California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) is a male-only
state prison located in the city of
Corcoran, in
Kings County, California
Kings County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. The population was 152,486 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Hanford.
Kings County comprises the Hanford- Corcoran, CA metropolitan statistical area, which is also inc ...
. 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 (Corcoran II).
[City of Corcoran, California]
About Corcoran
. Accessed 11 Dec 2007.
Facilities
As of Fiscal Year 2002/2003, COR had a total of 1,703 staff and an annual institutional budget of US$115 million.
[ As of April 30, 2020, COR was incarcerating people at 119.4% of its design capacity, with 3,719 occupants.]
* 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 installation
* Security Housing Units, "the most secure area within a Level IV prison designed to provide maximum coverage".
* The Protective Housing Unit & Death Row which holds up to 47 prisoners who require "extraordinary protection from other prisoners". The unit houses inmates whose safety would be endangered by general population housing. The Protective Housing Unit has been described as "strikingly calm" because inmates "don't want to be moved somewhere less guarded".[Curtis, Kim. Even in prison Jackson would be 'star'. ''Daily Breeze'' (Torrance, CA), June 13, 2005.] One violent incident occurred in March 1999 when three inmates attacked inmate Juan Corona, inflicting minor injuries, and smashed Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...
's guitar. Three other Protective Housing Unit inmates suffered minor injuries.
* Acute care hospital
* Prison Industry Authority
History
Built on what was once Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake () or Tache Lake ( Yokuts: ''Pah-áh-su'', ''Pah-áh-sē'') is a freshwater lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. Historically, Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi R ...
, the facility opened in 1988. The prison hospital was dedicated in October 1993.
In March 1993, at Corcoran, prisoner Wayne Jerome Robertson raped Eddie Dillard, a prisoner about half his size, after the latter was reassigned to his cell. Robertson, who had the nickname "Booty Bandit", testified in 1999 that prison guards set up the attack. Dillard testified in the same trial. After Robertson was assigned to general population at Pelican Bay State Prison, California state senator Tom Hayden
Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, becoming an i ...
stated "It is almost certain that he would be targeted for death."
In August 1996, the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' claimed that COR was "the most troubled of the 32 state prisons".[Arax, Mark. Tales of Brutality Behind Bars; Five officers claim staging of "gladiator days," other abuses at Corcoran State Prison. FBI is investigating facility, which has most killings of inmates in U.S. ''Los Angeles Times'', August 21, 1996.] At the time, COR officers had shot and killed more inmates "than any prison in the country" in COR's eight years of existence. Seven inmates had been killed, and 50 others seriously wounded. Based on interviews and documents, Arax concluded that many shootings of prisoners were "not justified" and that in some cases "the wrong inmate was killed by mistake".[ Furthermore, the article alleged that "officers ... and their supervisors staged fights between inmates" during "]gladiator
A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...
days".[ In November 1996, ]CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...
broadcast "video footage of an inmate fatally shot by guards" at COR in 1994; this death "spawned a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of alleged inmate abuses by guards".
A March 1997 episode of the ''CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' discussed the 1994 death, "the alleged cover-up and the alarming number of shootings at the prison". The California Department of Corrections issued the results of its own investigation in November 1997, which found "isolated incidents of staff misconduct" but no "widespread staff conspiracy' to abuse prisoners".
A film titled ''Maximum Security University'', which used prison surveillance tapes showing four 1989–1993 fights "end ngwhen a guard fatally shoots a combatant", was released in February 1998. That month, eight California correctional officers and supervisors were indicted "on federal criminal civil rights charges in connection with inmate fights that occurred at Corcoran State Prison in 1994".[United States Department of Justice]
Eight Officers Indicted for Civil Rights Violations at Corcoran State Prison in California
February 26, 1998. After a trial, the eight men were "acquitted of all charges" in June 2000.
As of 1999 California had paid out several large prison brutality settlements for incidents at Corcoran, including $2.2 million to inmate Vincent Tulumis, paralyzed for life in a May 1993 shooting, and $825,000 for the killing of Preston Tate in April 1994.
Subsequently, COR has been featured in at least two episodes of MSNBC
MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
's '' Lockup'' series: "Inside Corcoran" (first aired as early as 2003) and "Return to Corcoran" (first aired in 2005).
In July 2013, many inmates at COR participated in a state-wide hunger strike protesting the use of solitary confinement
Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...
. Billy Michael Sell, an inmate in COR who had been participating in the hunger strike, committed suicide by hanging himself while in a Security Housing Unit (SHU). He had been protesting from July 8 to July 21. Sell's death caused significant controversy, as inmate advocates reported that fellow prisoners had heard Sell asking for medical attention for several days before his eventual suicide. His suicide triggered reviews of the circumstances behind his death at the local, state, and federal level; with Amnesty International calling for an independent inquiry into his death, one without ties to the government.
Notable inmates (current and former)
Current
* Isauro Aguirre — convicted and sentenced to death
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
for torturing and killing 8-year old Gabriel Fernandez. He is currently on death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...
awaiting execution.
* Frederick Martin Davidson — perpetrator of the 1996 San Diego State University shooting.
* Joseph James DeAngelo — serial killer/rapist; received multiple sentences of life without parole in 2020 for 13 murders committed between 1975 and 1986. In protective custody.
* Scott Dyleski — sentenced to 25 years to life for a murder committed at age 16.
* Dana Ewell — a convicted triple murderer, he ordered the murders of his family in 1992. Serving three life sentences and has exhausted his appeals. In protective custody.
* Phillip Garrido — who kidnapped Jaycee Dugard in 1991. He is serving 431 years to life.
* Michael Jace — former actor serving 40 years to life for the 2014 murder of his wife.
* Binh Thai Luc — serving five life sentences for murdering his friend Vincent Lei and four of Lei's family members.
* Mikhail Markhasev — convicted murderer of Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...
. In 1998, he received a sentence of life without parole, plus 10 years.
* Efren Saldivar, serving six life sentences for murdering patients at Adventist Health Glendale.
* Brandon Pettit — convicted of murdering his parents and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment without parole.
* David Turpin — sentenced to 25 years to life for holding captive and torturing 12 of his 13 children.
* Horace Van Vaultz — serial killer.
* George Wayne Smith — Convicted of Masterminding the May 9th, 1980 Norco Shootout in which Smith & 4 Accomplices robbed a Bank in Norco and engaged in a 25-Mile (40 Km) Pursuit with Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, killing one Deputy and wounding 8 others. 2 of Smith’s Accomplices were Killed; Whereas Smith and 2 others were sentenced to Life Without Parole.
Former
* Rodney Alcala
Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala; August 23, 1943 – July 24, 2021), also known as John Berger and John Burger, was an American serial killer and convicted sex offender who was Capital punishment in California, sentenced to death ...
— the "dating game killer." He was sentenced to death in 1980, 1986, and 2010. On July 24, 2021, Alcala died from natural causes at a hospital.
* Juan Corona — murdered twenty-five people in 1971. He was transferred to COR from the Correctional Training Facility
Correctional Training Facility (CTF), commonly referenced as Soledad State Prison, is a state prison located on U.S. Route 101 in California, U.S. Route 101, north of Soledad, California, adjacent to Salinas Valley State Prison.
Facilities
Th ...
in 1992. On March 4, 2019, Corona died from natural causes.[Grossi, Mark. Corcoran Prison Home to Who's-Who of Killers. The List of Infamous Murderers at the State Facility has Grown This Week to Include Sirhan Sirhan and Juan Corona. ''The Fresno Bee'', June 5, 1992.]
* John Albert Gardner III — convicted of murdering Amber Dubois (2009) and Chelsea King (2010). Later moved to Mule Creek State Prison.
* Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...
— leader of the Manson family. Manson was transferred from San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...
to COR in March 1989. On November 19, 2017, Manson died at a Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of the ...
hospital, one week after he was taken there for an unspecified illness.
* Joe "Pegleg" Morgan — member of the Mexican Mafia. He was at Pelican Bay State Prison, then was hospitalized at COR from October 1993 until he died a month later.
* Danny Masterson — former actor best known for his role on ''That '70s Show
''That '70s Show'' is an American television teen sitcom that aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from 197 ...
'' convicted of rape.
* Yenok Ordoyan — Armenian surgeon who was convicted of welfare fraud
Welfare fraud is the act of illegally using state welfare systems by knowingly withholding or giving information to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated.
This article deals with welfare fraud in various countries of the world, and ...
. He earned the moniker the "King of Welfare", and was released in 2000.
* Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ; born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian-Jordanian man who assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a younger brother of American president John F. Kennedy and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1968 U ...
— convicted assassin of United States Senator
The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress.
Party affiliation
Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
Robert F. Kennedy. Transferred to COR from the Correctional Training Facility
Correctional Training Facility (CTF), commonly referenced as Soledad State Prison, is a state prison located on U.S. Route 101 in California, U.S. Route 101, north of Soledad, California, adjacent to Salinas Valley State Prison.
Facilities
Th ...
in 1992,[ he lived in COR's Protective Housing Unit until he was moved to a harsher lockdown at COR in 2003.][ He was denied parole in 2006 and 2011. He was moved to Pleasant Valley State Prison in 2009,][ Deutsch, Linda]
Robert F. Kennedy's killer is moved to new site
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, November 2, 2009. but was subsequently moved back to COR and in 2013 he was transferred to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.[Monica Garske, , NBCNews.com (November 22, 2013). Retrieved on November 23, 2013.]
* Joseph Son — South Korean mixed martial arts fighter, manager, and actor. He served 7 years to life for rape and torture until he killed a convicted sex offender, Michael Thomas Graham, receiving an additional sentence of 34 years to life. He was transferred to Salinas Valley State Prison in October 2014.
* John Floyd Thomas, Jr. — serial rapist and killer. Currently at California Health Care Facility.
See also
* List of California state prisons
This is a list of state prisons in California operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). CDCR operates 34 adult prisons in California, with a design capacity of 85,083 incarcerated people. CDCR both owns and op ...
References
External links
Corcoran State Prison official CDCR webpage
* at the Center for Land Use Interpretation
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Official website
{{State prisons in California
Prisons in California
Corcoran, California
Buildings and structures in Kings County, California
Government buildings completed in 1989
1989 establishments in California
Charles Manson
Prisons completed in the 1980s