SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The population in what once was the nation’s largest state correctional system has shrunk so low that California officials plan to close one of two inmate firefighter training centers next year.
They said Tuesday that the California Correctional Center in the rural northeastern part of the state will close by July 2022. It's the second such prison closure announced in recent months.
The population drop comes after a decade of changes to the state's sentencing laws. But it is most recently driven by population changes due to the pandemic. That has inmates’ attorneys worrying that crowding could eventually again become a problem.
