Two correctional facilities to remain closed because of budget issues

Two correctional facilities to remain closed because of budget issues

BY JASON KOTOWSKI, Californian staff writer
jkotowski@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Feb 10 2011

Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain closed.

The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.

"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had the programs scrapped," Hockenson said.

The McFarland Community Correctional Facility had been slated to reopen Feb. 14 and house 250 inmates. The Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility -- located in Bakersfield -- had been scheduled for a Feb. 7 reopening and was supposed to house 400 inmates.

Exact figures on how much the facilities would have cost the state weren't immediately available.

GEO Group spokesman Pablo E. Paez was not immediately available for comment.

Also factoring into the state's decision was that the number of female prisoners has dropped over the past year and overcrowding is no longer an issue, Hockenson said. The Non-Revocable Parole and Enhanced Credits programs helped reduce the overall prison population.

The Non-Revocable Parole Program allows certain offenders to be released without being placed on parole. The Enhanced Credits Program lets inmates who participate in rehabilitation programs earn up to six weeks off their sentence per year.

The McFarland and Mesa Verde facilities first closed in late 2009 because there weren't enough low-level male inmates to fill them.

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x563852436/Two-correctional-facilities-to-remain-closed-because-of-budget-issues