Egan asks governor to reject CDCR’s decision to close CCC
Lassen County’s Administrative Officer Richard Egan has written a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom asking him to reject the California Department of Rehabilitation’s decision to close the California Correctional Center in Susanville.
Here is the text of that letter:
I am writing in response to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s surprise announcement to close the California Correctional Center in Lassen County.
On behalf of the County of Lassen, I respectfully request your immediate intervention to reject the CDCR’s decision to close the CCC. Their decision was made secretly without collaborative input, it appears faulty substantively and it is contrary to all publicly available independent analysis. As such CDCR’s announcement doesn’t achieve the state legislature’s mandate and governor’s budget directive.
There appears to be a complete disregard of the CDCR’s own policies that are mandated to protect and insulate Californians from the impacts of that department.
CDCR has specific community relations policies that proclaim and affirm the importance of collaboration between the CDCR and the general public, local and state representatives, employees, employee organizations, special interest groups or community organizations. That policy direction was apparently ignored by CDCR.
Lastly, the decision is not consistent with the Legislative Analyst’s Office analysis of the governor’s specific budget proposals (i.e. The 2021-22 Budget: Prison Maintenance and Repair Proposals). This report and common sense suggest that closures of prison facilities other than the CCC in Lassen County would better achieve the state legislature’s and governor’s budget directives.
Rejecting the CDCR’s decision would resolve their failure to provide for any basic communication or collaborative process between the state and impacted Californians.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. The Lassen County Board of Supervisors will be meeting on April 27, 2021; I would appreciate your favorable consideration of this request prior to that date.
Copies of Egan’s letter also were sent to Assembly Member Megan Dahle; Senator Brian Dahle; the Lassen County Board of Supervisors; the Susanville City Council; the Rural County Representatives of California; and the California State Association of Counties.
