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Central California Women's Facility (CCWF)
Aerial View
Location Chowchilla, California
Coordinates 37°05′37″N 120°09′10″W / 37.0935°N 120.1528°W / 37.0935; -120.1528Coordinates: 37°05′37″N 120°09′10″W / 37.0935°N 120.1528°W / 37.0935; -120.1528
Status Operational
Security class Minimum-maximum
Capacity 2,004
Population 3,918 (196%) (as of fy 2008/09[1])
Opened October 1990
Managed by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Director Mary Lattimore, Warden

Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) is a female-only state prison located near to and annexed to the city of Chowchilla (5 miles southeast from the airport), in Madera County. It is across the road from Valley State Prison for Women. It is the largest female correctional facility in the United States.[2]

Contents

Facilities

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 $138 million. As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 2,004 but a total institution population of 4,230, for an occupancy rate of 211.1 percent.[2][3]

CCWF holds prisoners at almost all security levels:[2][4]

  • Reception Center (RC) – provides short term housing to process, classify and evaluate incoming inmates

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 only three Correctional Officers. On the Reception Yard there are 276 inmates per housing unit of unclassified inmates supervised by only two officers.

  • Condemned (Cond) housing – holds inmates with death sentences

The prison provides inmate academic education, work and vocational training, counseling and specialized programs for the purpose of successful reintegration into society.[2]

History

The Madera County board of supervisors gave the prison its current name in 1989 "after months of discussion and disagreement."[5] CCWF opened in October 1990, having cost $141 million to construct.[6]

In 1996, the City of Chowchilla was given permission to perform a "non-contiguous annexation" of CCWF.[7]

Starting in April 2007, CCWF received some inmates from California Rehabilitation Center after closure of the women's wing at that prison.[8] The population at CCWF "swelled by 8 percent."[8]

Health services deficiencies

Health services at CCWF have been the subject of controversy over the years, as exemplified by the following events:

  • In June 1991, an inmate died; some inmates "refused to report to their prison jobs" to protest the prison's medical care "which they said was linked to the death."[9] Later, an autopsy showed that the inmate "died of acute inflammation of the pancreas," not "an overdose of the tranquilizer Haldol" as some inmates believed.[10]
  • Over 100 protesters outside the prison in January 1994 alleged that CCWF "failed to provide a medical specialist and educational programs to deal with HIV/AIDS-infected inmates," and that CCWF's healthcare providers "often ignore inmate ailments and provide little or no follow-up examinations."[11]
  • An April 1995 class action lawsuit against CCWF and California Institution for Women "allege[d] that inmates suffer terribly and in some cases die because of inadequate medical care."[12] A 1997 settlement agreement led to two reports showing "improvements" in health care for female prisoners, but plaintiffs' lawyers claimed that "the changes deal[t] mostly with medical records, not actual care."[13]
  • From July to November 1996, a private laboratory billed CCWF $161,000 "for thousands of medical tests, including Pap smears to detect cervical cancer, AIDS tests, biopsies and urinalyses" even though the tests had never been used on the inmates.[14] At least six other prisons also used the laboratory.[14] Although the State of California closed the laboratory in 1997, a 2000 newspaper investigation found that there was "little evidence of any attempt by the California Department of Corrections to retest inmates or notify them that their test results were faked."[14]
  • In 1999, an inmate with "hepatitis C and liver disease" died after being "prescribed anti-TB medications known to be toxic to patients with liver disease."[15] A wrongful-death lawsuit based on the case was "settled for $225,000" in 2002.[15]
  • In the "month and a half" prior to December 20, 2000, seven CCWF inmates died.[16] Of these, four "apparently succumbed to chronic terminal illnesses," but an advocacy group claimed that the deaths "were precipitated by inadequate care."[16] The other three "died suddenly and unexpectedly," which led to autopsies being performed.[16] As a result, the three causes of death were determined to be "heart problems and natural causes," "a severe asthma attack and chok[ing] on her vomit after a routine strip search," and "clogged arteries and an enlarged heart."[17] Nevertheless, "relatives of the three women" and a physician from the University of California, San Francisco "who reviewed their deaths" held the opinion that "better health care could have saved their lives."[17]
  • A hospice program was started at CCWF in the summer of 2000, but by mid-2001 was "seldom" used.[17] One possible explanation was a low amount of funding compared with the men's hospice at California Medical Facility; another possible explanation was CCWF's granting "compassionate releases to dying inmates who otherwise might enter the program."[17]
  • In December 2003, seven CCWF inmates sued seven physicians and "several nurses" for "malpractice, negligence and unprofessional conduct."[18]
  • In February 2007, 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."[19] The report specifically mentioned the "New Choice female felon program" at CCWF, for which "12-month recidivism rates... were lower for non-participants than for participants."[19]

Death Row

After Governor Pete Wilson decreed in December 1991 that CCWF shall hold all female Death Row inmates in California, Maureen McDermott became the first Death Row inmate at CCWF.[20][21]

The Death Row inmates' names (with years of sentencing) are[22]:

  • Maria del Rosio "Rosie" Alfaro (sentenced 1992)
  • Dora Luz Buenrostro (1998)
  • Socorro Caro (2002)
  • Celeste Simone Carrington (1994)
  • Cynthia Lynn Coffman (1989)
  • Kerry Lyn Dalton (1995)
  • Susan Eubanks (1999)
  • Veronica Gonzalez (1998)
  • Maureen McDermott (1990)
  • Michelle Lyn Michaud (2002)
  • Sandi Dawn Nieves (2000)
  • Angelina Rodriguez (2004)
  • Mary Ellen Samuels (1994)
  • Cathy Lynn Sarinana (2009)
  • Janeen Marie Snyder (2006)
  • Catherine Thompson (1993)

Florida ranks second only to North Carolina in the number of women sentenced to death since 1973, with the penalty imposed on 15 women. North Carolina has imposed the sentence on 16 women.

And while the majority of states imposing the death penalty (on men or women) are in the south, California ranks third in the number of women sentenced to die, followed by Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Georgia.

Notable inmates

  • Susan Atkins, an associate of Charles Manson, was transferred to CCWF on September 24, 2008, with a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer.[23] She died at CCWF on September 24, 2009.[24]
  • Ellie Nesler was first imprisoned at CCWF for a 10-year sentence beginning in January 1994.[32] During her stay, she received treatment for breast cancer.[33] She was released in October 1997 after a plea bargain.[34][35] She was again at CCWF between 2002 and June 2006 to "serv[e] a sentence for selling drugs."[36]
  • Dorothea Puente "was convicted in 1993 on five counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole" at CCWF.[37]

References

  1. ^ Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) (2009). "Institution Statistics". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/Facilities/CCWF-Institution_Stats.html. Retrieved 2009-08-20.  
  2. ^ a b c d Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) (2009). "Mission Statement". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/Facilities/CCWF.html. Retrieved 2009-08-20.  
  3. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Monthly Report of Population as of Midnight September 30, 2007.
  4. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California's Correctional Facilities. Accessed 22 Dec 2007.
  5. ^ Lopez, Pablo. Madera County Board Names Women's Prison. Fresno Bee, September 6, 1989.
  6. ^ Christensen, Kim. New Madera women's prison to open. But facility won't ease overcrowding at Frontera by much. Orange County Register, September 30, 1990.
  7. ^ City of Chowchilla. General Plan Update, Introduction and Preface, Discussion Draft. General Plan July 20, 2005.
  8. ^ a b Schultz, E.J. Female inmates: Jammed behind bars? Chowchilla lockups are at more than double their capacity, provoking health concerns. Sacramento Bee, July 9, 2007.
  9. ^ McCarthy, Charles. Prisoners Strike to Protest Health Care. An Inmate's Death Prompts a Two-Day Demonstration at Chowchilla Women's Prison. Fresno Bee, July 3, 1991.
  10. ^ McCarthy, Charles. Disease Blamed for Death of Tranquilized Inmate. Fresno Bee, July 19, 1991.
  11. ^ Medina, M. Cristina. Protesters Say Prison Health Care Inadequate. Demonstrators at the Central California Women's Facility at Chowchilla Say Little is Done for HIV/AIDS-Infected Inmates. Fresno Bee, January 30, 1994.
  12. ^ Sward, Susan, and Bill Wallace. Female Inmates Sue State Prisons. Neglect of health care cited. San Francisco Chronicle, April 5, 1995.
  13. ^ Vitucci, Claire. Report finds improvements to inmate care: But women's health services still substandard, lawyers say. Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), December 22, 1999.
  14. ^ a b c Russell, Sabin. State Fumbles Prison Lab Testing. Company's fake results may never have been corrected. San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2000.
  15. ^ a b McCarthy, Charles. Kin, Chowchilla prison settle in inmate's death. Fresno Bee, June 14, 2002.
  16. ^ a b c Russell, Sabin. 2 More Die At Women's Prison in Chowchilla. 3 of 7 recent deaths under investigation. San Francisco Chronicle, December 20, 2000.
  17. ^ a b c d Leedy, Matt. Heart Attack Killed Inmate. Stanford U. Doctors Back Earlier Findings in Chowchilla Case. Fresno Bee, April 6, 2001.
  18. ^ Aleman-Padilla, Lisa. Inmates sue over medical services - Seven in Chowchilla allege they didn't get adequate treatment. Fresno Bee, December 19, 2003.
  19. ^ a b Office of the Inspector General, State of California. Special Review Into In-Prison Substance Abuse Programs Managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. February 2007.
  20. ^ McCarthy, Charles. Women's Death Row is Created - Inmate Waits to Die in Madera County. Daily News of Los Angeles, December 16, 1991.
  21. ^ Wilson, Wayne. Four Await Fate at Hands of State on Women's Death Row. Sacramento Bee, September 14, 1993.
  22. ^ Streib, Victor L. Death Penalty for Female Offenders, January 1, 1973, Through June 30, 2007. July 13, 2007.
  23. ^ De Atley, Richard K (2008-11-21). "Ailing Manson follower transferred to Chowchilla facility". Press-Enterprise. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_atkins22.3e6d90f.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25.  
  24. ^ Blankstein, Andrew (2009-09-25). "Manson follower Susan Atkins dies at 61". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-mew-atkins26-2009sep26,0,5728221.story. Retrieved 2009-09-25.  
  25. ^ Rose, Jeffrey J. Prisoner Broderick is moved. Court recommended counseling isn't available at facility. San Diego Union-Tribune, March 21, 1992.
  26. ^ Her dark thoughts: pleading insanity. San Diego Union-Tribune, July 30, 2003.
  27. ^ Parrilla, Leslie. Parolee in fatal dog-mauling case moves to Ventura County. Ventura County Star, January 3, 2004.
  28. ^ Cavanaugh, Andrea. Parolee's Plans Unknown - San Francisco Woman Convicted in Dog Mauling Sent to Ventura County. Daily News of Los Angeles, January 3, 2004.
  29. ^ Booth, Claire. Knoller Paroled In Dog-Mauling Death - Sent To Southern California, She Must Find A Job But Can't Practice Law. Contra Costa Times, January 3, 2004.
  30. ^ Associated Press. Woman imprisoned in dog mauling case is released. Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA), January 3, 2004.
  31. ^ Malnic, Eric. Owner of Killer Dogs to Go Free; The woman convicted in the fatal S.F. mauling will be paroled to the Southland. Her husband was paroled to Northern California. Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2004.
  32. ^ Frank, Russell. Nesler Lawyers to Ask Again for Bail. Modesto Bee, January 26, 1994.
  33. ^ Rafferty, Carole. Hailed as an Avenging Hero 18 Months Ago, Ellie Nesler Adjusts to Prison Life as She Confronts Disease and the Consequences of her Actions. Ellie Nesler: A Mother's Regret. San Jose Mercury News, October 9, 1994.
  34. ^ Reed, Dan. Killer of Molester Due to Go Free. Friends Await Nesler Release. San Jose Mercury News, September 29, 1997.
  35. ^ Ryan, Joan. Chastened Ellie Nesler Freed. Plea bargain in slaying of alleged molester. San Francisco Chronicle, October 2, 1997.
  36. ^ Woman Who Shot Man in Courtroom Freed. San Jose Mercury News, June 6, 2006.
  37. ^ Wiley, Walt. New charm graces house where Puente once killed. Sacramento Bee, June 11, 2004.

External links

Prisons of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Avenal State Prison (ASP) · California Correctional Center (CCC) · California Correctional Institution (CCI) · California Institution for Men (CIM) · California Institution for Women (CIW) · California Medical Facility (CMF) · California Men's Colony (CMC) · California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) · California State Prison, Centinela (CEN) · California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) · California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) · California State Prison, Sacramento (SAC) · California State Prison, Solano (SOL) · California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF) · Calipatria State Prison (CAL) · Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) · Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) · Correctional Training Facility (CTF) · Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) · Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) · Folsom State Prison (FSP) · High Desert State Prison (HDSP) · Ironwood State Prison (ISP) · Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) · Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) · North Kern State Prison (NKSP) · Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) · Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) · Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) · San Quentin State Prison (SQ) · Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) · Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) · Wasco State Prison (WSP)







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