Central California Women's Facility ( CCWF ) is an American women's California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison located in Chowchilla , California . It is across the road from Valley State Prison . CCWF is the second largest female correctional facility in the United States, and houses the only State of California death row for women.
18-475: CCWF covers 640 acres (260 ha). As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CCWF had a total of 1,205 staff and an annual operating budget of US$ 138 million. As of April 30, 2020, CCWF was incarcerating people at 131.7% of its design capacity, with 2,640 occupants. CCWF holds prisoners at all security levels: Level I through Level IV are all housed together inside a 32-room housing unit. There are 256 inmates of all levels housed together with two Correctional Officers. On
36-520: A Northrop N-9M aircraft crashed in the grounds of the facility , killing its pilot. There were no ground casualties. The Actors%27 Gang The Actors' Gang is an experimental theatre and nonprofit group based at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California . It was founded in 1981 by a group of actors , including Tim Robbins , now a member of the board and artistic director of
54-586: A de facto SNY yard, despite CDCR's assertion. The best-known of CRC's programs are the "six structured Substance Abuse Programs." CRC "offers the world's largest in-custody substance abuse program and is the only institution in the state to offer recovered inmates the chance to erase their felony convictions." It is the "only [California] prison to house felons along with low-level, drug-addicted inmates." The drug treatment programs are thought to be associated with lower recidivism rates. However, in February 2007
72-544: A total institution population of 4,271, for an occupancy rate of 184.6 percent. It has Level II ("Open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage") housing. As of July 31, 2022, CRC was incarcerating people at 107.2% of its design capacity, with 2,322 occupants. CRC is currently run as a "non-designated" facility, meaning inmates are neither SNY (Special Needs Yard) or GP (General Population). However, in California prison culture this non-designation makes this
90-550: Is a state prison located in Norco , Riverside County, California . The prison is sometimes referenced as "Norco" or "Norco Prison". CRC has 98 acres (40 ha) and is located next to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division. As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CRC had a total of 1,169 staff and an annual operating budget of $ 118 million. As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 2,314 but
108-501: Is based on voluntary participation, segregation from the general population and participation in aftercare. When these three aspects were in place at another California prison, three year recidivism was dropped from 75% to 27%. The center runs an actors studio called the Actors' Gang program. The studio participates in Commedia dell'arte , overseen by Tim Robbins and Sabra Williams . On
126-598: The Actors' Gang toured its production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream , directed by Tim Robbins. The tour schedule included: Other touring productions include George Orwell's 1984 , Tartuffe , Embedded , The Trial of the Catonsville Nine , The Guys , and The Exonerated . These productions have toured 41 states in the U.S. and cities across the world from London to Athens, Madrid, Barcelona, Bogota, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Buenos Aires, covering five continents. Actor training courses are held at
144-674: The California Office of the Inspector General concluded "Numerous studies show that despite an annual cost of $ 36 million, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s in-prison substance abuse treatment programs have little or no impact on recidivism." However, the report specifically mentioned the "Quest male civil addict program" at CRC, for which "12-month recidivism rates... were lower for non-participants than for participants." The efficacy of in-prison substance abuse treatment
162-499: The Reception Yard there are 276 inmates per housing unit of unclassified inmates supervised by two officers. The prison provides inmate academic education, vocational training, counseling and specialized programs for the purpose of successful reintegration into society. The Center for Restorative Justice (CRJW) Family Express program, provides weekly transportation for family members from major California cities to visit prisoners at
180-478: The building after learning it had to be seismically retrofitted." Efforts are underway to preserve the hotel. There are persistent yet untrue stories among CRC inmates and some staff that the abandoned Norconian hotel was used for the cover artwork for the Eagles' album Hotel California . These stories claim that the front cover shot, and/or the rear cover interior shot were taken at the hotel. This has contributed to
198-571: The facility. The Madera County board of supervisors gave the prison its current name in 1989 "after months of discussion and disagreement". CCWF opened in October 1990, having cost $ 141 million to construct. In 1996, the City of Chowchilla was given permission to perform a "non-contiguous annexation" of CCWF. Starting in April 2007, CCWF received some inmates from California Rehabilitation Center after closure of
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#1733094029942216-478: The first death row inmate at CCWF. She was the first woman sentenced to death in a period of several decades, and at one period, she was the only person in the unit. Initially a set of nine cells in the 504 building, a two-story building for difficult to manage and maximum security prisoners, served as the women's death row. The death row inmates' names (with years of sentencing) are: California Rehabilitation Center California Rehabilitation Center ( CRC )
234-716: The interest of effective rehabilitation. One of the few remaining arts programs inside California's correctional system. Since the program's inception 8 years ago, the Prison Project maintains a 0% recidivism rate (California's rate exceeds 60%). Other Community Outreach programs include weekly Pay-What-You-Can performances (every Thursday's performance during all production runs) and free Shakespeare-in-the-Park every weekend in August (a 45-minute Shakespeare adaptation for all ages). The Actors' Gang contributes ticket vouchers for group trips and non-profit fundraising activities. In 2014,
252-454: The prison's nickname of "Hotel California" among inmates throughout the California prison system. As of 2006, although CRC was considered "one of California's best prisons," it was overcrowded, was "under nearly constant lockdown to prevent fights," had buildings "so antiquated that the electricity is shut off during rainstorms so the prisoners aren't electrocuted," had a "three-month-long waiting list" for its drug rehabilitation program, and
270-493: The site where CRC now stands, the 700-acre (280 ha) Lake Norconian Resort opened in 1929 as "the opulent playground of some of Hollywood's biggest names." The Norconian hotel closed in 1940, then served as a Navy hospital between 1941 and 1957. "The old Norconian and several of the newer outlying buildings were turned over to the state" to create CRC, and the first inmates arrived in January 1963; however, in 2002 "CRC vacated
288-1810: The troupe. The Actors' Gang has produced over 150 plays in Los Angeles, in forty US states, and on five continents. The company was founded in 1981 by a group of young artists. Guided by Founding Artistic Director, Tim Robbins. The Actors' Gang has presented the work of theater artists including Georges Bigot , Simon Abkarian , Charles L. Mee , David Schweizer , Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theatre Company , Tracy Young , Roger Guenver Smith, Eric Bogosian , Oskar Eustis , Danny Hoch , Beth Milles, Jon Kellam, Brian Kulick, Stefan Haves , Namaste Theater Company, Culture Clash , JR Reed , Michael Schlitt, and Tenacious D . The Actors' Gang ensemble has included actors such as Jack Black , John Cusack , John C. Reilly , Helen Hunt , Kate Walsh , Fisher Stevens , Jeremy Piven , Ebbe Roe Smith , Jon Favreau , Lauren Lane , Brent Hinkley, Kate Mulligan, Lee Arenberg , Kyle Gass , and Tim Robbins . Guest artists that have appeared on The Actors' Gang stage include: Jackson Browne , Sarah Silverman , Ben Gibbard , John Doe , Tom Morello , Jenny Lewis , Wayne Kramer , Paul Provenza , Zooey Deschanel , Serj Tankian , David Crosby , Felicity Huffman , Jill Sobule , William H. Macy , Phillip Baker Hall , Jeanne Tripplehorn , T. C. Boyle , and Gore Vidal . The Actors' Gang Education and Outreach Program provides free after-school, in-school, and summer programs for Los Angeles County youth. Company Actors/Teaching Artists work in collaboration with youth to create original ensemble theatre. The Actors' Gang Prison Project provides 8-week workshops in California prisons in order to unlock human potential in
306-606: The women's wing at that prison. The population at CCWF "swelled by 8 percent". There have been controversies surrounding healthcare and health standards at the CCWF over the years. Including but not limited to the following events: As of 2007, of the prison guards, 31% were women. 19% of sergeants were women, and less than 1% of lieutenants are women. After Governor Pete Wilson decreed in December 1991 that CCWF shall hold all female death row inmates in California, Maureen McDermott became
324-632: Was "short 75 guards." In March 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the prison, citing its "huge overcrowding problem" in a speech on his "prison and county jail-building program." Although CRC had been "the only California prison to house both men and women," in April 2007 the women's wing of CRC was closed "to make room for more men" and because "the aging facility did not have the space needed to properly care for female inmates." About 800 female CRC inmates were moved to California Institution for Women , Central California Women's Facility , and Valley State Prison for Women . On April 22, 2019,
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