Correctional Officers Warn Jobs At Risk In Plan To Close Norco Prison
CORONA (CBS) — State correctional officers are warning that a cost-cutting plan to close a Riverside County correctional facility may have an adverse effect on the local economy.
The California Rehabilitation Center — more commonly known as the Norco prison — would be closed as part of a California prison overhaul aimed at saving the state over $1 billion in annual spending.
At a press conference on Monday, Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate called the Norco facility the "least efficient, most expensive, least safe, oldest prison" in the state.
Amid a statewide effort to reduce prison overcrowding, the California Correction Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) said the plan could also mean more jobs lost.
"If they were serious about these things, they could implement them now, instead of implementing them in the future," said Ryan Sherman of the CCPOA.
With a payroll of over $76 million and nearly 4,000 inmates, authorities said closing the California Rehabilitation Center could save nearly $160 million a year in operating costs.
But state correctional officials argue that lowering the inmate population may eliminate the need for over $4 billion in construction projects and reduce the department's budget by $1.5 billion annually.
