BERKELEY, Calif. – A new set of interactive data tools is providing Californians with an unprecedented look inside the state’s prison system. Developed by the California Policy Lab in partnership with the state’s Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code, the California Prison Population Data Dashboards make ten years of state prison data accessible to anyone online.
The dashboards, located at www.californiaprisondata.org, enable users to explore trends in California’s prison population by various factors, including race, gender, age, offense type, and county of conviction.
According to committee chair Michael Romano, the tool represents the first time that detailed data about who goes to prison, for what crimes, and for how long, has been made readily available to the public.
A New Era of Transparency
Researchers say the project reflects years of effort to make criminal justice data more accessible and transparent. The dashboard data is directly drawn from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and will be updated twice a year to include new information on admissions, releases, and the current population.
Before this release, researchers and journalists often had to file public records requests or use specialized software to obtain similar data.
Features and Insights
The dashboards contain three major interactive sections: current population, admissions since 2015, and releases since 2015. Users can filter data to view sentence lengths, offense categories, demographic breakdowns, and details about sentence enhancements.
A Collaborative Effort
Mia Bird, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and one of the project’s lead researchers, said the CDCR has supported the project by providing data directly to the committee under a special data-sharing arrangement authorized by the governor’s office. Bird said CDCR has been an enormous source of support.
“They have been fantastic,” she said.
This is a special data-sharing arrangement because the committee is tasked by the governor’s office to provide research to the legislature. It’s a streamlined process compared to the normal research request process. They have been incredibly generous with their time as we try to match their business rules, and it’s been a really productive collaborative process.”
Numbers Help When Evaluating Reforms
Bird’s team is already using the data to assess the real-world effects of reforms such as Proposition 57, which expanded parole opportunities for people convicted of nonviolent crimes. Bird said her team is studying how the measure has affected recidivism and overall prison populations.
Future Work
The California Policy Lab and the Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code are also collaborating with Stanford Law School to develop a complementary dataset that will enable even deeper analysis.
The dashboards are live and available to the public. Bird encouraged users to explore the site and share feedback to help improve future versions.
California is calling it a milestone for fairness, dignity, and labor rights. When Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills last week raising pay for incarcerated firefighters, the announcement made headlines across the state and drew praise as a historic step toward justice reform....
When California lawmakers extended indoor heat protections for workers across California last year, unfortunately, they stopped at the prison gate, leaving tens of thousands of correctional officers and thousands of their coworkers to clock in for their shifts in record-breaking heat with no guaranteed safeguards....
On a hot August morning, state and local leaders gathered in Fresno to cut the ribbon on California’s newest community reentry facility. The site, run in partnership with TURN Behavioral Health Services, is designed to help people finishing prison sentences adjust to life on the outside. For Jorge Moreno of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), it’s about giving people a chance to breathe. “(It’s) like a phase down from the institutions,” he said. “(They) can decompress from the pressures and politics of prison and start acclimating back into the community.”...
The latest Independent Voter Podcast episode takes listeners through the messy intersections of politics, reform, and public perception. Chad and Cara open with the irony of partisan outrage over trivial issues like a White House ballroom while overlooking the deeper dysfunctions in our democracy. From California to Maine, they unpack how the very words on a ballot can tilt entire elections and how both major parties manipulate language and process to maintain power....
The special election for California Prop 50 wraps up November 4 and recent polling shows the odds strongly favor its passage. The measure suspends the state’s independent congressional map for a legislative gerrymander that Princeton grades as one of the worst in the nation....
Across the country, both parties are weighing whether to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Texas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, and Virginia are all in various stages of the action. Here are five politicians who have declined to support redistricting efforts promoted by their own parties....
Cara Brown McCormick
