![]() ![]() In a February report, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended the state provide a list of prisons that were strong candidates for closure so that money was not spent unnecessarily on infrastructure repairs in soon-to-be-closed facilities. “The state created this problem, and it’s the state’s responsibility to address it.” That community’s economic success should not be predicated on being a human warehouse that disappears people from their homes,” she said. “It’s the state’s responsibility to help guide a conversation around redevelopment. Nicole Porter, director of advocacy for the Sentencing Project, which supports reducing incarceration, said the state should help communities hurt by the closing of prisons. Nationwide, many struggling small towns welcomed correctional facilities during the prison-building boom of the 1980s and ’90s, amid the war on drugs that led to a dramatic increase in incarceration that disproportionately affected Black and Latino people. “Allegations that the decision to close CCC was made for any reason beyond what is statutorily required for consideration are categorically false,” she said. Many in town believe Newsom is retaliating against conservative Lassen County, which had among the state’s highest concentrations of people signing a petition to recall the governor and where 75% of voters cast their ballots for then-President Trump last fall. Since the pandemic started, tensions between the county and the state have flared over the latter’s transfer of coronavirus-infected inmates last summer, which led to a major outbreak, and over coronavirus testing efforts. In the 1860s, the first residents - who considered the area part of Nevada because it was east of the Sierra and felt cut off from the rest of the state - fought a two-day armed border dispute against California officials, the Sagebrush War, which eventually led to the creation of Lassen County. But it’s an isolated town stuck in a long decline. Surrounded by forests, mountains and lakes, Susanville is a place of striking natural beauty. The nearest city, 86 miles away, is Reno. Few places rely on a prison as much as Susanville, the only incorporated city in Lassen County. ![]()
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