Infill Beds: Reducing Overcrowding and Increasing Rehabilitation

Lawmakers passed AB 900 in response to the severe overcrowding crisis in California’s prison system.  This legislation authorizes construction of up to 16,000 beds at existing facilities, which will allow CDCR to deactivate gymnasiums and day rooms that were never designed to house inmates. New construction has been carefully crafted to account for the state’s immediate need to reduce overcrowding, as well as the projected needs of the prison population going forward. The infill bed plan in AB 900 was reviewed by the Governor’s Strike Team to ensure that construction will:

• Provide for full program space;
  
  
• Take into account local issues such as Valley Fever; and,
  
  
• Work in coordination with the needs of the Medical Receiver.

CDCR’s infill bed plan is designed to accomplish the AB 900 objectives of reducing overcrowding and increasing access to rehabilitation, and has been revised with long-term goals and needs in mind:



• The proposal will allow for “bad beds” in places like gymnasiums, day rooms, and classrooms to be taken down, and used for rehabilitation;
  
  
• Unlike the original proposal which focused on creating more than 16,000 beds as quickly as possible with limited rehabilitation space, the revised plan will allow for approximately 13,000 beds with full program space;
  
  
• The plan focuses on building to the highest security level to provide long-term flexibility.  The addition of more celled capacity will decrease the gap in celled housing needed for high-end offenders;
  
  
• Since the new facilities will primarily be stand-alone facilities, they will be able to maintain the standard operational model;
  
  
• The modified plan will include the addition of more reception beds to free up unused program space at prisons handling reception functions.

Infill Beds Scheduled
CDCR is scheduled to break ground on 6,050 CDCR infill beds at four prisons in the fourth quarter of 2008. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process has already started on:

• 1,000 Level II beds at Kern Valley State Prison;
  
  
• 950 Reception Center beds at North Kern State Prison;
  
  
• 950 Reception Center beds and 950 Level IV beds at Wasco State Prison;
  
  
• 2,200 beds at the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi – 950 Reception Center beds, 950 Level IV beds and 300 Administrative Segregation beds.

The new infill bed plan will maximize space at existing institutions, help to relieve short-term overcrowding, and meet the expected needs of California’s prison system going forward.

Building Outside the Box

CDCR is developing a “Share Point” web portal with the goal of increasing communication with state agencies, legislative representatives, private partners and community members in the design, planning and construction of reentry and infill bed projects. Collaborating with external stakeholders in this virtual environment is a key aspect of CDCR’s new and innovative approach to managing this massive public works program.  Reports, public meetings, and updates on activities will all be posted on this site, and private entities interested in bidding on projects will be able to access bid and contract documents directly through this portal.

 

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