The Brief

Drug overdose deaths in California state prisons rebounded to near record levels last year even as corrections officials touted the state’s intervention methods as a model for prisons and jails across the United States.

At least 59 prisoners died of overdoses last year, according to a KFF Health News analysis of deaths in custody data the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is required to report under a new state law. That’s more than double the number who died of overdoses in each of 2020 (23) and 2021 (24).

Prison officials would not provide the number of overdose deaths in 2022, saying they are still being analyzed for a report to be released later this year. But attorneys representing prisoners said they believe there were substantially more fatal overdoses in 2022 than in the previous two years.

The new numbers are a big setback for state officials, who poured resources into overdose prevention efforts after a record 64 overdose deaths in 2019 gave California prisons the highest drug overdose death rate of any state correctional system in the United States.

With nearly 94,000 state prisoners, California is one of the nation’s largest providers of medication-assisted drug treatment. The prisoners’ attorneys still support California’s pioneering program, saying there would be even more deaths without it.

“Fentanyl. That’s I think probably the main cause from what I hear,” said Don Specter, a lead attorney in the major class-action lawsuit over poor medical care of California prisoners, referring to the synthetic opioid at the heart of the nation’s overdose crisis. “Nothing else has really changed too much. It’s very pervasive.”

With a lower prison population than in previous years, California’s 2023 numbers represent a record high overdose death rate of at least 62 per 100,000 prisoners — and the numbers are likely to rise further as the cause of death is determined in some cases.

“National data has shown an alarming increase of overdose deaths across the country, largely driven by synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl),” Ike Dodson, a spokesperson for California Correctional Health Care Services, said in an email. He added that prison officials “continue to evaluate substance use disorder treatment to improve the safety and well-being of all who live or work in a state correctional facility, including plans to broadly expand access to Narcan,” an overdose reversal device.

Until now, California’s increasingly comprehensive drug intervention program had been an apparent success story.

In January 2020, when the prison population was about 124,000, the state began using drugs like buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone to lessen drug users’ cravings and the crash of withdrawal symptoms while helping them stay away from dangerous opioids. The new program’s focus on medication-assisted treatment appeared to be working after deaths fell to 23 that year.

The medication-assisted treatment is one of five core components of the prison system’s approach: screening every arriving prisoner for substance abuse; use of medication where needed; therapy; supportive housing in prisons; and pre-release planning and post-release assistance. Officials say all five have now begun to varying degrees, at a cost of $270 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2024.

By 2021, the prisons’ reported overdose death rate fell to 25 per 100,000, less than half the rate before the program began and well below the overall national average.

There also was a nearly one-third drop in drug-related hospitalizations and emergency room visits among California prisoners receiving the medication-assisted treatment, researchers for the program said in a progress report last year.

In promoting the approach, corrections experts last year cited California’s “immediate and significant” progress in reducing deaths, emergency hospitalizations, and drug abuse-related infections. While the use of medications to help keep prisoners from using opioids is rapidly expanding, it remains underused nationally in other prison and jail systems, the report said.

But last year’s preliminary overdose death toll in the state’s prisons was close to the record numbers of 2018 and 2019. Overdoses likely caused 11 deaths in October, according to attorneys representing prisoners — the most they had seen in a month.

Drug-related hospitalizations also have seen a more recent surge, attorneys representing prisoners said, citing the state’s data in a December court filing.

Efforts to crack down on the smuggling of drugs and other contraband into prisons have had limited effect.

Corrections spokesperson Alia Cruz said the department favors a “multilayered approach” that couples prison security with deterring smuggling and disrupting gangs and other drug distributors.

There were 236 smuggling arrests last calendar year, up significantly from the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal years and similar to 2019-20 but about one-third fewer than in 2018-19. “Miscellaneous” seizures, which include fentanyl and other opioids, were up about 14% through the first nine months of 2023, the last data available, over the same period a year earlier.

Prison medical staff began carrying naloxone, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses and is often sold under the Narcan brand, in 2016. Only in late September 2023 was it made centrally available in every housing unit for officers’ emergency use.

“That’s a good start, but all officers should carry the medication, which should be administered as quickly as possible to be most effective,” said Steven Fama, another attorney who represents prisoners and tracks prison treatment programs.

J. Clark Kelso, the federal court-appointed receiver who controls prison medical care in California, said during a court hearing in December that he is considering using his authority to obtain more naloxone. Fama said fewer than 10% of prisoners had been offered naloxone to carry for emergency use, with prison officials citing supply shortages for the delay in broader distribution.

The first group of state prisoners to be offered naloxone was at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County in August 2023. It had been averaging 35 overdoses a month, fatal and nonfatal, between October 2022 and March 2023, or more than one a day.

California “is leading the nation in this area,” prison officials said in the court filing, citing in part its policy of offering naloxone to all departing prisoners. They said the state is committed to making naloxone available to all prisoners as well. Statewide, California is partnering with a private manufacturer to produce a lower-cost generic form of naloxone nasal spray and expects to have it available by the end of 2024.

Despite the recent surge, California’s program “has and does save lives, and change lives,” Fama said. “Without this treatment the number of overdoses, we believe, would be far larger.”

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.