On April 13, 2021, it was announced that the State of California intends to shut down the California Correctional Center at Susanville by June 30, 2022. Will the community fight again, like when the State announced the closure of the prison, only nine years after it opened?
Shortly after the state made the announcement to close the CCC in 1972, the community fought back. On December 13, 1972 the Save Our Center campaign was launched. State Director of Corrections Ray Procunier stated that the California Conservation Center (name later changed to Correctional) near Susanville was to be closed effective April 1, 1973. Procunier cited a decline of the inmate population by 4,000. In doing so it would eliminate 270 jobs. Procunier stated, “The cutting off of that payroll is to have an impact of the economy of that community, but Susanville is not the best location in the world for a correctional institution because of its remoteness.”
The campaign was successful. Will another movement form again? Time will tell what will happen next.