Avenal State Prison

Facilities

The structures on ASP's 640 acres (260 ha) include "17 open dorm buildings, six 200-bed open dorm E-bed buildings, six converted gymnasiums, a 100-cell administrative segregation unit, and a 10-bed firehouse." It is a "low-medium security" or "Level II" prison with "open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage." As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, ASP had 1,603 staff and an annual budget of $136 million. As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 2,920 but a total institution population of 7,582 (the largest among California state prisons). ASP has been described as the "most overcrowded prison in the state [of California]"; its September 2007 occupancy rate was 259.7 percent. Inmate programs include: Narcotics anonymous, Alcoholics anonymous, SAP, autobody, metal fabrication, plumbing and electrical, PIA furniture, warehouse and egg production.

History

In the early 1980s, "almost everyone" in the town of Avenal desired the prison to be built to improve the economic status of the town. It was reportedly "the first prison to be solicited by a local community." As of 1984, the plans were to build "the largest enclosed security compound in the nation."

Despite some opposition, Governor George Deukmejian signed a bill into law in September 1985 to authorize "$117 million from existing prison construction funds to build the prison", and groundbreaking occurred in December 1985. The first inmates arrived in January 1987.

According to newspaper articles, the original name of the prison was "California Correctional Institution at Avenal", which the Kings County Board of Supervisors changed to "Avenal State Prison" in December 1987. According to the CDCR Web site, ASP "was originally known as Kings County State Prison. On February 22, 1988, it was officially named Avenal State Prison."

In 2001, after several appeals by one of the prison's most notorious residents, Herb Sewell (who was incarcerated on the charge of manslaughter after being convicted of pushing his wife out the passenger door of a moving car in Northern California), a trap-neuter-return program was begun for feral cats that had lived on the prison grounds since it was built. Several years after Sewell was released, ASP officials stopped the program (in February 2005)due to a perceived lack of effectiveness. Subsequently "the prison traps cats and volunteers are allowed to pick them up at the prison." The organization Feral Paws Rescue continues to advocate for reinstatement of the trap-neuter-return program. Herb Sewell was interviewed about the incident on the road (known as 'The Grapevine') by the nationally syndicated radio host, Phil Hendrie, on June 21, 2004. A copy of the interview can still be heard online at The Phil Hendrie Show website.

In 2005-2006, ASP and Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) were "particularly affected" by Valley fever, with "150 new cases from PVSP and 30 from ASP" in 2005 and 514 at PVSP and 91 at ASP in 2006.

The receiver of the California state prison health care system blamed three deaths among ASP inmates in December 2006 on a "complete breakdown in medical care coverage."