Richard S.

Corrections Executive & Expert Witness
New Braunfels, TX· Contact details redacted — engagements via Beacon

Professional Summary

Expert witness with over 100 appearances in state and federal courts across ten states and the United Kingdom. Qualified in correctional policies and procedures, prison and street gang management, in-custody and community-based risk assessment, and ADA compliance. Five death penalty cases as a mitigation expert in Arizona. Two amicus briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court on corrections operations. Contracted by the U.S. Department of Justice for oversight of state prison operations. Retained by both plaintiffs and defendants. The majority of testimony concerns offender risk — grounded in ten years of direct Classification Committee experience determining inmate housing and program placement based on behavior, propensity for violence, and institutional risk. These qualifications rest on 26 years inside the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, rising from Correctional Officer to Director of the Division of Adult Operations — a cabinet-level position overseeing 33 state prisons, 170,000+ inmates, 60,000 staff, and $9 billion in annual expenditures.

Areas of Expert Testimony

Offender Risk Assessment In-Custody Death Use of Force Gang Identification & Management Correctional Operations & Policy ADA Compliance Inmate Classification & Housing Transgender Inmate Compliance Religious Accommodation Prison Overcrowding & Population Management
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Jurisdictions

State Courts
California · Oregon · Arizona · Mississippi · Florida · Texas · Hawaii · Maryland · Montana · Pennsylvania
Federal Courts
Multiple federal districts
International
United Kingdom (extradition case)
Facility Types
State prisons · Federal prisons · County jails · Private prisons

Consulting & Expert Witness

Consultant & Expert Witness
Subia Consulting Services
April 2012 – Present
  • Over 100 appearances in state and federal courts. The majority of testimony concerns offender risk assessment — both in-custody and community-based. Other frequent case types include in-custody deaths, use of force, and correctional operations.
  • Additional testimony areas include ADA compliance, transgender inmate compliance, and religious accommodation.
  • Testified in five death penalty cases as a mitigation expert in Arizona.
  • Submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on two cases as an expert in corrections operations.
  • Contracted by the U.S. Department of Justice to assist with oversight of state prison operations.
  • Consulting practice also covers rehabilitative programming, construction oversight, community reentry, prison overcrowding, court compliance, and cell phone interdiction.
Executive Director
Professional Training Institute
April 2013 – 2014
  • Ran an STC-certified training organization delivering public safety curriculum to city, county, and state agencies across California. Left to focus full-time on the expanding consulting practice.

Correctional Career — CDCR

26 years, every rank from Correctional Officer to Director of the Division of Adult Operations.

Director / Deputy Director / Associate Director, Division of Adult Operations
California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) · Sacramento, CA
December 2007 – March 2012
  • Cabinet-level leadership of one of the nation's largest prison systems: 33 state prisons, 38 camps, community-based facilities, and out-of-state contract facilities holding over 9,500 California offenders. Total population of approximately 165,000 inmates. 60,000 staff. $9 billion in annual expenditures.
  • Policy-level decision-making authority across the full scope of institutional operations: rule violations and discipline, inmate appeals, internal investigations, use of force review, in-custody deaths, access to health care services, safety and security protocols, escape prevention, access to religious services, gang management, inmate classification, and program and housing placements.
  • Executive assigned to oversee compliance with three federal consent decrees: Armstrong (disability placement and ADA), Clark (developmentally disabled), and Coleman (mental health delivery).
  • Wrote correctional policy on execution protocols, inmate classification processes, and population management. Testified before the California Legislature on correctional matters.
  • The Department's executive spokesperson on operational matters to media, Legislature, labor unions, and local, state, and federal government agencies.
  • Built CDCR's K-9 program from zero dogs to 29 by retirement. The program is still in operation.
  • Developed rehabilitative programs including Criminal and Gang Members Anonymous (CGA), which grew from a pilot at Mule Creek State Prison into an international program operating in both facilities and communities.
Warden
Mule Creek State Prison · Ione, CA
December 2006 – December 2007
  • Level III/IV institution, approximately 3,400 inmates. Full operational authority over custody, programming, medical and mental health services, parole readiness, and due process. Direct responsibility for use of force review, in-custody incident response, inmate discipline, and classification decisions at the facility level.
  • Large Sensitive Needs Yard population including gang dropouts and protective custody inmates — a housing challenge requiring ongoing risk assessment and classification management informed by a decade of gang investigation experience.
  • Led community engagement including work to resolve a city water contamination issue affecting the area around the prison.
Correctional Administrator / Chief Deputy Administrator
CDCR
2002 – 2006
Corrections advisor to the Governor's Office (2004–2005), traveling with Governor Schwarzenegger on corrections-related matters. Worked with two state senators to pass the bill making cell phones in prison a crime.
Correctional Captain · Employee Relations Officer · Public Information Officer
CDCR · Mule Creek State Prison
1998 – 2002
Piloted Criminal and Gang Members Anonymous (CGA) at Mule Creek with an inmate collaborator in 2002. As Captain, directly responsible for institutional security operations, use of force incidents, emergency response, and staff discipline.
Institution Gang Investigator · Investigations Lieutenant/Sergeant
CDCR
1992 – 1998
Responsible for the gang validation process at a maximum-security prison — over 500 validations. Debriefed numerous gang members who disassociated. Active member of the California Gang Task Force and the Tri-County Gang Task Force. Coordinated with outside law enforcement on gang activity crossing prison-community boundaries. In 1991, assigned to the U.S. Attorney as a gang expert in the first RICO trial against a prison gang (Nuestra Familia) — the Black Widow Case, People v. Arroyo. Ten years heading Classification Committees evaluating inmate behavior, propensity for violence, and risk to determine housing and program placement — including inmates placed in segregated housing following serious rule violations. Over 11 years at an institution responsible for housing gang dropouts.
Correctional Lieutenant · Sergeant · Officer
CDCR · Four California State Prisons
1986 – 1992
Entered CDCR as a Correctional Officer and rose through frontline supervisory ranks across four California institutions. Direct involvement in custody operations, inmate supervision, use of force situations, and institutional security at the line-staff and first-line supervisory levels.

Military Service

United States Navy
Honorable Discharge · Petty Officer Second Class (E-5)
Discharged 1984

Professional Development

Professional Affiliations

References available upon request.