California Correctional Center

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California Correctional Center (CCC)
Aerial View
Location: Susanville, California, United States
Coordinates: 40°24′18″N 120°30′43″W / 40.405, -120.512
Status: Operational
Security class: Minimum-medium
Capacity: 3,883 (but houses 6,093 as of September 2007)
Opened: 1963
Managed by: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Director: Kathleen Prosper, Warden

California Correctional Center (CCC) is a California state prison in the city of Susanville, Lassen County, which is in northern California. It should not be confused with California Correctional Institution which is in southern California.

[edit] Current facility

CCC's missions are "to receive, house, and train minimum-custody inmates for placement into one of the institution's 18 Northern California conservation camps" and "to provide meaningful work, training, and education programs for inmates who do not meet the criteria for assignment to a conservation camp."[1] It has 1,100 acres including Level l ("Open dormitories without a secure perimeter") housing, Level ll ("Open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage") housing, Level lll ("Individual cells, fenced perimeters and armed coverage") housing, and camps.[1][2] As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CCC had 1,184 staff and an annual budget of $139 million.[1] As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 3,883 but a total institution population of 6,093, for an occupancy rate of 156.9 percent.[3]

[edit] History

The prison was built in 1963 as a minimum-security facility and was expanded in 1987 "to include a medium-security section."[4][5]

Among the vocational programs at CCC, the "certified 90-day horse gentling program" for wild horses begun in 1987 has received much attention.[6] The federal Bureau of Land Management supplies wild horses captured from the "high desert border country of northeastern California and western Nevada"; inmates "are not paid for their participation."[7] After the program, the horses "become candidates for the periodic public horse adoptions held at the prison."[7] The program is thought to benefit inmates; as one participant said, "it teaches you patience and teaches you that if you want something, you have to work at it."[8]

In 2004, the Californians United for a Responsible Budget coalition (which advocates for "lowering the number of inmates and prisons") suggested that CCC and three other prisons be closed as a cost-cutting measure for the state of California[9], but CCC subsequently continued to operate. A documentary film Prison Town, USA was shown as part of the P.O.V. series on PBS television in July 2007; it concerned the impacts of CCC, High Desert State Prison, and the opening of the nearby Federal Correctional Institution, Herlong upon the residents of Susanville.[10][11] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger "directed inmate firefighters and staff from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation," including those from CCC, to help fight the October 2007 California wildfires.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California Correctional Center (CCC). Accessed 11 Nov 2007.
  2. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California's Correctional Facilities. 15 Oct 2007.
  3. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Monthly Report of Population as of Midnight September 30, 2007.
  4. ^ Susanville Puts Effort Behind Bars, Helps Illinois Town Seeking Prison. Daily News of Los Angeles, July 19, 1987.
  5. ^ Herivel, Tara, and Paul Wright. Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0415935385
  6. ^ Deaton, Christiane. Humanizing Prisons with Animals: A Closer Look at "Cell Dogs" and Horse Programs in Correctional Institutions. Journal of Correctional Education, March 2005, Vol. 56, Issue 1, pp. 46-62.
  7. ^ a b Snyder, George. Convicts and Mustangs: Up in the high desert, at the California Correctional Center in Susanville, prisoners and wild horses come together in a program meant to change lives. San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 1998.
  8. ^ Voet, Gary. Of Mustangs and Men: an Extraordinary Prison Program is Transforming Wild Horses - and Inmates. Sacramento Bee, May 13, 1998.
  9. ^ Richman, Josh. Activists: Close four state prisons - Budget group's commission offers cost-cutting suggestions. Oakland Tribune, May 4, 2004.
  10. ^ Public Broadcasting Service page on Prison Town, USA. Accessed 11 Nov 2007.
  11. ^ Taylor, Robert. "Prison Town" a view from outside. Contra Costa Times, July 28, 2007.
  12. ^ Gov. Schwarzenegger Directs CDCR to Utilize Inmate Fire Crews in Response to Major Wildfires. Press release, 22 Oct 2007.