When California prisons close, the towns built around them are often left to fend for themselves — a reality now playing out in communities like Blythe and Susanville, according to new reporting from CalMatters.
Roughly 15 years ago, both towns were relatively stable, propped up in large part by steady state jobs at nearby correctional facilities. Prison employment brought reliable paychecks and benefits that helped sustain local businesses in these remote pockets of California. But as sentencing reforms reduced the state’s prison population, Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to shutter facilities across the state — five so far, with a sixth in Norco set to close this October. Lawmakers also approved budget language this year calling for at least one more closure, a move that could save the state roughly $150 million annually, though that provision has not yet become law.
The fallout in these smaller communities has been significant.
In Blythe, a desert city near the Arizona border, Newsom ordered the closure of Chuckwalla Valley State Prison in 2022. The announcement came as the city was already struggling — its population was shrinking as residents moved toward Phoenix or the Coachella Valley, and a county audit that same year found Blythe couldn’t keep up with its own bills.
City officials have pressed state lawmakers and the governor’s office for economic assistance, but so far nothing has come through.
“Be honest with you, I don’t think they give a shit,” Blythe Mayor Joseph DeConinck said. “We still haven’t got nothing from the state. I hate to say it, but Blythe’s in the middle of nowhere, we’re the furthest from Sacramento … we’re only a few votes out here.”
Susanville, tucked into the Lassen National Forest in far Northern California, is facing similar strain. After its prison closure was announced in 2021, Mayor Mendy Schuster said residents began listing their homes and leaving town almost immediately. The city’s population dropped from about 16,000 in 2021 to 14,000 by 2024.
“We’re heading toward insolvency,” said Dan Newton, Susanville’s former city manager.
Neither town has received a clear plan from the state for economic recovery, raising questions about what long-term support — if any — will be offered to communities left behind by California’s shrinking prison system.
In other statewide news, the race for California insurance commissioner is drawing attention for its ideological divide. Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim, who has proposed a state-backed natural disaster insurance program and expanded access to low-cost auto insurance, topped the June primary field — a sign her progressive platform is connecting with voters frustrated by rising insurance costs. Her opponent, state Sen. Ben Allen of El Segundo, finished second and has earned the state Democratic Party’s endorsement, positioning himself as the more institutional choice. UC Irvine law professor Shauhin Talesh said the contest reflects a broader split within the party nationally over how aggressively government should intervene in the insurance market.
Meanwhile, a high-stakes trial got underway this week in an Oakland federal courtroom, where Meta faces accusations from California and dozens of other states that it deliberately engineered Facebook and Instagram to hook young users, despite internal awareness of the potential harm to their mental health. States also allege Meta unlawfully collected data from children under 13. If the tech giant loses, damages could reach as high as $1.4 trillion, along with mandated changes to how its platforms operate. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that “exploiting our most vulnerable residents to boost corporate profits is not only morally wrong, it’s also illegal.” Meta maintains the lawsuit misrepresents its efforts, saying it has made “real changes to protect teens online.”
Closer to home for Inland Empire families, a state-funded database that gave California’s K-12 schools free access to research materials, encyclopedia entries, PBS videos and academic journals has lost its funding after lawmakers made cuts this year. CalMatters and PBS SoCal have produced a video segment examining the impact on classrooms that relied heavily on the resource, which aired as part of the SoCalMatters series on PBS SoCal.
Original source: CalMatters
