Closure
January 30, 2012
State wavers on future of closed Paso Robles correctional facility
The governor’s decision to withhold more than $100 million to revamp the closed El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility into a re-entry facility for state prisoners is not necessarily permanent, a state spokesman said Monday, but local officials want more clarity about what the state intends to do with the place long-term.
“I’m a little confused” about the state’s intentions, said Frank Mecham, county supervisor and former Paso Robles mayor. He said he hopes the governor doesn’t plan to “leave it as a big white elephant, gathering weeds and dust.”
Meanwhile Paso Robles City Councilman Fred Strong has disinterred an old idea: asking the state to sell the land to Paso Robles for $1, so that “we could repurpose it in any number of possible ways....”
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
January 25, 2012
Fight brewing over historic California plan to close last three youth prisons
California, often a trendsetter, could make history if it approves Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to close all state-run youth prisons and eliminate its state Division of Juvenile Justice.
Much depends, though, on whether the state’s politically influential prison guards, probation officers and district attorneys can be convinced — or forced by legislators — to agree to Brown’s proposal. That won’t be an easy sell, due to both public-safety arguments and sure-to-surface haggling over just who pays to house juvenile offenders...
LINK - iWatchNews.com
December 29, 2011
Juvenile offender fire camp closing
A Camarillo camp where juvenile offenders have been trained to fight fires will close Friday, leaving only one similar camp open in California, authorities said Wednesday.
Youths who have been trained at the camp will be reassigned to a camp known as Pine Grove in Amador County in Northern California.
At its peak, the Camarillo camp, known as the S. Carraway Public Service and Fire Center, housed five fire crews, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire...
LINK - VCStar.com
November 10, 2011
Private prison to close because it can’t operate cheaper than state
Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps says a privately run prison in Leflore County will close in January.
Epps says the state and Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America mutually agreed to cease operations. How the decision affects operations of the Leflore County jail at the same site is unclear.
Epps and CCA officials say plans are to cease operations of the 1,172-bed Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood, Miss. on Jan. 15, 2012...
LINK - VCStar.com
October 3, 2011
No guarantees for Taft CCF to stay open
The are “no guarantees” that the city's community correctional facility, which provides dozens of jobs and adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city's coffers, will remain open continuously once the state removes its last inmate and stops paying the city to operate it by the end of November. That's just two months away.
Discussions with outside counties to house inmates they can't house themselves when the counties start receiving prisoners that used to go to state prisons have yet to produce a contract, Taft Chief of Police Ken McMinn said...
LINK - TaftMidwayDriller.com
July 1, 2011
Preston may get ‘warm’ closure
The letters, the phone calls, the heartfelt pleas from residents, affected government workers and leaders alike — along with the persistent efforts of a historical preservation foundation — may have led to a “warm” closure of the Preston Youth Correctional Facility, slated to take effect today.
Past president of the Preston Castle Foundation Marie Nutting told the Ledger Dispatch that, although her group had not received any official notification, ongoing talks with state officials have led the group to believe administrators will leave the utilities operating at the site — at least for the time being...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
June 13, 2011
CDCR announces closure of SYRCC
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday that it will close one of two facilities for juvenile offenders in Southern California by early next year.
The Southern Youth Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk (Los Angeles County) is scheduled to close by January 2012 to reduce costs and improve the fiscal efficiency of the Division of Juvenile Justice, the state’s youth prison system, according to a CDCR press release.
State officials expect the closure to reduce overall costs by $17 million by summer 2012 and $44 million the following fiscal year...
LINK - BayCitizen.org
CDCR To Close Southern California Facility for Juvenile Offenders
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced that it will close one of two facilities for juvenile offenders in Southern California by early next year.
The Southern Youth Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk (Los Angeles County) is scheduled to close by January 2012 to reduce costs and improve the fiscal efficiency of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
“In these tight fiscal times, we must take every step possible to operate in a cost-effective manner and make every tax dollar count,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, who noted that the closure is possible because the youthful offender population is expected to remain steady or decline in the coming years...
LINK - CDCRToday.Blogspot.com
March 11, 2011
County’s case against Preston closure procedures postponed
A hearing for a judge to consider Amador County's complaint against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding that agency's decision to close the Preston Youth Facility in Ione has been postponed.
Amador Deputy County Counsel Greg Gillott said the hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed after a motion requesting the change was filed by a Sacramento law firm handling the case for the CDCR. Amador County contends the CDCR is acting illegally in initiating the closure by not reviewing the impacts it will have on the environment. The county is asking the court to order CDCR officials to stop the closure process until a complete impact report is completed under laws contained in the California Environmental Quality Act. Gillott unsuccessfully argued during last month's hearing for a restraining order to immediately halt the closure process...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
March 8, 2011
Activists still push to close California’s youth prisons
California Governor Jerry Brown recently scratched a proposal to shut down California’s youth prisons. The plan had been applauded by longtime prison reform groups and was just one part of Brown’s recommendations for eliminating the state’s $28 billion budget shortfall. According to San Francisco Chronicle, the Democratic governor’s plan, known as realignment, would “let counties decide once a year if they want to contract with juvenile justice to house some offenders.”
But while a complete overhaul may be off the table, activists are still hopeful that they can institute meaningful reforms in one of the nation’s largest prison system for young people...
LINK - Colorlines.com
February 10, 2011
Two small Calif private prisons to remain closed
Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain closed.
The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.
"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had the programs scrapped," Hockenson said...
LINK - Bakersfield.com
December 22, 2010
California Youth Facility Closure Could Save Millions
Plans to shut down the Preston Youth Correctional Facility — something that could save the state tens of millions of dollars — is running into opposition. The fight over closing one of California’s few remaining juvenile justice facilities is showing the difficulty that state leaders face as they attempt to close a $25.4 billion budget gap.
California Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-Lodi) has responded with AB 8, which would call for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to keep all of five of the state’s remaining youth correctional facilities open for at least six months and prohibit any staff reductions during that time. The bill needs a two-thirds majority in the Legislature to pass...
LINK - CorrectionalNews.com
December 10, 2010
Alyson Huber fights Preston youth prison closure
A plan to shut down one of the state's few remaining juvenile justice facilities to save tens of millions of dollars a year is running into opposition in Sacramento, where a state lawmaker is worried about the loss of jobs in her district.
The fight over shuttering Preston Youth Correctional Facility in rural Ione (Amador County) illustrates the difficulty state leaders face as they try to plug a $25.4 billion budget gap while keeping the support of the people who put them in the Capitol. It also underscores a gloomy reality highlighted during Gov.-elect Jerry Brown's budget forum Wednesday: Reducing the deficit, whether by cutting spending or increasing revenue, could worsen the economy.
Preston, located an hour northeast of Stockton, houses just 224 youths and, as one of the state's oldest correctional facilities, is in terrible condition. Most of the youths serving time there are hours away from their families...
LINK - SFGate.com
December 10, 2010
Huber introduces bill to save Preston facility
A capacity crowd filled the Amador County Board of Supervisors chambers Wednesday night as Assemblywoman Alyson Huber unveiled a new assembly bill and convened the third in a series of public hearings in her attempt to save the Preston Youth Correctional Facility from imminent closure.
Huber's newest legislative effort seeks to stop the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from closing any juvenile facility in the state for the next six months.
"Here's the point with Assembly Bill 8," Huber said, "As a state, we should not be making decisions that ... rush to judgment, that are too quick, that we haven't looked at the data, that we haven't thought about the long-term implications of those decisions. And, after meeting with CDCR and looking at the documents that they claim justified the decision to close Preston, I'm still not convinced," she said...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
December 2, 2010
Preston hearing scheduled for Dec. 8
Another hearing to discuss the slated closure of the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione has been scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 8 at the Amador County Board of Supervisors Chambers.
Assemblywoman Alyson Huber released a statement Nov. 22 in which she alleges state officials have been moving forward with "a secret plan" to close the facility.
"I am outraged that the California Department of Corrections has apparently been moving forward with a secret plan to close Preston Youth Facility while denying that was the case and without any involvement from the community," she wrote...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
November 12, 2010
Huber holds hearing on Preston closure plan
Two chartered buses filled with nearly 200 Amador County residents traveled to the State Capitol in Sacramento Nov. 4 to hear 3rd District Assemblymember Alyson Huber ask state prison officials to explain their decision to shutter the Preston Youth Facility by June 2011.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing began with an overview of the Division of Juvenile Facilities prepared by the legislative analyst's office. Senior Fiscal and Policy Analyst Drew Soderborg told Huber and a sprinkling of colleagues that the DJF, commonly referred to as the Division of Juvenile Justice, is responsible for the housing, supervision and rehabilitation of the most serious, violent, or sex-offending juveniles in the state's criminal justice system...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
March 29, 2010
Adelanto sells city-prison to GEO Group, hoping for Calif, other contract
City officials said they have secured the sale of the city-owned prison to a private operator for $28 million — a move that will replenish the city’s depleted reserves but could put about 100 workers out of a job.
“This is great,” City Manager Jim Hart said Friday. “What it does is it helps temporarily relieve some of the financial pressure on the city and gives us time to now look at all the options that are available to us so that we can stabilize the city’s revenue sources.”
The sale of the city’s Adelanto Community Correctional Facility, a 650-bed prison on Rancho Road west of Highway 395, to Florida-based The Geo Group, Inc. is set to finalize on June 4, Hart said. The sale was crucial for reviving the city’s reserve funds, which had dwindled to less than $100,000...
LINK - VVDailyPress.com
March 23, 2010
Arizona inmates out of Walsenburg CCA prison
All Arizona inmates formerly held at the Huerfano County Correctional Center have been transferred out of the facility, clearing the way for the closure of the prison early next month, corrections officials said Monday.
Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the facility, announced in January that it will close the prison in April.
Officials at the private prison company said Monday the prison officially will close April 2.
Steve Owen, director of communications for Nashville-headquartered CCA, said by 2 p.m. the inmates were in custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections...
LINK - Chieftain.com
March 2, 2010
Camarillo gets more offenders as CYA closes other centers
The number of offenders at the California Youth Authority’s Camarillo detention center has more than doubled in recent months as the state’s largest juvenile prison closed and the Division of Juvenile Justice was restructured, corrections officials said.
Nearly 380 wards were being held last week in Camarillo, compared with 176 when authorities announced in August that the Herman G. Stark facility in Chino would close, officials said. Chino officially closed last week, making Camarillo and Norwalk the only remaining juvenile prison sites in Southern California.
“We made a very conscious effort to keep the majority of the youth who were in Stark in Southern California so they would have access to their families,” said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation...
LINK - VCStar.com
February 21, 2010
A history of housing youth at Stark facility comes to a close
It was supposed to have happened later rather than sooner, but the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility will formally close by the end of the month.
And just as quickly, the state Department of Corrections begins a multi-million dollar project to transform the youth prison into a part of the adult California Institution of Men and expand its inmate housing operation in the Chino Valley.
A prison riot in August damaged facilities at the nearby California Institution for Men adult prison, speeding up Stark's closure and conversion.
An official closing ceremony will be at Stark on Monday...
LINK - SBSun.com
December 4, 2009
Corrections Corp of America to close Minnesota private prison due to lack of inmates
Corrections Corp. of America said Friday that it plans to close a Minnesota correctional facility around Feb. 1, 2010 because it has too few inmates.
The Prairie Correctional Facility, based in Appleton, Minn., has 1,600 beds and has housed offenders from Minnesota and Washington. But Corrections Corp. said the facility has seen the number of inmates it houses reduced due to overcapacity in the states' systems.
"Without an inmate population large enough to significantly utilize the facility, maintaining operations at the Prairie facility isn't economically viable," Corrections Corp. President and CEO Damon Hininger said in a statement…
LINK - CNBC.com
September 27, 2008
State has no plans to close youth site
The director of the state's youth correctional system said Friday that, contrary to assertions made earlier this week by the prison healthcare receiver, his agency has no plans to close the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility and in fact intends to transfer an additional 80 wards to the site if it remains open.
In a letter to Ventura County officials sent Tuesday, Receiver J. Clark Kelso announced he intends to move forward with plans to convert the facility to a 1,500-bed specialized adult healthcare facility that would house inmates with chronic medical and mental health illnesses.
Kelso wrote he did not begin looking at the 60-acre site near Camarillo until after his staff was "informed by CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) officials that the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility would be closed…"
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
August 14, 2008
CCA to close Memphis facility, lay off 92
Corrections Corp. of America will lay off 92 Memphis employees starting Monday, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America (NYSE: CXW) will close the 200-bed Shelby Training Center in Memphis, which houses male offenders for the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, said Steve Owen, a company spokesman.
The company will cease operations at the facility at the end of August. The facility anticipates a permanent reduction in population as the county will begin sending its juveniles to the care of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services…
LINK - BizJournals.com
August 6, 2008
Paso Robles boys school in ‘warm’ closure
El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility officially shut its doors on July 31 for what state officials referred to as a "warm closure" with most of its existing employees landing jobs in San Luis Obispo, Soledad and Salinas.
Spokeswoman Josi Slonski said the majority of the Paso Robles boys school staff was placed within the adult division of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at California Men's Colony, CDCR's Correctional Training Facility in Soledad and Salinas Valley State Prison.
Effective Aug. 1, an estimated five employees were to stay at the facility including maintenance personnel to keep the institution running, Slonski said. Effective last Friday, the institution was officially to be referred to as the Estrella Correctional Facility and shed its former name…
LINK - AtascaderoNews.com
June 24, 2008
Officials, employees bid fond farewell to boys school
After more than six decades of exemplary service to youthful offenders and the community at large, it was bittersweet last Friday for many of the staff past and present, family, and officials who convened at the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility for a final farewell closing ceremony.
An estimated 1,000 people braved the intense heat, exchanging hugs and handshakes to recognize the facility's upcoming closure and commend those who contributed to its long history…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
June 17, 2008
Boys School to host closing ceremony
High-ranking state officials from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will visit El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility this Friday, June 20 for a closing ceremony. The ceremony comes in light of an upcoming July 31 closure, whereby the facility will undergo a facelift to be repurposed to house 1,000 inmates in a low-level adult prison for people 50 years or older and Cal Fire camp on its 150-acre site…
…Immediately following the announcement of the proposed closure last January, the facility housed an estimated 350 employees. As of press time, around 100 of those employees had left the facility and may have relocated elsewhere, according to Josi Slonski, spokeswoman…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
March 22, 2008
ASH watching Paso for ripple effects
Administrators and union leaders at Atascadero State Hospital are monitoring plans for a new correctional facility in Paso Robles, but say it's too early to tell whether the proposals could trigger a renewed exodus of mental health workers from ASH.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has outlined a plan that would transform El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility on Airport Road into a prison as soon as next year. The boys school is expected to close July 31 because of state budget cuts.
State officials say building a larger prison will help alleviate overcrowding in other facilities. The plans for a 1,000- inmate prison, a fire camp with low-level adult inmates and a state re-entry facility for prisoners within one year of parole are all under review by state and local officials…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 10, 2008
Paso facility exodus begins
The youth correctional facility in Paso Robles will remain open through July, but some of the 350 employees who will be displaced are already leaving their positions.
"Employees are jumping ship and going to other facilities," said Christopher Dunn, a bargaining unit representative for the teachers, nurses, dental assistants and office workers at the facility. The state has promised to help the employees find other jobs in the wake of the impending closure. Dunn said he knows of at least six workers who already have found other jobs on their own, without transfer placement assistance.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 4, 2008
Future of El Paso de Robles: State Proposes 1,000-inmate Prison
The former boys school in Paso Robles could become a 1,000- inmate prison after it closes in July, state prisons officials announced Monday. That new option joins two alternatives that have circulated since the closure was announced Jan. 3.
The other proposals call for a state re-entry prison with about 200 inmates and a firefighting camp. The property could house one or two of the proposed facilities, or have all three, state officials said.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
February 5, 2008
Governor’s Budget Cuts Will Hit Lassen County
District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman said a recent publication suggested the governor plans to target inmates in nine or 10 of the 30 fire camps, 18 of which are run by the California Correctional Center in Susanville. District 3 Supervisor Lloyd Keefer agreed, saying the strategy is to "pick the ones that they know are going to be more sensitive to the public response and raise a big fuss." Not only would releasing camp inmates reduce fire protection in Lassen County, Chapman said, it would also lower the amount of reimbursement the city of Susanville receives for the impact of the prison on the city budget. "Even if they took 2,000 of the 22,000 being released, that's going to have a direct financial impact on the local area," Chapman said…
NEWS - LassenNews.com
January 12, 2008
An Opportunity to Make Juvenile Detention Better
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to close one of its three remaining youth prisons in Stockton by July. That's good news for Stanislaus County. Why? Because the county will be closer to providing better rehabilitation, education, health care and, if necessary, incarceration for juvenile lawbreakers…
LINK - ModBee.com
January 9, 2008
Assemblyman Suggests El Paso Staff go to Atascadero State Hospital
BREAKING NEWS: Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee would like to see some of the 350 jobs that will be lost when the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility closes this summer absorbed into vacancies at Atascadero State Hospital. It was announced last week that the youth facility would close no later than July 31…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
