Baker prison set to close doors

BAKER • The Baker Community Correctional Facility is being closed due to a statewide decrease in low-security inmates.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is opting out of its contract to house inmates at the facility with Cornell Companies, Inc., according to CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton. The CDCR has a $4.9 million contract with Cornell to house inmates at the Baker facility and roughly half of that will be lost due to the closure. The contract was set to expire in June, but will end on December 26.

The CDCR’s decision comes as the state has seen a drop of around 2,500 low-security inmates from 2008 to 2009, according to Thornton. The Baker facility itself is built to hold 262 inmates living in a dorm setting, but only housed 180 inmates at the end of October.

“We’re seeing a demographic shift in the inmate population,” Thornton said. “We are seeing that the trend is moving away from a need for low-security facilities. The state needs more beds for higher-level offenders. It doesn’t make sense to operate the facilities at low housing levels.”

The remaining inmates in Baker will be transferred to other facilities in the state before the closure, according to Thornton.

The Baker facility currently employs 80 people, according to Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Seigel said the employees may face layoffs, but Cornell is looking at other uses for the facility that would allow them to keep their jobs.

Thornton and Seigel both mentioned the possibility of turning the Baker facility into a community correctional facility for women. Cornell currently operates the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility — the only women-only facility in the state — in Live Oaks, 50 miles north of Sacramento.

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(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com