Residents in a small California desert town have been left furious by plans to shut down their last major employer amid fears it will finish the ‘dying’ town for good.
Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, announced in 2022 that the golden state would be closing four prisons, including the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, which is expected to shut this year.
The town, which is located in Riverside County near the Arizona border, was already struggling, with many of its 18,000-strong population fleeing to Phoenix or the Coachella Valley.
Now they fear that the elimination of nearly 1,000 government jobs in the area will be the final straw.
‘We know it’s going to be a ripple effect across all sectors,’ interim city manager Mallory Crecelius told the Imperial Valley Press. ‘But we don’t really have a grasp of just how much it’s going to impact.’
Residents of Blythe, California, over plans to shut down its last major employer: the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison
California governor Gavin Newsom, 56, announced in 2022 that the state would be closing four prisons, including the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe
Concerns for the isolated town’s future have been rumbling for some time, with an article of a Riverside County civil investigation in 2022 entitled ‘The City of Blythe is Dying‘ drawing attention to its difficulties.
‘The fortunes of the community have changed dramatically over the past two decades. Family farms are mostly gone, businesses have left, vacant homes and buildings scar the streets,’ it said.
‘City tax revenues are stagnant or falling and the younger population, with few opportunities for growth and success, have fled west to the Coachella Valley or east to the expanding suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona.’
While Riverside County’s population has grown 8.5 percent in the past decade, Blythe’s population – not including inmates – has fallen by 19.5 percent.
The town was also ranked as the third worst of 470 California cities based on their financial health in 2019, the report stated.
Blythe leaders were allegedly furious over the report, The Press reported – and are now fighting hard to save their prison.
They have even hired a PR company and named their campaign ‘Save Chuck.’
Chuckawalla prison employs 801 people, including more than 400 correctional officers.
Blythe officials are unsure why Newsom’s office selected Chuckawalla prison for closure and have submitted dozens of public records requests to find out why.
Chuckawalla prison employs 801 people, including more than 400 correctional officers
Interim City Manager Mallory Crecelius said 40 public records requests submitted to learn why Chuckawalla was chosen to be closed over other state prisons were ‘denied’
‘Those requests have been denied. The state was not giving us that information. They either don’t have it or they just refuse to provide it to us,’ Crecelius told The Press.
They have suggested the government choose another location that does not rely on its prison so heavily for economic prosperity.
They proposed the older California Rehabilitation Center in Norco take the fall instead – which they claim is willing to do so, according The Press.
However, their efforts have fallen on deaf ears.
When DailyMail.com contacted the Governor’s Office for comment, we were referred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
A spokesperson for department said: ‘In an effort to prioritize fiscal responsibility, CDCR has expeditated the closure of Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP). CDCR anticipates CVSP will be deactivated by the end of the year.
‘CDCR and the Administration are working to minimize impact to staff, the city of Blythe and the surrounding community.’
‘The state is closely working with the stakeholders to help support workers and foster a bottom-up economic resilience plan,; they added.
In August, the Employment Development Department announced it had awarded nearly $1million to the Riverside County Workforce Development Division to help Chuckawalla employees post-closure.
Pictured: The agricultural area outside of Blythe
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the prison was chosen in an ‘effort to prioritize fiscal responsibility.’ Those displaced of jobs will receive help from the government for job training (pictured: Blythe)
The funds will help those affected ‘obtain education, training, and job resources that will help them to find good careers in high-demand industries like healthcare, information technology, and industrial technology,’ according to Employment Development Department.
The federally funded granted was provided by the US Department of Labor.
Despite this, many Blythe locals fear they will not be able to find a decent paying job in their area without a degree.
Local resident Jamie Browning, who worked as a correctional officer at Chuckawalla, told The Press: ‘I’d have to transfer somewhere else because where am I going to get a job making that kind of money with a high school education. I mean, you have to. You have no choice.’
Another resident, Maricruz Barela, 20, who lives in the town because of school and her mother, told the outlet: ‘There’s nothing, we don’t have nothing.’
The prison closure announcement came after the state’s prison population fell by half in the last decade to 96,000 incarcerated, according to The Press.
In the last few years, the Democratic state has loosen bail laws, which has kept many criminals out of orange jumpsuits and lessened the need for more facilities.
The prison closure announcement came after the state’s prison population fell by half in the last decade to 96,000 incarcerated
As for Blythe’s future, some locals have proposed building logistics center or reopen their prison as an immigration detention center to help keep the town afloat, according to the Press. But these projects would take time.
There is also a provision to close five more prisons by 2027, which would save the state more than $1billion yearly, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
But the prison isn’t the area’s only problem.
Getting water to the town from the Metropolitan Water District – which sends water to Los Angeles and other Southern California cities – can prove difficult.
In many cases, Blythe farmers have been forced to leave their fields barren as competition for the precious liquid increases, according to The Press.
This also isn’t the first time Blythe has nearly died out.
Back in its cowboy days, it was an agricultural boom town, had an important railway stop and plenty of access to the Colorado River.
But when the I-10 was built in 1972, the area’s residents began to disperse.
The only thing to save it then was keeping its prison open.
