California Correctional Center (CCC) was a
state prison in the city of
Susanville in Northern California. It was a minimum-security facility.
Also located in Susanville is the
High Desert State Prison (California) (maximum security), and nearby the
Federal Correctional Institution, Herlong.
Lassen County has a concentration of prisons, which employ half of the adult population of Susanville.
The state facilities prisons were severely overcrowded until 2012, when legislation was passed requiring reduction in prison populations. Many facilities are still above design capacity, increasing risk to correction officers and inmates.
Facilities
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."
It has 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.
[California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation]
California's Correctional Facilities.
Oct 15, 2007. As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CCC had 1,184 staff and an annual budget of $139 million.[
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. Due to AB109, the inmate population was reduced to 2889 as of March 13, 2012.][California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation]
Monthly Report of Population as of Midnight September 30, 2007.
History
The prison was built in 1963 as a minimum-security facility. It was expanded in 1987 to include facilities to accommodate medium-security inmates.
Among the vocational programs at CCC, the "certified 90-day horse gentling program" for wild horses, begun in 1987, has received much attention. The federal Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
supplies wild horses captured from the "high desert border country of northeastern California and western Nevada"; inmates "are not paid for their participation."[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. After the program, the horses "become candidates for the periodic public horse adoptions held at the prison."[ 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."
In 2004, the anti-prison political action group 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, but CCC continued to operate. Advocates wanting to improve prison conditions gained passage of legislation in 2012 requiring reduction in the severe overcrowding in state prisons.
In October 2007 Governor ]Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
"directed inmate firefighters and staff from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacra ...
," including those from CCC, to help fight the California wildfires.
On December 20, 2016, a riot erupted at the prison involving approximately 100 prisoners.
The prison was scheduled to close in June 2023. However, defenders of the California Correctional Center sued the state, which prompted a judge in rural Lassen County to issue a temporary restraining order which halted the closure.
The California Correctional Center was fully deactivated as of June 30, 2023.
Notable inmates
*Brandon Mclnerney (born 1994), murderer of Larry F. King Now located in Folsom State Prison
Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...
.
*Hugo Pinell (born 1945), member of the San Quentin Six; was sentenced for assault in 1970
In popular culture
The documentary film '' Prison Town, USA,'' was shown as part of the P.O.V. series on PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
television in July 2007.Public Broadcasting Service page on ''Prison Town, USA''.
Accessed Nov 11, 2007.
It explores the effects upon the residents of rural Susanville of living near the CCC, High Desert State Prison, and the nearby Federal Correctional Institution, Herlong, which was opening when the film was made. In "job-starved rural America, ... residents see them as the last and only chance for employment after work at the lumber mill or the dairy dries up."[Taylor, Robert. "'Prison Town' a view from outside," ''Contra Costa Times'', 28 July 2007; hosted at ''Mercury News.''](_blank)
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See also
* List of California state prisons
This is a list of state prisons in California operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). CDCR operates 34 adult prisons in California, with a design capacity of 85,083 incarcerated people. CDCR both owns and op ...
References
External links
California Correctional Center website
{{Authority control
1963 establishments in California
Buildings and structures in Lassen County, California
Prisons in California
Prisons completed in the 1960s