Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15, § 3261.2 – Authorized Release of Information.

(a) Only an employee designated by the institution head shall inform the media regarding a facility incident or newsworthy event.
(b) Except as provided by applicable federal and state law, no person shall disclose any protected health information that identifies an individual without a valid written authorization from the individual.
(c) Information pertaining to a Division of Juvenile Justice incarcerated person shall not be released to the media or the public, except as provided in subsection 3261.7(c)(3).
(d) Information derived from a person's Criminal Identification and Investigation Report shall not be provided to the media or to the public. Information about the State prison history of supervised persons or former offenders who have been arrested or are under investigation by an outside law enforcement agency will only be released with authorization from the arresting or investigating agency.
(e) Including the limitations of (c) and (d) above, the only incarcerated or supervised person data which may be released without a valid written authorization from the incarcerated or supervised person to the media or to the public includes the incarcerated or supervised person's:
1. (1) Name.
2. (2) Age.
3. (3) Race and/or ethnicity.
4. (4) Birthplace.
5. (5) County of last legal residence.
6. (6) Commitment offense.
7. (7) Date of admission to CDCR and CDCR number.
8. (8) Facility assignments and a general description of behavior.
9. (9) Patient health condition given in short and general terms that do not communicate specific medical information about the individual, such as good, fair, serious, critical, treated and released, or undetermined.
10. (10) Manner of death as natural, homicide, suicide, accidental, or executed.
11. (11) Sentencing and release actions, including month and year of current parole eligibility date.
(f) The only employee data which may be released to the media or to the public by other than the employee concerning their involvement in a facility incident or newsworthy event includes:
1. (1) Name.
2. (2) Civil service classification.
3. (3) Age.
4. (4) Work assignment.
5. (5) Length of service with the department and/or current division or unit.
6. (6) Past work assignments.
7. (7) Role or function in a newsworthy event.
(g) Information endangering an employee or concerning an employee who is a crime victim shall not be released to the media or to any member of the public.

Note: Authority cited: Section 5058, Penal Code. Reference: Section 5054, Penal Code; Sections 56.10, 1798.20, 1798.30 and 1798.40-42, Civil Code; Sections 6250-6276.48, Government Code; Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Parts 160 and 164; Michael Broadheim v. CDCR (Super. Ct San Francisco County, 2020, No. CPF-20-516978); and Catalin Voss, Yun Hong, Kristen Bell, and Nicholas McKeown v. CDCR (Super. Ct San Francisco County, 2020, No. CPF-20-517117).

History

1. New section filed 12-19-91 as an emergency; operative 12-19-91 (Register 92, No. 4). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL 4-17-92 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

2. Certificate of Compliance as to 12-19-91 order transmitted to OAL 4-17-92 and filed 6-1-92 (Register 92, No. 24).

3. Amendment of section and Note filed 8-29-2008; operative 9-28-2008 (Register 2008, No. 35).

4. Amendment of subsections (d) and (e), new subsections (e)(3) and (e)(8), subsection renumbering, amendment of newly designated subsections (e)(4)-(7) and (e)(9)-(11), amendment of subsection (g) and amendment of Note filed 3-21-2022; operative 7-11-2022 (Register 2022, No. 12). Filing deadline specified in Government Code section 11349.3(a) extended 60 calendar days pursuant to Executive Order N-40-20 and an additional 60 calendar days pursuant to Executive Order N-71-20.

5. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (c)-(e) filed 7-1-2024 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2024, No. 27).