By Canan Tasci
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
CHINO — City officials have recently learned the California Institution for Men is not being considered for the placement of additional housing facilities for prisoners.
CIM was one of several locations being reviewed by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for construction of up to three, 792-bed Level II correctional housing facilities and related support buildings.
Based on notification received from the CDCR, the decision was made to eliminate CIM as a possible location based on the level of engineering analysis needed to complete the project within the time frame allowed, according to a Chino news release.
“As the draft (environmental report) was being completed, we realized that we don’t have enough information on what it would take to increase the water supply, water treatment and waste water treatment at CIM while still maintaining our schedule,” said Dana Simas, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“There is just too much information that would be needed and it would take too much time for us to look into it.”
The corrections department has sought to improve conditions at the state’s prisons and to reduce costs. Earlier this year the state said it planned to build a new Level II facility in the state, one of them being CIM.
Other sites under consideration are state prisons at Sacramento, Folsom, Solano, Vacaville, Ione and San
Diego.
Prison officials said most likely sites to be selected are the R.J. Donovan Prison in San Diego and Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, southeast of Sacramento.
All of the prisons house Level II inmates, who are considered lower-level offenders who have committed white collar or financial crimes or were involved in drugs or property offenses.
“Although CIM has been a part of our growing community for many years, the council and I cannot support the placement of new facilities that would house additional prisoners at CIM until the population and on-going and deferred maintenance issues have been properly addressed,” said Mayor Dennis Yates in a news release.
“We are pleased to have received this news and thankful for our many community partners, who supported our position on this project.”
Prison officials are in the process of scheduling public meetings which will allow residents to comment on the draft environmental report that has been completed for the expansion.
A final decision likely won’t come down until late this year, Simas said.