Prisoners: literacy and education.

Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement in every state prison literacy programs that are designed to ensure that, upon parole, inmates are able to achieve a 9th grade reading level. Existing law further requires the department to prepare an implementation plan for the literacy programs and to request sufficient funds to make the programs available to a certain percentage of inmates by specified dates. This bill would instead require the department to implement literacy programs that are designed to ensure that upon parole inmates are able to achieve the goals specified in this bill. This bill would require the department to prepare an implementation plan and request sufficient funds to, among other things, offer academic programming throughout an inmate's incarceration that focuses on increasing the reading ability of an inmate to at least a 9th grade level and, for an inmate reading at a 9th grade level or higher, focus on helping the inmate obtain a general education development certificate, or its equivalent, or high school diploma. This bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.