Residents and Leaders In Cities Affected By CDCR Prison Closures Speak Out

City leaders and residents of the seven cities and towns affected by the Tuesday announcement of the closure and partial closure of seven state prisons across the state expressed uneasiness and fear of the future on Wednesday, as the prisons served as economic and employment anchors for decades.

Specifically, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) gave the the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) in Blythe a shutdown date of March 2025, with the CDCR also ending a $32 million annual lease of the California City Correctional Facility with CoreCivic, ending the use of that prison in March 2024. Areas of other prisons slated for closure include the Folsom Women’s Facility, Facility C in Pelican Bay State Prison, West Facility in California Men’s Colony, Facility A in California Rehabilitation Center, Facility D in California Institution for Men, and Facility D in California Correctional Institution.

In Blythe, located in Riverside County, many expressed fear and disappointment with the state, noting that the closure will severely hurt the town of 18,000 on the California-Arizona border.

“751 people work at the prison,” Blythe resident Paul Watson, whose business relies partially on those who work at the prison, told the Globe. “Minus all the kids and those not of working age, that’s roughly one out of every 15 people. That’s not good at all. That just kills us. We still have Ironwood Prison here thank God, but if Chuckwalla is going, you know, a lot of people are worried about that one now too. It is just hurting us. For a long time we were the gas station for people going between LA and Phoenix. And now, we are slowly becoming that again thanks to this.”

In Tehachapi, in Kern County, similar sentiment arose with the partial closure of the California Correctional Institution there. City Manager Greg Garrett noted on Wednesday that the city is now facing less money coming in with the closure, and with more inmates getting an early release, increased public safety concerns.

“If the prison population is reduced, then the City of Tehachapi’s allocation is reduced, so we expected to received several hundreds of dollars less than we have in previous years,” said Garrett. “It is an integral part of Tehachapi, and it is a needed part, unfortunately, of our society.”

Groups supportive of closing prisons in favor of community investment, such as Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) ignored the human factors of the closures, instead focusing on the criminal justice aspects.

“It’s important that California continue this progress and adopt a well-considered roadmap for future prison closures, one that centers community investment and is informed by the experiences of people most harmed by incarceration,” said CURB Prison Spending Executive Director Amber-Rose Howard on Wednesday.

However, those sentiments were not received well by residents in affected cities.

“Those groups have no idea what they are talking about,” explained Steve Dryer, a Riverside County resident whose business is tied closely to a prison facing closure. “We are upset about the hundreds of people losing their jobs at each prison. CURB and these other groups obviously have no sympathy for all of these people being put out of work. But with California having high crime all over, slashing prisons now is such a bone-headed move.”

“I mean, ‘most harmed by incarceration?’ These people committed crimes and deserve to be locked away as punishment. If they can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. It’s good to give people a fair shot and second chances, but not when it means that people aren’t rehabilitated. Not when it means that crime will go up as a result. CURB and other groups like it should feel ashamed. They’re wrecking California and they don’t care who they take down with them all in the name of ‘criminal justice.'”

As of Wednesday evening, no lawsuits to stop the prison closures in Blythe and California City have been announced.