August 12, 2011 | 12:28 PM | By

Could California close a prison?

FILED UNDER: Corrections, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Rosenberg Foundation, Women in Prison

Valley State Women's Prison in Chowchilla

Texas recently made the headlines for doing something it has never done since gaining statehood in 1845: it closed a prison. Now, it seems California could follow suit.

Here’s why. The governor’s realignment plan changes the criminal code so that non-violent, non-serious offenders (who also cannot be sex offenders) will no longer serve their sentences in state prison. Instead, they’ll do their time at the county level–which means in county jail, on home detention, and/or in some sort of community program in their home counties. A large percentage of the women’s prison population qualifies for realignment, which means over the next three years, California’s three women’s prisons will lose an estimated one third to one half of their population. If all goes according to plan, and California loses 3,000 to 5,000 women prisoners, the state will have to decide what to do with one or two of its facilities.

Tim Silard, president of the Rosenberg Foundation says this is a “watershed moment” for California–and that the state would best be served by closing prisons down when and if space opens up.

“California has more than thirty adult prisons across the state and spends enormous amounts of money to keep those prisons going,” Silard says. If two are closed down, Silard says the state could save $300 million a year in operating costs. Moreover, he says, it’s a prime opportunity to demonstrate that the public has moved on from the incarceration boom of the past couple of decades. Criminal justice may have once been the “third rail” in California politics, with no politician willing to question “tough on crime” policies, but now, “the public is enormously supportive of saving money in our prison system and doing business differently,” Silard says.

Recently, women have taken over at the fastest growing prison population in the country and in the state. California currently has one of the largest populations of women prisoners in the world.

Two of the state’s three women’s facilities are located near the Central Valley town of Chowchilla. As rumors have spread of a possible closure, the town has begun worrying about the impact shutting a prison could have on the local economy. The two local women’s prisons employ about 1,000 workers each.

As population estimates pour in, CDCR Spokesperson Dana Toyama says that the department is looking at all options, including converting one or two of the women’s prisons into men’s facilities. “If there isn’t the population, you need to use your resources,” Tomaya said. “We are fully aware of the sensitivity of the issue,” she said, and ultimately, the department would prefer to use the facility than shutter it. Nevertheless, closure remains a distinct possibility–and local officials in Chowchilla seem reluctant to go along with conversion to housing men.

Not including California, 13 states around the country either have recently closed or are in the process of closing state prisons. The process has been particularly difficult in New York State, which like California, has a strong correctional officers union and a swath of rural towns with economies dependent on prisons. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has offered towns with shuttering prisons economic development assistance grants to re-make their local economies.

If California closes a prison, or even several prisons, rural communities could be hit hard.

Silard says that it’s important to make sure California communities aren’t suffering. But, he says, “we know that taking that same $300 million and investing it in other areas of our state budget can and will produce far more jobs than a prison does.”

 

  • Sean McHugh

    I’m all for this but there are two things that bother me. One, I am afraid people will say “okay good, that’s enough” and then stop worrying about our governments imprisonment policy because the people still in prison are “violent”. Two, it seems a little bit sexist to me. Women, who are already less likely to be considered “violent” and therefore get lesser sentences will now get even more preferential treatment when it comes to the states highly irrational judgement.

  • Trena G

    In 2nd paragraph:sex offenders ARE violent, serious offenders.

  • Colton D.

    …sex offenders is a varying term; there can be non-violent sex offenders, such as an example, 19 year old who is in an active sexual relationship with a 16 year, if those two are caught the 19 year old can be charged as a sex offender; another example would be sexting, which in some states can be consider a sexual offense and can result in a sex offender status. I agree with you some sexual offenders are violent, but the article was simply stating that if the individual has a sexual offender status (it does not matter if they are non-violent) they will not be taken into exception.

  • Colton D.

    Good points; especially the first one, I completely agree with you on that one!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NDE4H2EPJS4G5VO22JKHTMQH4E ThinkngMn

    Rent the prison space to other states that have a prison crowding problem.

    @4e313c6bef63663718c99daa3ef61a73:disqus - possession of child porn is a non-violent sex offense. Not all sex offenses are violent. We had a 19yr old Iraq Vet. who came back to his high school (Bedford HS) to visit. They found consensual nude pictures on his phone of the girls he had sex with in high school taken while he and they were under 18 yrs old. He was arrested for child porn. Another non-violent sex offense. How serious this crime was is still being debated.

  • Nankath58

    Sean,
    One aspect for women is that they are less likely to repeat violent crimes. When they kill husbands or children it is most often a one-time-thing. I hope that reassures you

  • JM Hatch

    So, where is the savings? The local facilities which are pretty crowded already will have to find ways to finance the extra prisoners. All we are seeing is transferring the costs from state to local, just like the Federal Government under Bush pushed a lot of costs from Federal to State. 

    This may wind up costing the taxpayers more in the long run as there will need to be duplicate growth in administration over many local governments.

  • Anonymous

    It’s hard to kill two husbands.  And the policy is sexist.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NTJFDZ35E3GAFJ7BXP3GULEBBE Johnnie W

    They are idiots ifI hey close it. It was only May that the US Supreme Court told CA they had 2 yrs to figure out how to handle their overcrowding (35% over capacity). Ideally, the Gov’s Realignment Plan was a way to address that over crowding.  What moron would close a prison when they have 35% too many criminals for the jail space, just b/c they have ladies toilets only?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NTJFDZ35E3GAFJ7BXP3GULEBBE Johnnie W

    They are idiots if they close it. It was only May that the US Supreme Court told CA they had 2 yrs to figure out how to handle their overcrowding (35% over capacity). Ideally, the Gov’s Realignment Plan was a way to address that over crowding.  What moron would close a prison when they have 35% too many criminals for the jail space, just b/c they have ladies toilets only?

  • krash

    lol what a joke you folks are …prisons were a scam to make money …they thought…but because its government and humans and humanness are so unperdictable…and the states managerial skills in any business venture is lacking totally…it was a failed attempt at making the world a better place…

    the folks at the top really thought it was an answer to so many problems/issues…they just did not realize how little controll of it they could ever have what a freaking joke….cause now we have serious doo to clean up…

    wait till one of these guys california sent to gladiator school shows up at the subway your child works at….thanks california …..good job…gg…

  • sickoffools

    most are not violent offenders and just think, 3000 horny women looking for love, what a field day

  • Thelink11

    Convicted felons means they went out there and committed a serious crime and went thru the court system and were judged by 12 jurors from society.
    So how does this have to do anything with the union?