Crime

Legislation to Teach Community College Courses in Jail

Published

12 years ago

January 23, 2014

An assembly bill that would allow California Community Colleges to receive full funding for courses offered in correctional institutions, AB1271, has passed the Assembly Higher Education Committee with strong bipartisan support (12-1). According to Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), author of the bill.

“California has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country. Attorney General Kamala Harris has stated that two-thirds of released prisoners commit another crime within three years of release. Although these figures are alarming, we know that education is a key part of the solution to the problem,” said Bonta.

“Studies have shown that formerly incarcerated individuals who have participated in correctional education have a 43 percent reduced chance of recidivism,” he said. “Unfortunately, the correctional education budget has suffered severe cuts, and there is currently little to no incentive for our community colleges to teach 2courses to our inmates.

The community college districts have received devastating cuts in the past few years as well and cannot afford to teach courses for which they do not receive proper funding.”

In 2010-11, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was subjected to an unallocated cut to its budget of $1.2 billion. As a result, CDCR reduced its internal funding for rehabilitative programs, including academic, vocational, substance abuse and other programs for inmates and parolees.

“By creating more incentives for California Community Colleges to provide courses and encourage attendance by our current prisoners, AB 1271 will decrease future incarceration costs by reducing recidivism, improve the employment potential of recently released prisoners, and increase the safety of the general public,” said Bonta.

Support for the bill includes: AFSCME, California School Employees Association, California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Community College League of California,

Assemblymember Bonta represents the 18th Assembly District, which includes Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

5 days ago

December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

1 week ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.