Folsom Women's Facility Reopening As Prison For Low-Security Female Inmates

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A Folsom prison is reopening next week to house about 400 female inmates as part of a reorganization within the California prison system.

The Folsom Women's Facility began as a community correctional facility and more recently provided drug-addiction treatment to female parolees who violated conditions of their release.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Tuesday that it will now be used for low-security inmates.

The first of 203 women will arrive next week at the prison, which is 25 miles east of the state capital. A second unit to house the remaining 200 inmates will open in the spring.

The prison will offer substance abuse treatment, education and vocational programs.

It will help handle the overflow as the department converts a women's prison in Chowchilla into one for men.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.)