The Office of the Inspector General oversees the state's correctional system through audits, special reviews, and investigations of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Although the duties required of the Inspector General's Office are complex, its mission is clear: to protect public safety by safeguarding the integrity of California's correctional system.

The Office of the Inspector General's Bureau of Audits and Investigations promotes accountability through objective, independent audits, special reviews, inspections, and investigations of California's correctional system. As a result of the audits, reviews, inspections, and investigations, the Inspector General provides impartial analysis and policy recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, correctional administrators, and the public. The Office of the Inspector General is mandated to perform baseline audits of correctional institutions and wardens in addition to evaluating the qualifications of warden and superintendent candidates whose names have been submitted by the Governor.

Established within the Office of the Inspector General is the Bureau of Independent Review, which monitors internal affairs investigations conducted by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to ensure they are performed in a timely and professionally sound manner through the oversight of those investigations and the employee discipline process. With regional offices throughout the state, the bureau provides contemporaneous oversight as internal affairs investigations are conducted.

In addition, the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007, Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007, created the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board (Board) within the Office of the Inspector General. The Board's mandate is to examine the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's various mental health, substance abuse, educational, and employment programs for inmates and parolees. The Board meets quarterly to recommend modifications, additions, and eliminations of offender rehabilitation and treatment programs. The Board also submits biannual reports to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public to convey its findings on the effectiveness of treatment efforts, rehabilitation needs of offenders, gaps in offender rehabilitation services, and levels of offender participation and success.