California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran

Infobox Prison
prison_name = California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF)

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/images/aerialShots/SATF_8x10.jpgAerial View]
location = Corcoran, California, United States
coordinates = coord|36.053|-119.549
status = Operational
classification = medium-maximum
capacity = 3,424 (but houses 7,459 as of September 2007)
opened = 1997
closed =
managed_by = California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
director = Ken Clark, Warden

California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF) is a male-only California state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County. It is sometimes referred to as "SATF-CSP, Corcoran"California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/Facilities/SATF.html California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (SATF).] Accessed 15 Dec 2007.] or "California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility"California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/docs/20071015-WEBmapbooklet.pdf California's Correctional Facilities.] 15 Oct 2007.] . It is also known as "Corcoran II" because it is newer than California State Prison, Corcoran which is known as "Corcoran I" [City of Corcoran, California. [http://www.cityofcorcoran.com/corcoran.htm About Corcoran.] Accessed 18 Dec 2007.] and which is adjacent to (i.e., just north of) SATF.

Current facility

As of Fiscal Year 2005/2006, SATF had a total of 1,786 staff and an annual operating budget of $230 million. As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 3,424 but a total institution population of 7,459, for an occupancy rate of 217.8 percent.California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Monthly/TPOP1A/TPOP1Ad0709.pdf Monthly Report of Population as of Midnight September 30, 2007.] ]

SATF's 280 acres include the following facilities, among others:
* Level II housing ("Open dormitories with secure perimeter fences").
* Level III housing ("Individual cells, fenced perimeters and armed coverage").
* Level IV housing ("Cells, fenced or walled perimeters, electronic security, more staff and armed officers both inside and outside the institution").

SATF's most well-known program involves "two self-contained treatment facilities (739 beds each)... [which] were specifically designed to provide housing and residential substance abuse treatment for minimum security offenders with substance abuse problems."Prendergast, Michael L., and Harry K. Wexler (2004). [http://tpj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/84/1/8 Correctional Substance Abuse Treatment Programs in California: a Historical Perspective.] "Prison Journal", Vol. 84, No. 1, Pages 8-35.] The program uses a "therapeutic community" model which had produced low recidivism rates at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility at Rock Mountain and California Institution for Women, and which had also been used at California Rehabilitation Center.Boot Camp Closes. Marine-Style Discipline Did Not End Criminal Behavior. "Sacramento Bee", August 3, 1997.] In the program, inmates "undergo at least 20 hours a week of individual and group substance abuse counseling, addiction education, relapse prevention, living skills workshops, anger management, conflict resolution, and even a class called 'identification and change of criminal thought processes'."Gogek, Jim, and Ed Gogek. Freedom Behind Bars. "San Diego Union-Tribune", June 4, 2000.] SATF has been described as "the largest addiction treatment center in the world."

History

Having been "authorized by legislation approved in 1993," SATF opened in August 1997.

Actor Robert Downey Jr. entered SATF in August 1999 to serve a three-year sentence for a "parole violation that stemmed from a 1996 drug conviction." [Actor Downey arrives at prison. "San Diego Union-Tribune", August 28, 1999.] In August 2000, he was released early "on orders from the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles" because he had received credit for "time served on related misdemeanor charges and for time already served in drug rehabilitation programs." [Griswold, Lewis. Robert Downey Jr. Freed From Valley Prison. "Fresno Bee", August 3, 2000.]

The California Office of the Inspector General issued a January 2003 report on health care at SATF that "suggest [ed] three inmate deaths in the previous two years could be attributed in part to negligent medical treatment."Martin, Mark. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/26/MNG2P58ILF1.DTL Scathing report on prison health care still not out. Agency suggests negligence in deaths at Corcoran facility.] "San Francisco Chronicle", February 26, 2004.] Per a newspaper article on the report before its public release, the problems at SATF "ranged from lax oversight that has led to the wasting of millions of taxpayer dollars to full-time doctors who see only a handful of patients and continually sleep on the job." The report was publicly released only in March 2004, and is available only in a version "heavily redacted" by lawyers of the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [Martin, Mark. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/10/BAG9N5HORF1.DTL California: top prison watchdog selected.] "San Francisco Chronicle", March 10, 2004.] [Office of the Inspector General, State of California. [http://www.oig.ca.gov/reports/pdf/csatfsps0103.pdf Management Review Audit. Warden Derral G. Adams. California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran, California.] January 2003.]

In February 2007, the California Office of the Inspector General concluded "Numerous studies show that despite an annual cost of $36 million, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s in-prison substance abuse treatment programs [such as those at SATF] have little or no impact on recidivism."Office of the Inspector General, State of California. [http://www.oig.ca.gov/reports/pdf/substanceabuseprograms.pdf Special Review Into In-Prison Substance Abuse Programs Managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.] February 2007.] The report characterized the cumulative amount spent by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on substance abuse programs for inmates and parolees as "a $1 billion failure — failure to provide an environment that would allow the programs to work; failure to provide an effective treatment model; failure to ensure that the best contractors are chosen to do the job at the lowest possible price; failure to oversee the contractors to make sure they provide the services they agree to provide; failure to exert the fiscal controls necessary to protect public funds; failure to learn from and correct mistakes — and most tragically, failure to help California inmates change their lives and, in so doing, make our streets safer." In response, the Schwarzenegger administration reorganized the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and named a new head of its Division of Addiction and Recovery Services. [Richman, Josh. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070221/ai_n18626561 Governor takes on prison drug rehab.] "Oakland Tribune", February 21, 2007.] [Weintraub, Daniel. [http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/268225.html State commits to fixing prison addiction programs.] "Sacramento Bee", July 12, 2007.]

References