Representatives from CDCR and community-based providers described a portfolio of rehabilitative programs offered inside California prisons and urged continued or expanded funding for the state’s BRIGHT (referred to in testimony as the “right”) grant, which funds community‑led programming.

Deputy Director Denise Tanamoto, Division of Rehabilitative Programs at CDCR, said the department provides foundational services—basic and higher education, substance use disorder treatment and vocational training—and partners with community organizations and volunteers to deliver supplemental rehabilitative programs. Tanamoto pointed to CDCR’s latest recidivism report for the 2019–2020 cohort: a statewide three‑year conviction recidivism rate of 39.1 percent, and a substantially lower 14.8 percent rate for people who earned milestone completion credits (MCC), rehabilitative achievement credits (RACC) or educational merit credits (EMC) through participation in programs.

Kenneth Hartman, executive director of Transformative Programming Works (TPW) and formerly incarcerated, told the committee that TPW’s member organizations run programs that include trauma‑informed and gender‑responsive curricula, restorative-justice groups, vocational training and reentry support. “Participants in these programs have the lowest recidivism rates across CDCR,” Hartman said. He requested a $20 million allocation for the BRIGHT grant to sustain and scale community-led programs and said many programs have long waiting lists.

Kalaipi Correa, regional lead for Land Together (formerly Insight Garden Project), described horticultural and horticultural‑therapy programs that combine gardening, mindfulness, reentry planning and prerelease coaching; she said the program operates in nine prisons and follows participants into the community for up to six months of prerelease case management.

Multiple public commenters, including current and formerly incarcerated program graduates and CBO leaders, urged the subcommittee to support the BRIGHT grant and highlighted program waitlists and documented outcomes. Panelists and public testimony emphasized that CBOs often provide continuity of care, specialized trauma-informed services and community links that CDCR alone does not deliver.

The subcommittee treated the presentations as informational. Chair Senator Richardson and other members said they would use the testimony to inform budget deliberations ahead of the May Revision. No formal votes or budget decisions were taken at the hearing.