Publications

From July 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025, the OIG’s Force Investigation Review Team completed its review of 24 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation closed use-of-force investigation cases. This document presents summaries of the 24 closed use-of-force investigations the OIG reviewed during this reporting period.

From April 2025 through June 2025, the OIG closed 29 routine review cases its staff monitored retrospectively. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance inadequate in 23 cases, or 79 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance improvement needed in three cases, or 10 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance adequate in three cases, or 10 percent.

During September 2025, the OIG’s Centralized Screening Monitoring Team randomly selected 1,578 grievances for monitoring. This document presents four notable cases monitored and closed by the OIG during September 2025.

The Office of the Inspector General (the OIG), as part of our statute, maintains an Intake Processing Unit that receives complaints from the incarcerated population, and the public. Staff in the Intake Processing Unit respond to complaints that the OIG receives through U.S. Postal mail, phone calls (toll-free hotline), and inquiries through our website, which can exceed 1,000 monthly claims. Below are 23 complaints that the Intake Processing Unit reviewed and closed between June 2025 and August 2025. These cases highlight the OIG’s impact and efforts to resolve the complainant’s concerns.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated people at Mule Creek State Prison between February and July 2024. We rated the case review component of the overall health care quality adequate and the compliance component of the overall health care quality adequate.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated people at California State Prison, Sacramento between December 2023 and May 2024. We rated the case review component of the overall health care quality inadequate and the compliance component of the overall health care quality inadequate.

During August 2025, the OIG’s Centralized Screening Monitoring Team randomly selected 1,608 grievances for monitoring. This document presents nine notable cases monitored and closed by the OIG during August 2025.

During July 2025, the OIG’s Centralized Screening Monitoring Team randomly selected 1,484 grievances for monitoring. This document presents five notable cases monitored and closed by the OIG during July 2025.

In this audit, we assessed the department’s effectiveness in managing extreme temperatures that occur in California’s prisons. We reviewed departmental policies and procedures relative to the management of temperatures in prisons including the department’s heat plan, which requires prison staff to document temperatures in housing units daily to determine whether staff must take protective measures for incarcerated people taking medications that may make them sensitive to the heat and cause heat-related illnesses, including death. We also examined some contributing factors impacting the prisons’ ability to maintain temperatures in housing units within the departmental guidelines, such as aging heating and cooling systems and maintenance challenges.