Part of the California Men's Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo is slated for closure.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) made the announcement Tuesday afternoon.
It also announced that Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe will be closed completely by 2025, and that the state is ending its lease for the California City Correctional Facility in March 2024.
At the California Men's Colony, the area to be closed is known as the West Facility, which houses medium and minimum-security inmates. The East Facility will remain open.
West Facility inmates are offered career/technical education, substance abuse education, anger management, and other therapy programs.
Staff at the prison were notified of the closure in an email sent earlier in the day.
The Folsom State Prison's Women's facility, along with individual facilities within Pelican Bay State Prison, California Rehabilitation Center, California Institution for Men, and the California Correctional Institution also face closures.
CDCR did leave open the possibility that these facilities, including CMC's West Facility, could be reactivated, "Should a significant need for capacity arise in the future due to a natural disaster or other serious need..."
CDCR says the closures are in line with the 2022-23 state budget and that when deciding on which prisons to close, it took into account the cost to operate, impact on the surrounding communities and workforce, inmate housing needs, and public safety among other things.
Inmates at the affected locations will reportedly be moved to other yards or prisons based on their custody needs.
As for staff, CDCR says it will offer employees options to transfer within and outside of affected counties.
