California Institution for Men is a male-only state prison located in the city ofChino, San Bernardino County, California. It is often colloquially referenced as "Chino". In turn, locals call the prison "Chino Men's" or just "Men's" to avoid confusion with the city itself.
Facilities
CIM is a facility located east of Los Angeles on arid farmland. Facilities include:
"The largest Level I inmate population within the California prison system".
Three Reception Centers which "provide short term housing to process, classify and evaluate incoming inmates." Reception Center Central for medium/maximum custody level inmates "receives intake from several southern California counties"; Reception Center East "houses RC inmates with sensitive needs, Mental Health inmate/patients requiring an Enhanced Out-Patient level of care and a 100 bed HIV/CID unit"; and Reception Center West is for "medium level custody inmates" who are "waiting processing/transfer to programming institutions."
As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CIM had 2,327 staff and an annual budget of $232.2 million. As of February, 2012 it had a design capacity of 2,976 but a total institution population of 5,266, for an occupancy rate of 177 percent. As of April 30, 2020, CIM was incarcerating people at 112.8% of its design capacity, with 3,357 occupants.
History
CIM opened in 1941 and "was the first major minimum security institution built and operated in the United States." It was the fourth state prison built in California. Since the California Correctional Institution replaced the original California Institution for Women at Tehachapi, CIM is now the third-oldest California state prison. In 1970, a commercial diver training program started at CIM. In following years, the program's graduates had much success in finding jobs after release from prison and a recidivism rate of only 12 percent. The program was "closed in 2003 due to budget constraints," but reopened in 2006. Inmate Kevin Cooper escaped from CIM in 1983. In retrospect, factors that may have contributed to the escape included conviction "under an alias," an undetected "history of escaping from jails and mental hospitals," and "a hole in a fence" surrounding CIM. Three days after Cooper's escape, four people were found dead in nearby Chino Hills, and Cooper was later convicted of murdering them. However, there have been doubts raised as to Cooper's guilt over the years. In 1987, officials of the city of Chino opposed a plan to build a ward at CIM for inmates with HIV/AIDS because they "believe it would threaten the community." After "Corrections Department officials announced they wouldn't increase the AIDS inmate population to more than 200 men," opposition decreased. The ward was constructed and received its first patients in May 1988, making it the second such AIDS ward in California. Shayne Allyn Ziska was a correctional officer at CIM "from January 1984 through October 2000." In 2004 he was arrested for assisting the Nazi Lowriders "distribute drugs and assault inmates" inside CIM. In 2006, Ziska was convicted "on charges of conspiracy, civil-rights violations and violent crime in aid of racketeering" and sentenced to "17 years in federal prison." Ziska, Federal Bureau of Prisons #04299-748, is now at Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood, Colorado. Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, Jr. was stabbed to death in CIM in 2005. Factors that may have contributed to the killing were prison overcrowding, understaffing, a failure to segregate the inmate in question due to a history of violent behavior, the inmate's lengthy stay at CIM, the inmate's access to a weapon, and the officer's lack of a protective vest. In the aftermath of the Gonzalez murder, CIM instituted reforms. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in July 2007 agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit by Gonzalez's family. In 2005 and 2007, the state of California proposed building hundreds of new units for mentally ill inmates at CIM and at the nearby California Institution for Women; local officials opposed such plans. A "general acute-care hospital at CIM" had received a license to operate in 1984, but in March 2006 the hospital operating room was closed and in July 2007 the plan was "to relinquish the license" because the facility was not functioning as a hospital. On August 8, 2009, a prison riot broke out at CIM during which over 250 inmates were injured, and which ultimately took more than twelve hours to put down. The cause of the riot is under investigation. The riot broke out at 8:20 p.m. Although other races were involved the riot was mainly between Hispanic inmates and African American inmates. The prison's damages were severe, bathroom sinks ripped off the walls, fires broke out, and 50 inmates were taken to nearby hospitals. The riot caused a lockdown of the prison and six others in the area. In February 2010, the youth facility Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility was closed. California authorities indicated they would incorporate the facility into CIM. As of 2017, it remains empty except for an apartment-style housing unit for CDCR employees.
Coronavirus outbreak
On June 19, 2020, it was reported that the COVID-19 virus had killed 17 inmates at CIM, and the virus had infected 48 staff and 507 inmates, with 870 inmates having been tested.
