June 23, 2011
City-run CCF in Coalinga (569-beds) to lose state inmates
A 20-year-old contract to house state prisoners here is set to end this summer, but city officials are hopeful that talks with Fresno County and city law-enforcement leaders might yield a reprieve for their jail.
The state, scrambling to meet a federal order and lower costs, is shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of minimum-security inmates to counties. Gov. Jerry Brown's plan counts on a proposed budget that includes extensions of state tax hikes imposed in 2009.
Many of those prisoners have been housed for years at places like Coalinga's Claremont Custody Center, a city-owned and operated prison. But without inmates to fill them, the state figures it doesn't need to pay for the extra prison space. It will end contracts with Coalinga and Delano in August and with Lassen County in July...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
