Overview

• Closure of the Norco facility will be the fifth state prison shutdown under Newsom’s tenure as inmate counts declined from about 170,000 to 91,000.
• The scheduled shutdown stems from Newsom’s May budget proposal aimed at trimming a $12 billion deficit through corrections cost cuts.
• About 1,200 prison staff will be offered transfers to other California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities to avoid layoffs.
• Local officials plan to repurpose the former facility’s art deco structures into a resort and commercial hub, anticipating new economic opportunities for Riverside County.
• Prison officers’ union president Neil Flood has cautioned that closing Norco will eliminate critical space that helps relieve overcrowding and could lead to increased safety risks.