TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — On December 6, 2022, The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that it planned to close seven prisons across the state. Among the prisons to be closed are two located in Kern County, in California City and Tehachapi.
The facility in Tehachapi is slated to close come Summer 2023, meaning 800 inmates will be moved to other prisons. The facility's closure will also impact the lives of employees, the City of Tehachapi, and local businesses around the prison.
"My own staff, one of my managers, her father works there," said Mano Lujan, owner of the Red House BBQ in Tehachapi. "My other staff has an uncle there. Everybody knows somebody that works out of that prison."
Lujan describes a tight-knit community, and it's one that he sees being uprooted when those employees at the California Correctional Institution have to decide to relocate or find another job.
Lujan adds that the prison staff leaving the town is like a part of the family leaving, which impacts other businesses and the school population. Not to mention, all the family members of incarcerated people who come in from out of town to visit.
"You get to talk to them, and you find out that they have loved ones or family that are incarcerated here, and that is why they are up here every weekend, and build relationships with these people," said Lujan.
This is not the first time a portion of the prison facility in Tehachapi has been closed. It happened before in 2021, and Lujan says that closure had an impact on his business.
The prison's closure also affects the raw demographics of the city. Both Tehachapi and California City get a certain amount of money from the state for each inmate who lives there. With the prison population moving out of the city, those payments will be going away.
"This is going to be a huge test on our community here," predicts Lujan.
Lujan is not alone in that prediction. The city managers of both California City and Tehachapi have expressed their own concerns for the impact the closures will have on their communities and economies.
In a statement, Dr. Jim Hart, City Manager for California City says that losing the state payments the city gets for the population of the correctional facility will have "very negative financial impacts to the city."
The prison facility in California City is being closed because the CDCR has found space in other state-owned prisons to which the inmates can be transferred and the lease the state held with the property owner has expired.
Tehachapi City Manager Greg Garrett is also calling the prison closures a hurdle the city will have to overcome.
"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.
Garrett also points out that the additional space in other prisons the Tehachapi inmates will be transferred to is due to early releases being seen across the country. Garrett says this is an additional public safety concern aside from the economic factor.
On the other side of the issue are groups like Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), who are focused on reducing state spending on incarceration-centered modes of criminal justice.
CURB Prison Spending Executive Director Amber-Rose Howard gave a statement about the closures.
"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 Howard.
Garrett responds to that sentiment by admitting he is no expert in rehabilitation, but saying there needs to be an open conversation about addressing the root problem of crime and the necessity of prisons.
"It is an integral part of Tehachapi, and it is a needed part, unfortunately, of our society," said Garrett.
The state has promised to work with these communities, as it has with past prison closures, to create an economic plan to get through the transitional period, and workers who depend on the CDCR will be offered transfers.
Meanwhile, Lujan seems to sum up the general feeling of unease about the future in Tehachapi.
"So, I see this being a nightmare."
