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California State Prison, Centinela (CEN)

Aerial View
Location	Imperial County, California
Coordinates	32°49′23″N 115°47′20″W / 32.823°N 115.789°W / 32.823; -115.789Coordinates: 32°49′23″N 115°47′20″W / 32.823°N 115.789°W / 32.823; -115.789
Status	Operational
Security class	Minimum-medium
Capacity	2,383
Population	5,097 (214%) (as of fy 2007/08[1])
Opened	October 1993
Managed by	California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Director	Domingo Uribe, Jr., Warden (acting)

California State Prison, Centinela (CEN) is a male-only state prison located in Imperial County, California, approximately 20 miles (32 km) from Imperial and El Centro.^[2] The facility is sometimes referenced Centinela State Prison.^[3]

Contents 1 Facilities 2 History 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Facilities

CEN is situated on 2,000 acres (810 ha).^[3] As of Fiscal Year 2007/2008, CEN had a total of 1,266 staff and an annual institutional operating budget of $161 million.^[3] As of December 2008, it had a design capacity of 2,383 but a total institution population of 5,097, for an occupancy rate of 213% percent.^[4] Of its housing units, 2,000 are medium-security Level III ("Individual cells, fenced perimeters and armed coverage") or "CTC" ("Correctional Treatment Center"); the remainder are minimum-security Level I ("Open dormitories without a secure perimeter"), "Firehouse," or "ADSEG" (administrative segregation).^[3][5]

[edit] History

CEN is named after Cerro Centinela, the Spanish name for Mount Signal which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. The prison opened in October 1993,^[3] approximately 22 months after Calipatria State Prison located approximately 40 miles (64 km) north.^[3]

A 1994 statute "require[d] the U.S. attorney general either to agree to compensate a state for incarcerating an illegal immigrant or to take the undocumented criminal into federal custody."^[6] In January 1996, the administration of Governor Pete Wilson "tested the law" by asking Immigration and Naturalization Service agents "to take custody of a 25-year-old illegal immigrant serving time in Centinela State Prison for drug offenses"; however, the agents refused.^[6] Therefore, in March 1996 Wilson sued the federal government to enforce the 1994 law.^[6]

As of 1997, CEN was the "most overcrowded prison in the state" as it ran at "259 percent of designed capacity."^[7] By 2007, however, Avenal State Prison was the California state prison system's "most overcrowded facility."^[8]

In August 2006, a quadriplegic inmate died after the air conditioning failed in a van carrying him and another inmate from California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran to CEN.^[9] According to a reporter's summary of statements by "the federal official now in control of medical care in the state's prison system," the death was "proof of a broken system"; according to the reporter's summary of statements by representatives of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the death was "a terrible event caused by happenstance."^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Official website

v • d • e Prisons of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Avenal State Prison (ASP) · California Correctional Center (CCC) · California Correctional Institution (CCI) · California Institution for Men (CIM) · California Institution for Women (CIW) · California Medical Facility (CMF) · California Men's Colony (CMC) · California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) · California State Prison, Centinela (CEN) · California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) · California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) · California State Prison, Sacramento (SAC) · California State Prison, Solano (SOL) · California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF) · Calipatria State Prison (CAL) · Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) · Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) · Correctional Training Facility (CTF) · Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) · Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) · Folsom State Prison (FSP) · High Desert State Prison (HDSP) · Ironwood State Prison (ISP) · Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) · Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) · North Kern State Prison (NKSP) · Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) · Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) · Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) · San Quentin State Prison (SQ) · Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) · Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) · Wasco State Prison (WSP)