This public comment period is closed.
In 2016, Proposition 57 authorized the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to create a credit-earning system so that eligible individuals can earn credits and move up their release or parole hearing dates. Under Prop 57, individuals with a Youth Offender Parole Date (YOPD) were not allowed to apply these credits towards their YOPD and instead, had these credits applied to their Minimum Eligible Parole Date (MEPD) or Earliest Possible Release Date (EPRD), which usually occurs several years or even decades later. AB 965 (Stone), passed in 2019, authorizes CDCR to implement Regulations allowing those sentenced as youth to advance their YOPD. AB 965 is being implemented by the YPED regulations.
However, CDCR has indicated they are only planning on including Educational Merit Credits out of the 5 credit types available in their proposed Regulations. This would limit the goal of an incentivized credit-earning system and would apply to a much smaller fraction of the Youth Offender population.