This is a list of state prisons in California operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).[1] CDCR operates 34 adult prisons in California, with a design capacity of 85,083 incarcerated people. CDCR both owns and operates 34 of the state prisons; it additionally operates California City Correctional Facility, a prison leased from CoreCivic.
CDCR operates a variety of other incarceration facilities, including fire camps and California Division of Juvenile Justice facilities. For more information on the totality of jurisdictions and facilities involved in incarceration in California, see Incarceration in California. For more information on the history, conditions, and demographics of California's prison system specifically, see Prisons in California.
| Prison | Acronym | County | Opened | Reception center?[3] | Reentry hub?[4] | Design capacity | Incarcerated population | Percent occupied | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avenal State Prison | ASP | Kings | 1987 | Yes | 2,920 | 4,197 | 143.7% | |||
| California City Correctional Facility | CAC | Kern | 2013 | 2,304 | 2,081 | 90.3% | This facility is owned by and leased from CoreCivic. It is staffed and operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. CDCR will not renew the lease for California City Correctional Facility, terminating the contract in March 2024 and ending the use of that facility as a state prison. [5] | |||
| California Correctional Institution | CCI | Kern | 1954 | 2,783 | 3,516 | 126.3% | Opened in 1954 on the site of the former California Institute for Women, which opened in 1932 and closed in 1952 after the 1952 Kern County earthquake. | |||
| California Health Care Facility | CHCF | San Joaquin | 2013 | 2,951 | 2,751 | 93.2% | Opened in 2013 on the site of the former Karl Holton Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Center, which opened in 1968 and closed in 2003 as part of consolidation efforts in response to a decline in youth incarceration. | |||
| California Institution for Men | CIM | San Bernardino | 1941 | Yes | Yes | 2,976 | 3,357 | 112.8% | ||
| California Institution for Women | CIW | Riverside | 1952 | Yes | Yes | 1,398 | 1,553 | 111.1% | The original California Institution for Women was opened in 1932 on the site of the current California Correctional Institution. That facility was closed in 1952 after the 1952 Kern County earthquake, and the women incarcerated in that facility were moved to the current CIW location, which had just opened. | |
| California Medical Facility | CMF | Solano | 1955 | 2,361 | 2,396 | 101.5% | ||||
| California Men's Colony | CMC | San Luis Obispo | 1954 | Yes | Yes | 3,838 | 3,727 | 97.1% | ||
| California Rehabilitation Center | CRC | Riverside | 1962 | Yes | 2,491 | 3,341 | 134.1% | The facility, formerly a Naval hospital, was donated by the federal government in 1962. Women were incarcerated at CRC until 2007. | ||
| California State Prison, Centinela | CEN | Imperial | 1993 | 2,308 | 3,284 | 142.3% | ||||
| California State Prison, Corcoran | COR | Kings | 1988 | 3,116 | 3,719 | 119.4% | ||||
| California State Prison, Los Angeles County | LAC | Los Angeles | 1993 | Yes | 2,300 | 3,158 | 137.3% | |||
| California State Prison, Sacramento | SAC | Sacramento | 1986 | 1,828 | 2,363 | 129.3% | ||||
| California State Prison, Solano | SOL | Solano | 1984 | 2,610 | 3,752 | 143.8% | ||||
| California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran | SATF | Kings | 1997 | Yes | 3,424 | 4,844 | 141.5% | |||
| Calipatria State Prison | CAL | Imperial | 1992 | 2,308 | 2,935 | 127.2% | ||||
| Central California Women's Facility | CCWF | Madera | 1990 | Yes | Yes | 2,004 | 2,640 | 131.7% | California's only death row for women is at CCWF. | |
| Chuckawalla Valley State Prison | CVSP | Riverside | 1988 | 1,738 | 2,324 | 133.7% | ||||
| Correctional Training Facility | CTF | Monterey | 1948 | Yes | 3,312 | 4,801 | 145.0% | |||
| Folsom State Prison | FSP | Sacramento | 1880 | Yes for women | 2,066 men, 403 women | 2,694 men, 276 women | 130.4% capacity (men's facilities), 68.5% capacity (women's facilities) | FSP is the only California State Prison currently housing men and women. | ||
| High Desert State Prison | HDSP | Lassen | 1995 | Yes | 2,324 | 3,286 | 141.4% | |||
| Ironwood State Prison | ISP | Riverside | 1994 | Yes | 2,200 | 3,203 | 145.6% | |||
| Kern Valley State Prison | KVSP | Kern | 2005 | 2,448 | 3,534 | 144.4% | ||||
| Mule Creek State Prison | MCSP | Amador | 1987 | 3,284 | 3,948 | 120.2% | ||||
| North Kern State Prison | NKSP | Kern | 1993 | Yes | 2,694 | 3,630 | 134.7% | |||
| Pelican Bay State Prison | PBSP | Del Norte | 1989 | 2,380 | 2,608 | 109.6% | ||||
| Pleasant Valley State Prison | PVSP | Fresno | 1994 | 2,308 | 3,062 | 132.7% | ||||
| Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility | RJD | San Diego | 1987 | Yes | 2,992 | 3,806 | 127.2% | |||
| Salinas Valley State Prison | SVSP | Monterey | 1996 | 2,452 | 2,877 | 117.3% | ||||
| San Quentin State Prison | SQ | Marin | 1852 | Yes | Not formally designated, but has substantial reentry programming | 3,082 | 3,776 | 122.5% | California's only death row for men is at San Quentin. The prison was constructed by incarcerated men on the Waban, a ship anchored in San Francisco Bay and California's first prison. | |
| Sierra Conservation Center | SCC | Tuolumne | 1965 | Yes | 3,836 | 4,012 | 104.6% | |||
| Valley State Prison | VSP | Madera | 1995 | Yes | 1,980 | 2,971 | 150.1% | |||
| Wasco State Prison | WSP | Kern | 1991 | Yes | 2,984 | 4,121 | 138.1% | |||
| System-wide | 91,967 | 114,654 | 124.7% |
Reception centers house incarcerate people incoming to the state prison system while they complete an evaluation and receive a custody score. After that, they may be transferred to another prison for longer-term confinement.[3]
While all facilities have some level of education, treatment, and pre-release programs,[6] reentry hubs provide specific reentry support to incarcerated people within 4 years of release, including cognitive behavioral therapy, job search skills, and financial literacy.[4]
In an effort to relieve California prison overcrowding that peaked in 2006, CDCR began housing California prisoners in prisons in other states. In 2009, CDCR began to phase out its use of out-of-state facilities, and it stopped incarcerating people in out-of-state facilities in 2019.[7] [8] The facilities were: