California moves to shutdown a 3rd State prison --- CDCR (Prison and Yard Closures): California 2023

On December 6, 2022, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced the closure of Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) in 2025 and exiting of California City Correctional Facility (Cal City). 

CDCR will terminate the Cal City contract in March 2024 and end the use of that facility as a state prison. The state will not renew it's lease of the California City location, which is a leased facility, but staffed wholly by state employees, both free staff and CCPOA. 

The potential closure of several additional prisons was included in Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2022-23 budget with an eye toward fiscal responsibility. It is the third prison that Gov. Newsom’s administration has moved to shutdown. This is most likely because of California’s shrinking state prison inmate population. Shutting five State prisons would save $1.5 billion per year. 

POPULATION of California Inmates by year: 

2011 - 160,000 inmates 

2019 - 120,000 inmates 

2022 - so far we are at about 94,000 inmates. 

 

 CVSP will close by March 2025. 

CVSP Chuckawalla Valley State Prison is in the city of Blythe. It’s sister facility, Ironwood State Prison (ISP), literally next door on the same land span will stay open. 

There will be closure of YARDS at several other locations listed below: 

Folsom Women's Facility (small area of Old Folsom) closed by next month, January, 2023 

CMC-W, California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, west yard by winter of 2023 

PBSP-C yard, Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, winter of 2023 

CRC-A facility, California Rehabilitation Center, Norco, A yard, January 2023 

CIM-D facility, California Institute for Men, Chino, D yard, spring 2023 

CCI-D facility, California Correctional Institution, D yard, summer 2023 

Inmates will have to be transferred to other CDCR facilities. We hope this rapid movement toward reducing prisons doesn't bring us back to the overcrowding that brought a class action almost 10-years ago, over medical and mental health care.  

February 10, 2014, the Three-Judge Court ordered CDCR to reduce the in-state adult prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity.