California Closing Deuel Vocational Institute In Tracy; 1st of 2 State Prisons To Be Shuttered

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- A state prison in Tracy will be closed within a year as part of the Governor Gavin Newsom's state budget that calls for two state prisons to be shuttered by 2023.

Newsom and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced Friday that Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) in Tracy would close by September 30, 2021.

The prison houses about 1,500 inmates and employs 1,080 workers, according to a CDCR statement.

Newsom's state budget, signed into law in June, included a plan to close two state prisons by 2023, with the goal of savinig $400 million per year. The governor has also announced plans to close all private correctional facilities for male prisoners in the state.

CDCR said DVI inmates will be transferred to other facilities based on their housing, custody and rehabilitative needs.

"Given the need to achieve savings and the decline in the prison population since 2007 the state budget called for the closure of a prison.  DVI was chosen for closure based on cost to operate, impact of closure on the workforce, and population housing needs, and prioritization of public safety and rehabilitation," said CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz in a press statement.

The cost to operate DVI annually is about $182 million, according to CDCR.

Already this year, CDCR ended its contracts with five private, for-profit prisons in the state. Two others, Shafter MCCF and Taft MCCF in Kern County, will close by October 31 and May 31, 2021, respectively.