California Institution for Women

Women's prison in Chino, California

California Institution for Women (CIW)
Aerial View

Location| Chino, California[1]
Coordinates| 33°57′00″N 117°38′06″W﻿ / ﻿33.950°N 117.635°W﻿ / 33.950; -117.635
Status| Operational
Security class| Minimum to medium
Capacity| 1,281
Population| 983 (76.7% capacity) (as of January 31, 2023[2])
Opened| 1952
Managed by| California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Warden| Dirk Williams [3]
Aerial view

California Institution for Women (CIW) is an American women's state prison located in the city of Chino,[1] San Bernardino County, California, east of Los Angeles, although the mailing address states "Corona", which is in Riverside County, California.

## Facilities

[edit]

Although the official California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation documents give a "Corona, California" mailing address for CIW in Riverside County,[4] the prison has been physically located in the city of Chino since 2003 following an annexation of land in previously-unincorporated San Bernardino County.[5][6][7]

CIW has 120 acres (49 ha). Its facilities include Level I ("Open dormitories without a secure perimeter") housing, Level II ("Open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage") housing, and Level III ("Individual cells, fenced perimeters and armed coverage") housing. In addition, a Reception Center "provides short term housing to process, classify and evaluate incoming inmates."[8]

As of Fiscal Year 2008/2009, CIW had 977 staff and an annual budget of $75 million Institutional and $2.6 million Education.[9] As of October 31, 2013, it had a design capacity of 1,398 but a total institution population of 2,155, for an occupancy rate of 154.1 percent.[10]

As of April 30, 2020, CIW was incarcerating people at 111.1% of its design capacity, with 2,640 occupants.[11]

CIW is located east of Downtown Los Angeles, and it takes about one hour to travel to the prison from Downtown LA.[12]

## History

[edit]

The original California Institution for Women was dedicated in Tehachapi in 1932; however, after the 1952 Kern County earthquake, the female inmates were transferred to the just-opened CIW in Chino, and the Tehachapi facility was rebuilt as the male-only California Correctional Institution.[13] CIW was originally called "California Institution for Women at Corona," but "Corona residents objected to the use of their city in the prison's name and it was changed March 1, 1962, to Frontera, a feminine derivative of the word frontier, symbolic for a new beginning."[14] It housed the location of the death row for women in the state.[15] CIW was the only women's prison in California until 1987, when the Northern California Women's Facility opened.[16]

In the early years of CIW, convicted women wore Sunday dresses while walking and working at the campus-like setting until the 1980s when three towers were added with officers atop armed with shotguns.[14] Among other programs for inmates at CIW is "Voices from Within" in which inmates read books on tapes for "high school students in remedial classes," "college students with reading disabilities," and the blind.[17]

In 2007, the state of California proposed building 45 new units for mentally ill inmates at CIW and 975 at the nearby California Institution for Men; local officials opposed such plans.[18]

From 2006 to 2013 one woman at CIW committed suicide. From January 1, 2013 to July 2016 six women committed suicide at CIW, and there had been an increase in suicide attempts.[12]

## Notable inmates at CIW

[edit]

* Renee Alway, a former inmate, is a noted American model and a former contestant of America's Next Top Model and Modelville runner-up. She was sentenced to a 12-year sentence for four felony burglary counts and one count each of vehicular theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was released in 2018 after serving 5 years. She was arrested again in 2019 for domestic violence.[19]
* Betty Broderick, a current inmate, was a San Diego socialite who was convicted of the 1989 murder of her ex-husband, Dan Broderick, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick. She was convicted in 1991 and was sentenced to 32-years-to-life in prison. She has failed her first three opportunities for parole, in 2010, 2011, and 2017, respectively, due to a "lack of remorse", "refusal to apologize" and "denial of any wrongdoing." She will not be eligible for a parole hearing again until 2032.
* Julia Rodriquez Diaz (First female inmate to receive 15 years parole denial under Proposition 9 (Marsy's Law) Convicted in July 1979 of the murder of seven-year-old boy Javier Angel. Story told in September 2013 on Investigation Discovery's Deadly Women "Heartless Souls" (Was moved to California Institution for Women (CIW) in 2014.)[20][21]
* Barbara Graham, murderer, and subject of the 1958 film I Want to Live!. Graham was subsequently executed at San Quentin State Prison on June 3, 1955.
* Claudia Haro, ex-wife of actor Joe Pesci. Pleaded no contest to attempted murder for hiring a hitman to kill her 2nd ex-husband and Hollywood stunt-man, Garrett Warren. She was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in 2012 and was released in 2019.
* Emily Harris, member of radical group Symbionese Liberation Army responsible for kidnapping of Patty Hearst; served eight years.
* Theresa Knorr (née Cross) – Was charged and found guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and two special circumstances charges: multiple murder and murder by torture. Was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
* Members of Charles Manson's "Family": Patricia Krenwinkel, currently incarcerated.[22][23] Susan Atkins, transferred to Central California Women's Facility in May 2008, died September 24, 2009. Leslie Van Houten was granted parole on July 11, 2023.[24]
* Stephanie Lazarus, a former LAPD detective convicted in 2012 of the 1986 murder of a former boyfriend's wife. Currently incarcerated, serving 27 years to life.[25]
* Dorothea Puente, a convicted serial killer, "did two years and six months [at CIW] for a forgery conviction" beginning in 1984.[22]
* Cathy Evelyn Smith, served time in December 1986 and March 1988 for involuntary manslaughter and drug charges related to the death of John Belushi.[22][26]
* Brenda Ann Spencer, serving 25 years to life for killing two people and wounding nine at a school in San Diego in 1979.
* Lucille Miller, served 7 years, from 1965 until being paroled in 1972, of a life sentence for the first-degree murder of her husband in what prosecutors alleged was a real-life case of Double Indemnity. Miller's case was the subject of an essay by Joan Didion in the writer's 1968 book Slouching Towards Bethlehem.[27]

## See also

[edit]

* California Institution for Men

Portal:

* California

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Chino city, CA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 4 (PDF p. 5/5). Retrieved 2022-08-13. "California Institution for Women"
2. ^ "California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Monthly Report of Population As of Midnight January 31, 2023" (PDF). California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Internal Oversight and Research. January 31, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
3. ^ "California Institution for Women (CIW)".
4. ^ California Institution for Women (CIW) (2009). "Mission Statement". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
5. ^ Welsh, John. Plan would resolve confusion: Prison: Chino proposes to annex acreage that includes the California Institution for Women. Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), December 10, 2002.
6. ^ City of Chino. Annexation of Agricultural Preserve Approved. Undated but c.2003. Accessed 03 Dec 2007.
7. ^ Mayor Takes a Stand on Prison Population. City of Chino, 14 August 2006. Accessed 03 Dec 2007. "In addition to CIM, the California Institute for Women [...] also fall within the borders of the City of Chino. "
8. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California's Correctional Facilities. Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine 15 Oct 2007.
9. ^ "CDCR - California Institution for Women (CIW) - Institution Statistics". Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
10. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
11. ^ "California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Monthly Report of Population As of Midnight April 30, 2020" (PDF). California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Internal Oversight and Research. April 30, 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 3, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
12. ^ a b Aron, Hillel (2016-07-20). "Why Are So Many Inmates Attempting Suicide at the California Institution for Women?". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
13. ^ California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California Correctional Center (CCI). Archived 2007-12-16 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 29 Nov 2007.
14. ^ a b Welsh, John. Hope is the theme: On 50th anniversary of California Institution for Women near Chino, prison inmates are encouraged to look toward their futures. Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), August 20, 2002.
15. ^ "Court Ruling Won't Mean Bloodbath On Death Row." Associated Press at the Tuscaloosa News. Tuesday February 15, 1972. p. 10. Retrieved on Google News (6/15) on March 27, 2013. "There are five women under a sentence of death. Three of Manson's convicted accomplices, Susan Atkins, Leslie Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, are in a special women's section of the row built at the California Institute for Women at Frontera."
16. ^ Mecoy, Laura. New Women's Prison Unfinished But Open. Sacramento Bee, July 28, 1987.
17. ^ Vitucci, Claire. Lending their voices: Women inmates record books on tape for the blind and children with learning disabilities. Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), January 4, 2000.
18. ^ DeRobertis, Shelli. Prisons' role to grow. The Sun (San Bernardino, CA), February 1, 2007.
19. ^ "'ANTM' ALUM RENEE ALWAY ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Year After Prison Release". 15 September 2019.
20. ^ "KEY Assignment: Javier Angel Murder". KEYT. Jul 11, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
21. ^ "KEY Assignment: Parole Denied for Julia Diaz". KEYT. Jul 14, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
22. ^ a b c Wares, Donna. Convicts: State's most infamous women live here. Orange County Register, September 3, 1989.
23. ^ Bugliosi, Vincent. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. New York: Norton, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32223-8
24. ^ "Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released from jail after 50 years". ABC News. 2023-07-11. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
25. ^ State of California Innate Locator \- CDCR
26. ^ Associated Press. Cathy Smith Ends Prison Term for Belushi Death. Daily News of Los Angeles, March 17, 1988.
27. ^ "A Mother's Crime". Los Angeles Times. 2 April 2006.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* University of California, Los Angeles Libraries images:
* California Institution for Women, cottages, Tehachapi, 1933
* California Institution for Women, cottage interior, Tehachapi, 1933

* v
* t
* e

Chino, California

Schools|

* Chino Valley Unified School District (California)
* Chino High School
* Don Antonio Lugo High School

Colleges and universities|

* Chaffey College Chino Campus

Landmarks|

* California Institution for Men (prison)
* California Institution for Women (prison)
* Chino Airport
* Planes of Fame Air Museum
* Yanks Air Museum
* Chino Valley Medical Center
* Prado Regional Park

This list is incomplete.
The California Institution for Women has a "Corona, CA" postal address but falls within the Chino city limits.

* v
* t
* e

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisons

State prisons|

* Avenal State Prison (ASP)
* California City Correctional Facility (CAC)
* California Correctional Center (CCC)
* California Correctional Institution (CCI)
* California Health Care Facility (CHCF)
* California Institution for Men (CIM)
* California Institution for Women♀ (CIW)
* California Medical Facility (CMF)
* California Men's Colony (CMC)
* California Rehabilitation Center (CRC)
* California State Prison, Centinela (CEN)
* California State Prison, Corcoran (COR)
* California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC)
* California State Prison, Sacramento (SAC)
* California State Prison, Solano (SOL)
* California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF)
* Calipatria State Prison (CAL)
* Central California Women's Facility♀ (CCWF)
* Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP)
* Correctional Training Facility (CTF)
* Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI)
* Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD)
* Folsom State Prison (FSP)♂♀
* High Desert State Prison (HDSP)
* Ironwood State Prison (ISP)
* Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP)
* Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP)
* North Kern State Prison (NKSP)
* Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP)
* Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP)
* Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP)
* San Quentin State Prison (SQ)
* Sierra Conservation Center (SCC)
* Valley State Prison (VSP)
* Wasco State Prison (WSP)

Private prisons|

* La Palma Correctional Facility (Corrections Corporation of America, Arizona)
* Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (CCA, Tennessee)
* Golden State Medium Community Correctional Facility (GEO Group)
* California City Correctional Center (CCA)

Closed (partial list)|

* Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility
* Preston School of Industry

Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female) or ♂♀ (co-gender)

* v
* t
* e

Prisons for women in the United States

This list template only include facilities for post-trial long-term confinement of adult females and juvenile females sentenced as adults, of one or two years or more (referred to as "prisons" in the United States, while the word "jail" normally refers to short-term confinement facilities)

Federal facilities

Federal Bureau of Prisons|

* Federal Prison Camp, Alderson
* Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville
* Federal Prison Camp, Bryan
* Federal Medical Center, Carswell
* Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury
* Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin
* United States Penitentiary, Hazelton
* Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee
* Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca

| Converted into men's facilities|

* Federal Reformatory for Women in Seagoville

|

Department of Defense|

* Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar

State prisons

Alabama|

* Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women
* Montgomery Women's Facility

Alaska|

* Hiland Mountain Correctional Center

Arizona|

* Arizona State Prison Complex – Perryville

Arkansas|

* McPherson Unit
* Hawkins Center for Women

| Closed|

* Arkansas State Farm for Women

|

Women removed from facility|

* Cummins Unit
* Tucker Unit

California|

* California Institution for Women
* Central California Women's Facility
* Folsom Women’s Facility

| Converted into men's facilities|

* Valley State Prison for Women

|

Colorado|

* Denver Women's Correctional Facility
* La Vista Correctional Facility

| Closed|

* Colorado Women's Correctional Facility

|

Connecticut|

* York Correctional Institution

Delaware|

* Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution

Florida|

* Lowell Correctional Institution

| Closed|

* Broward Correctional Institution

|

Women removed from facility|

* Union Correctional Institution

Georgia|

* Arrendale State Prison
* Pulaski State Prison

| Converted into men's facilities|

* Georgia Women's Correctional Institution

|

Closed|

* Metro State Prison

Hawaii|

* Women's Community Correctional Center

Idaho|

* Pocatello Women's Correctional Center
* South Boise Women's Correctional Center

Illinois|

* Decatur Correctional Center
* Logan Correctional Center

| Closed|

* Dwight Correctional Center

|

Indiana|

* Indiana Women's Prison
* Rockville Correctional Facility

Iowa|

* Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

Kansas|

* Topeka Correctional Facility

Kentucky|

* Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women
* Ross-Cash Center

| Converted into men's facilities|

* Western Kentucky Correctional Complex

|

Closed and reopened as men's facility|

* Otter Creek Correctional Center (reopened as Southeast State Correctional Complex)

Louisiana|

* Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women

| Women removed from facility|

* Louisiana State Penitentiary

|

Maine|

* Maine Correctional Center Women's Center

Maryland|

* Maryland Correctional Institution for Women

Massachusetts|

* Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Framingham

Michigan|

* Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility

Minnesota|

* Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee

Mississippi|

* Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
* Delta Correctional Facility

| Women removed from facility|

* Mississippi State Penitentiary

|

Missouri|

* Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
* Chillicothe Correctional Center

Montana|

* Montana Women's Prison

Nebraska|

* Nebraska Correctional Center for Women

Nevada|

* Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center

New Hampshire|

* New Hampshire State Prison for Women

New Jersey|

* Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women

New Mexico|

| Women removed from facility|

* Northwest New Mexico Correctional Facility (formerly New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility)

|

New York|

* Albion Correctional Facility
* Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women
* Taconic Correctional Facility

| Closed|

* Bayview Correctional Facility
* Beacon Correctional Facility

|

North Carolina|

* North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women
* Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women
* Eastern Correctional Institution

| Closed|

* Black Mountain Correctional Center for Women
* Fountain Correctional Center for Women
* North Piedmont Correctional Center for Women

|

North Dakota|

* Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center

Ohio|

* Ohio Reformatory for Women

Oklahoma|

* Mabel Bassett Correctional Center

Oregon|

* Coffee Creek Correctional Facility

Pennsylvania|

* State Correctional Institution – Cambridge Springs
* State Correctional Institution – Muncy

Rhode Island|

* Gloria McDonald Awaiting Trial Maximum and Medium Security Facility
* Dorothea Dix Minimum Security Facility / Bernadette Building

South Carolina|

* Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution
* Leath Correctional Institution

South Dakota|

* South Dakota Women's Prison

Tennessee|

* Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center (formerly Tennessee Prison for Women)

Texas|

* Christina Crain Unit
* Hilltop Unit
* William P. Hobby Unit
* Dr. Lane Murray Unit
* Patrick O'Daniel Unit

| Converted into men's facilities|

* Eastham Unit
* Goree Unit
* Johnson Farm

|

Women removed from unit|

* Huntsville Unit

Utah|

* Utah State Correctional Facility

| Closed|

* Utah State Prison

|

Vermont|

* Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility

| Closed|

* Dale Woman's Facility

|

Virginia|

* Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women
* Virginia Correctional Center for Women

Washington|

* Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women
* Washington Corrections Center for Women

| Closed|

* Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women

|

West Virginia|

* Lakin Correctional Center and Jail

| Women removed from facility|

* Pruntytown Correctional Center

|

Wisconsin|

* Taycheedah Correctional Institution

Wyoming|

* Wyoming Women's Center

District and insular area prisons

District of Columbia|

* See Federal Bureau of Prisons

| Closed|

* Lorton Reformatory

|

Guam|

* Women's Facility

Northern Mariana Islands|

* Northern Marianas Prison

Puerto Rico|

* Escuela Industrial para Mujeres Vega Alta

U.S. Virgin Islands|

* Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility

See also: Incarceration of women in the United States
Note: Adults who commit felonies in the District of Columbia are sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities
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