Report 2016-131 Recommendation 13 Responses

Report 2016-131: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: It Must Increase Its Efforts to Prevent and Respond to Inmate Suicides (Release Date: August 2017)

Recommendation #13 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of

To ensure that trainers and risk evaluation mentors at all prisons are able to train staff effectively, Corrections should immediately begin requiring prisons to report the percentage of their trainers and mentors who have received training on how to conduct training and mentoring. It should work with prisons to ensure that all trainers and mentors receive adequate training.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020

The training codes for both Initial and Advanced SRE Mentoring courses allow CDCR to track compliance for all clinicians who have completed the required training. CDCR is in the process of developing an automated tracking system to identify clinicians who have been assigned to be mentors and when they received the training. Currently, CDCR is able to monitor this manually.

Proof of Practice - Item 13 - Initial and Advanced SRE Mentoring Chart to be submitted via email.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented


Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

Due to the volume of the response, the updates will be submitted via email.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

We asked Corrections to provide evidence that it is tracking individuals trained as mentors and the percent of clinicians trained by mentors who received training through Corrections' approved process. Corrections stated that tracking is currently a manual process and expects to complete collecting information in February 2020. Until it provides documentation demonstrating adequate tracking of this information, we will report the status of this recommendation as partially implemented.


1-Year Agency Response

The SMHP tracks which individuals have been trained as mentors by the SMHP. The SMHP will require the institutions to verify that only trained mentors are providing mentoring. SMHP will issue a memorandum noting what training mentors must receive and will specify that no clinician shall provide mentoring unless this training has been received. The SMHP will maintain tracking of the percent of clinicians at each institution who were trained by mentors who received training through the approved process. A copy of the memorandum and report will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending


6-Month Agency Response

As noted above, SMHP will be partnering with CCHCS to incorporate all suicide prevention related mental health training to track the training mentors and trainers have received. In the meantime, the SMHP will require the institutions to verify that only trained mentors are providing mentoring. SMHP will issue a memorandum by February 28, 2018, noting what training mentors must receive and will specify that no clinician shall provide mentoring unless this training has been received. The SMHP will monitor to ensure only those staff who have received appropriate training may serve as a mentor or provide suicide prevention-related training.

A copy of the memorandum and report will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending


60-Day Agency Response

As noted in the previous recommendation, the Statewide Mental Health Program (SMHP) will be partnering with CCHCS to incorporate all suicide prevention related mental health training to track the training mentors and trainers have received. SMHP will issue a memorandum noting what training mentors must receive and will specify that no clinician shall provide mentoring unless this training has been received. The SMHP will monitor to ensure only those staff who have received appropriate training may serve as a mentor or provide suicide prevention-related training.

A copy of memorandum and report will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending


All Recommendations in 2016-131

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.