California Institution for Men

California Institution for Men

History

Research by Fry (1988) reveals some of the history of the California Institution for Men. After it had been converted from a youth facility into an adult facility by the California Department of Corrections, the California Institution for Men began development of double-celled unit. In 1983, CIM's entire East Facility was double-celled. A research study examining the effects of the California Institution for Men's fluctuating periods of overcrowding found unequivocally that as inmate population rose, do did the number of monthly sick calls, both for the minimum security unit and the tighter-security East facility. The East Facility was, and possibly still is, used as a transfer unit for prisoners enroute to other higher security institutions upstate. It is used as a punitive-administration unit serving disciplinary lockdown and segragation for prisoners.

Four distinct units exist in the California Institute For Men, a Central Reception Center, a Level 2 Reception Center, a Level 3 Medium Security Facility, and a level 1 Minimum Security Unit. Historically, California Institution for Men's protests, riots, and lawsuits against prison conditions inducted itself into the ranks shared by most North American prisons as a prison of gross overcrowding. A spattering of incidents illustrate the point. In 1983, not even one day after his placement at the California Institution for Men, an inmate named Kevin Cooper (AKA David Trautman), who had previously escaped from a mental hospital shortly before placement at the California Institution for Men, escaped from CIM's minimum security unit into a nearby community and murdered 4 people. While the probation report used during his placement at the California Institution for Men failed to note the fact that he was wanted by another state, or that his alias he concealed included rape, kidnapping and robbery, the California Institution for Men also failed to look over his court transcript that did mention the wanted crimes. Based on this neglected information, he was placed in the California Institution for Men's minimum security unit, without gun towers, and protected in some places by only a waist-high barbwire livestock fence. He escaped a day after placement. Thereafter, policy changes resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of psychiatric admissions and hospitilizations, and tighter security to prevent such escapes from recurring in the future.

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