or serious offense flags. Most individuals were assessed as low on the risk assessment (43.6 percent), followed by moderate (28.2 percent). Most individuals came from Los Angeles (30 percent), followed by North Central California (27.7 percent). Most individuals were released to parole (72.1 percent).

The waitlist comparison group was predominately male (86.4 percent), 34.9 percent Hispanic, 27.8 percent Black, 31.1 percent White, 4.4 percent other, 1 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.7 percent American Indian. Admission age ranged from 14 to 55 years and older, with about 52 percent of the sample serving 0 to 4 years in prison. The most common controlling offense was assault, followed by property offense. Most individuals did not have any prior serious offenses or current violent or serious offense flags. Most individuals were assessed as low on the risk assessment (43.3 percent), followed by moderate (27.7 percent). Finally, most individuals came from Los Angeles (29.4 percent), followed by North Central California (27.7 percent). Most individuals were released to parole (72.1 percent).

The outcome of interest in the study was recidivism, measured as rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration. Though outcomes were measured at 1, 2, and 3 years, the CrimeSolutions review of this study focused on rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration at 3 years.

Data from the study were provided by two sources: 1) the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Office of Research, and 2) the California Department of Justice. The CDCR Office of Research provided the list of program participants and waitlist participants, including their demographics, work/program history, movement data, and needs assessments. CDCR also provided return-to-custody data. The California Department of Justice provided rearrest and reconviction data. No subgroup analyses were conducted.

For more information can be found on the program’s website: https://www.calpia.ca.gov/.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Correctional Work Industries

Correctional work industries are designed to provide work experiences for incarcerated persons while they are incarcerated. The practice is rated Promising for reducing crime and delinquency. Those who participated in correctional work industry programs were significantly less likely to recidivate than those who did not participate.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Corrections-Based Vocational Training Programs

Vocational training or career technical education programs in prison are designed to teach incarcerated persons about general employment skills or skills needed for specific jobs and industries. The practice is rated Promising in reducing recidivism, and in having a significant impact on participants obtaining employment following release from prison. Their odds were 28 percent higher than those who had not participated in training.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Employment & Socioeconomic Status - Job placement

Rehabilitation Programs for Adults Convicted of a Crime

This practice includes programs that are designed to reduce recidivism among adults by improving their behaviors, skills, mental health, social functioning, and access to education and employment. They may become participants in rehabilitation programs during multiple points in their involvement with the criminal justice system. This practice is rated Promising for reducing recidivism among adults who have been convicted of an offense.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?