Corcoran, California State Prison

Overview of the Facility

Corcoran is located in California's Central Valley, approximately midway between Fresno and Bakersfield. Opened in February 1988, Corcoran Prison was built on 942 acres that was once Tulare Lake. It is designated as a Level I, Level III, Level IV, General Population, and Security Housing Unit/Protective Housing Unit institution.

Minimum-security Level I facilities are characterized by open dormitories without a secure perimeter. At Corcoran, five Level I dormitories house about 884 inmates. A substance abuse program was activated in January 2001, providing alcohol and drug treatment for 190 Level I inmates. Medium-high Level III facilities usually have individual cells, fenced perimeters, and armed coverage. At Corcoran, about 1,000 inmates occupy five Level III buildings. Maximum-security Level IV facilities are characterized by cells, fenced or walled perimeters, electronic security, and armed officers both inside and outside the installation. At Corcoran, about 2,000 inmates occupy 10 buildings in Level IV general population.

Another 2,000 Level IV inmates at Corcoran occupy two special housing unit (SHU) facilities. Corcoran was the first California prison with a separate facility built to house SHU inmates exclusively. Special units within the SHU facilities accommodate handicapped inmates, those with HIV, and prisoners requiring protective housing.

In addition to the Levels I, III, and IV facilities, Corcoran Prison maintains an acute care hospital (ACH) with 75 beds. The ACH is a maximum-security facility, providing acute medical, surgical, mental health crisis, and specialty outpatient services to inmates. Corcoran also employs about 600 inmates through prison industry authority (PIA) programs. Inmates work in Corcoran's manufacturing yards, institutional laundry, 400-acre agribusiness center, warehouse/freight distribution center, or industrial maintenance and repair facilities.

Allegations of Human Rights Violations

Throughout the late 1990s, prison activists and journalists reported that serious human rights violations were occurring at Corcoran Prison on a regular and ongoing basis. Otherwise incredible claims of “gladiator fights” and state-sanctioned rape seemed plausible when several whistleblowers, all former Corcoran guards, substantiated the accounts. In 1998, state legislative hearings concluded that a pattern of brutality existed at Corcoran. An independent panel confirmed that 24 of the 31 serious or fatal shootings at Corcoran between 1988 and 1995 had involved unjustified use of deadly force. Investigations by the state attorney general and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) followed, and although all were acquitted, several guards were prosecuted in a series of high-profile trials.

Assaults

According to reports, a group of rogue Corcoran guards (calling themselves the “Sharks”) met a bus-load of new prisoners in 1995. The Sharks mistakenly believed that these prisoners had been involved in the assault of a correctional officer at another California correctional institution, Calipatria Prison. The officers dressed in dark jumpsuits and riot gear. They covered their badges with tape so they could not be identified. Then they pulled the shackled prisoners off the bus and subjected them to an anonymous hail of fists, steel-toed boots, and metal batons that continued for more than 30 minutes. Other examples of coordinated assaults have been reported. Corcoran prisoners recount similar events that took place as early as 1988.

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