Publications

The Office of the Inspector General’s (the OIG) Intake Processing Unit (Intake) receives complaints from the incarcerated population and the public. To assist with the review of complaints, Intake staff actively work to gain knowledge of local and departmentwide issues by attending periodic meetings with incarcerated‑person advisory councils (IPACs) at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR or the department) prisons.This report presents some of the common issues raised by the IACs regarding departmental processes, along with the OIG’s actions and recommendations pertaining to those issues.

From October 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed its review of 42 closed California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) grievance cases involving allegations of staff misconduct that were resolved through the department’s routine review process. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance adequate in21 cases, or 50 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance improvement needed in nine cases, or 21 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance inadequate in 12 cases, or 29 percent.

This annual report summarizes the work the Office of the Inspector General completed during 2025, including the 28 public reports we issued. The report also details the work the OIG performed that was not highlighted in other reports issued during the year.

This report summarizes our monitoring of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Centralized Screening Team, which determines how to classify and route complaints the department receives that contain allegations of staff misconduct toward an incarcerated or supervised person. The OIG reviewed 15,998 of the 215,322 complaints screened by the department in 2025 to determine whether the Centralized Screening Team identified and routed allegations of staff misconduct to the appropriate entity within the department, either for a full investigation by the Office of Internal Affairs or for routine review by supervisory staff at the prison or parole office where the misconduct allegedly occurred.

This report contains our assessment of the medical care provided to incarcerated people at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center between April and September 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.

This annual report summarizes the OIG’s asynchronous review in 2025 of 57 closed staff misconduct investigations involving use-of-force allegations. The OIG reviewed the performance of the department’s Office of Internal Affairs’ investigators in conducting investigations of unnecessary or excessive use of force by departmental employees, and the performance of wardens in reviewing and making decisions regarding the evidence in the use-of-force investigations. The OIG assigned one of three ratings to each case: adequate, improvement needed, or inadequate. We rated the department’s overall performance as adequate in seven of 57 cases, or 12 percent; improvement needed in nine of the 57 cases, or 16 percent; and inadequate in 41 of the 57 cases, or 72 percent.

During December 2025, the OIG’s Centralized Screening Team monitored and closed 1,278 grievances.

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 13 complaints that the Intake Processing Unit reviewed and closed from September 2025 through November 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 Ironwood State Prison between June and November 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.

From July 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed its review of 43 closed California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) grievance cases involving allegations of staff misconduct that were resolved through the department’s routine review process. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance inadequate in 16 cases, or 37 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance improvement needed in 12 cases, or 28 percent. The OIG rated the department’s overall performance adequate in 15 cases, or 35 percent.