(a) It is the intention of the Legislature that all prisoners shall be afforded reasonable opportunities to exercise religious freedom.

(b) (1) Except in extraordinary circumstances, upon the transfer of an inmate to another state prison institution, any member of the clergy or spiritual adviser who has been previously authorized by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to visit that inmate shall be granted visitation privileges at the institution to which the inmate is transferred within 72 hours of the transfer.

(2) Visitations by members of the clergy or spiritual advisers shall be subject to the same rules, regulations, and policies relating to general visitations applicable at the institution to which the inmate is transferred.

(3) A departmental or volunteer chaplain who has ministered to or advised an inmate incarcerated in state prison may, voluntarily and without compensation, continue to minister to or advise the inmate while he or she is on parole, provided that the departmental or volunteer chaplain so notifies the warden and the parolee’s parole agent in writing.

(c) Nothing in this section limits the department’s ability to prohibit a departmental chaplain from ministering to a parolee, or to exclude a volunteer chaplain from department facilities, if either is found to be in violation of any law or regulation and that violation would ordinarily be grounds for adverse action or denial of access to a facility or person under the department’s custody.

(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 538, Sec. 520. Effective January 1, 2007.)