![]() | |
![]() | |
Location | Delano, California |
---|---|
Coordinates | 35°46′55″N119°18′34″W / 35.7819°N 119.3095°W |
Status | Operational |
Security class | Medium |
Capacity | 2,694 |
Population | 4,380 (162.6% capacity)(as of January 31, 2023 [1] ) |
Opened | April 1993 |
Managed by | California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation |
Warden | Kelly Santoro |
North Kern State Prison (NKSP) is a medium-security prison located in Delano, Kern County, California. Opened in April 1993, this state prison has a design capacity of 2,694 incarcerated people. North Kern serves as a reception center for incoming inmates. Inmates usually serve two to three months at North Kern while staff processes their criminal and health records and assesses their physiological and social needs before assigning them to another prison. [2] While at North Kern, inmates have opportunities to engage in educational programs. With North Kern State Prison and Kern Valley State Prison, which is located one mile away and houses approximately 3,500 inmates, Kern County has one of the largest prison populations of any county in America.
In the early 1990s, California experienced a significant growth in the number of inmates. Many rural counties lobbied to house a prison because of the health care and job opportunities that a prison provides for its employees. Delano was one of the cities in the counties. Since North Kern State Prison opened in 1993, the city has grown immensely. Before the two prisons were built, Delano was a rural city with a large migrant farm-worker population. The construction of the two prisons helped the small city develop into a more urban society. Delano benefited from the new sewage system being built as well as new electrical infrastructure, and spurred retail and housing development. [2]
North Kern is an all-male facility with a design capacity of 2,694. As of 21 July 2022 [update] , North Kern was incarcerating people at 152.1% of its design capacity, with 4,100 occupants. [3] Of these, a majority are housed in the Reception Center (RC) waiting to be transferred to another state prison and approximately 1,400 inmates live in the mainline part of the prison. Inmates are separated by security and custody levels upon arriving at North Kern.
There are five facilities or "yards" at this prison: Facility A, B, C, D, and Minimum (formerly E). A yard possesses 800–1,000 level 3 mainline inmates. Yards B–D are RC yards. The Minimum yard possesses 100–200 level 1 inmates who work and live in a less secure housing unit located outside the main facility. In the event of a lockdown, Minimum yard inmates will come into the main prison to provide support services. During regular operating procedure, mainline A yard inmates provide support services throughout the prison, for example, kitchen, laundry, education, and library. A and D yard inmates live in cell housing units while yards B, C, and Minimum reside in dorm housing units. In addition to holding a job at the prison, mainline inmates are eligible for education and reentry programs.
Inmates housed in the Reception Center (RC) typically spend two to three months at North Kern before being transferred to another prison. They stay behind the electrical fence and, if approved, may help run support services. North Kern has four cellblocks with each cellblock having its own yard. All cells are double-bunked. Most RC inmates are designated as custody level four, and reside in cells; some lower-custody inmates stay in dorms.
Overcrowding is a day-to-day reality, hence the double bunked cells. The sewage system was also not built for such a large population, leading to periodic toxic spills. A grinder and a backup sewage system were installed a few years after the prison opened to crush the excess trash and help the sewage system run more efficiently.
Three fences surround North Kern: two razor wire fences with an electric fence in the middle. [2] Several towers are stationed around the prison to reinforce the fence line.
North Kern offers a variety of programs to the inmates. Since most inmates coming into prison do not have a high school education, GED classes are offered. As of 2013, North Kern offers no vocational training programs.
North Kern has experienced frequent racial tension. The two preeminent gangs are the Sureños and the Paisas (Mexican nationals).
On October 1, 2007, an inmate escaped from the institution. The inmate, 29-year-old Abelardo Morales, was reported missing from the Level I yard of the prison at 9:17 p.m. Morales was serving a one-year, six-month term for manufacture and sales of narcotics, and possession of a weapon. [4]
On the night of April 21, 2015, a guard walking a yard at North Kern State Prison was struck by gunfire, which penetrated his stab-proof vest. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Authorities believe the gunman was outside the prison walls when the shots were fired. [5]
The number of visitation hours for which each inmate is eligible depends on his security and custody level. Inmates with few infractions are allowed to have visits more often and longer. The mainline inmates are allowed to have human contact visits as well as conjugal visits but only from their spouses. The RC inmates must have their visits behind glass.
Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Serving a 30 year sentence for sexual assault. Will be eligible for parole in June 2042. | Former American actor who was convicted of raping 2 women. [6] [7] [8] | ||
Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The 275-acre (111 ha) prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the west.
California Men's Colony (CMC) is a male-only state prison located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, along the central California coast approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California. It is also known as Corcoran State Prison, CSP-C, CSP-COR, CSP-Corcoran, and Corcoran I. The facility is just north of the newer California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran.
The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth is a medium security U.S. penitentiary in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. It also includes a satellite federal prison camp (FPC) for minimum-security male offenders.
Calipatria State Prison (CAL) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Calipatria, in Imperial County, California.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacramento.
The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located in Lincoln, it is the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska, opening in 1869. Until after World War I, it was the only adult correctional facility in the state.
California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California, specifically designed to house inmates who have substance use disorder. It is sometimes referred to as California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, and Corcoran II.
Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) is a male-only state prison in Delano, California. Kern Valley is a Level IV Maximum Security institution, opened in June 2005 with a design capacity of 2,448 inmates. The facility is adjacent to North Kern State Prison and has an annual operating budget of US$123 million.
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. The facility is sometimes referenced Centinela State Prison.
California Correctional Center (CCC) was a state prison in the city of Susanville in Northern California. It was a minimum-security facility.
California Correctional Institution (CCI) is a supermax state prison in the city of Tehachapi in southern California. CCI is sometimes referred to as "Tehachapi prison" or "Tehachapi". As stated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, its overall mission is "to incarcerate and control felons, while providing the opportunity for meaningful work, training and other programs. The prison provides programs for those inmates who are willing to work and participate fully in available programs."
California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Lancaster, in Los Angeles County, California. The only state prison located in the county, it is also referenced as Los Angeles County State Prison, CSP-Los Angeles County, and CSP-LAC. Only occasionally is the prison referred to as Lancaster State Prison, which was particularly avoided in 1992 partly to ease the stigma for Lancaster.
California State Prison, Sacramento (SAC) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Folsom, in Sacramento County, California. The facility is also referenced as Sacramento State Prison, CSP-Sacramento, CSP-SAC, and occasionally, New Folsom or New Folsom Prison which was its official name prior to October 1992.
Lowell Correctional Institution is a women's prison in unincorporated Marion County, Florida, north of Ocala, in the unincorporated area of Lowell. A part of the Florida Department of Corrections, it serves as the primary prison for women in the state. Almost 3,000 women are incarcerated in the complex, which includes the Lowell Annex. As of 2015 2,696 women are in the main Lowell CI, making it the largest prison for women in the United States; its prison population became larger than that of the Central California Women's Facility that year.
Correctional Training Facility (CTF), commonly referenced as Soledad State Prison, is a state prison located on U.S. Route 101, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Soledad, California, adjacent to Salinas Valley State Prison.
Wasco State Prison-Reception Center (WSP) is a 634-acre (257 ha) state prison located in Wasco, Kern County, California.
Incarceration in California spans federal, state, county, and city governance, with approximately 200,000 people in confinement at any given time. An additional 55,000 people are on parole.