Watch California 60-90 days
A federal prison to start in Taft
by David Kaplan, Eyewitness News
Wed, July 19th 2023, 6:48 PM PDT
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/FOX58) — For a year and a half, Taft City Council has been trying to find a way to utilize the former "MCCF," Municipal Community Correctional Facility. The city owns the building. In the past, the contract was through the state. Now, the city's agreement will be with the federal government.
"The United States Marshal Service, they'll bring them in and we're not exactly sure where they're coming from, but we are to provide the bed space and the hospitalization and transportation services," Dave Noerr, Mayor for the city of Taft said.
Mayor Noerr said the loss of the prison has had a negative economic effect in Taft.
"Anytime you take a for the community large employer out of the picture obviously there's going to be a cascading effect," Mayor Noerr said.
He said the impact was felt on businesses and of course families of employees.
"You eliminate when we closed down the CCF, somewhere between 75 and 90 full-time jobs," Mayor Noerr said. "These are jobs that were supporting families. So when those employment opportunities disappear it's going to have any impact.
He said getting some of those jobs back will help Taft.
"What we're looking for is to start with about 50 employees, which is not the full employee compliment but there's no guarantee under this agreement regarding a number of inmates," Mayor Noerr said. "We're just going to have to see how the need grows."
Mayor Noerr said this agreement was in large part thanks to Speaker of the House and Bakersfield native, Kevin McCarthy.
A spokesperson for Congressman Kevin McCarthy's office gave Eyewitness News this statement:
“As crime continued to increase in California, the soft-on-crime Newsom administration made the reckless decision to end its contract with the Taft community correctional facility. I commend Taft Mayor Noerr and the city of Taft for taking the initiative to work with the U.S. Marshals Service, to get this facility reopened to house certain federal inmates. Reopening the Taft Community Correctional facility will improve public safety in our community and state.”
Senator Shannon Grove gave Eyewitness News this statement:
“I am thrilled the Taft Community Correctional Facility will be reopening to house federal inmates. I have strongly opposed the state’s policy of closing down prisons because of its impact on public safety and as a violation of promises made to communities such as Taft when the CCF was first built. This reopening is good news for the city and it will bring good-paying jobs for local residents and a boost to the local economy. I am confident the United States Marshals Service and the federal prison system will recognize the important public safety contributions that CCF can make to the state and nation. Hopefully, this will be the start of additional expansions in the future.”
They're hoping the prison will be ready in the next 60 to 90 days.
Mayor Noerr said there's another facility outside of the city of Taft that was a federal prison. This was also closed. That prison was closed by the Department of Justice. There are structural issues with some of the buildings and they have been working on fixing those and re-engineering things with an eye on reopening that facility when it's ready and when it's needed.
https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/a-federal-prison-to-start-in-taft