Calling for ideas on the youth prison

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• Barring new inmates, new prison useless

  Barring new inmates, new prison useless

  This year, Paso Robles, my hometown, was supposed to get a new, 1,000-bed prison. What we have now is a vacant youth prison. About a year ago, state prison officials said they were going to transform that empty youth prison into an adult prison. But now they’ve changed their minds.

  Their switch was revealed earlier this month in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed new budget, which includes these words: “a reduction of $44.5 million to reflect the cancellation of the Estrella infill project.”

  “Estrella infill project” is government jargon meaning the planned conversion of our vacant youth prison into an adult prison named the Estrella Correctional Facility.

• ‘Boys’ School’ could have many uses

  ‘Boys’ School’ could have many uses

  In last week’s column, I asked for suggestions: What would be a good new use for the now-closed youth prison in my hometown, Paso Robles? Five readers responded. One reader told me it should be a veterans training center. Another said turn it into a village for homeless people. Another suggested a prison honor farm. A married couple suggested private use.

  The youth prison closed in 2008. State officials then began planning to convert it into two adult prisons. One would be a 500-bed re-entry prison for inmates nearing the end of their sentences. The other would be a 1,000-bed medical prison.

  But last month, Gov. Jerry Brown released his proposed new state budget. It contained no money for those two projects. New prisons may have become unnecessary. California’s prison population is shrinking in response to federal court orders.

• State wavers on future of closed Paso Robles correctional facility

  State wavers on future of closed Paso Robles correctional facility

  The governor’s decision to withhold more than $100 million to revamp the closed El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility into a re-entry facility for state prisoners is not necessarily permanent, a state spokesman said Monday, but local officials want more clarity about what the state intends to do with the place long-term.

  “I’m a little confused” about the state’s intentions, said Frank Mecham, county supervisor and former Paso Robles mayor. He said he hopes the governor doesn’t plan to “leave it as a big white elephant, gathering weeds and dust.”

  Meanwhile Paso Robles City Councilman Fred Strong has disinterred an old idea: asking the state to sell the land to Paso Robles for $1, so that “we could repurpose it in any number of possible ways.”

• Plan for prison complex should not be abandoned

  Plan for prison complex should not be abandoned

  The state of California has put plans for a Paso Robles prison complex on ice. That’s an economic blow not only for Paso, but also for the entire county.

  Three facilities would have been housed at the site of the former California Youth Authority space in Paso: a reentry center for prison inmates who are within a year of release; amedium-security prison for older inmates with health issues; and a fire camp for lowerrisk inmates, similar to the camp that was operated back in the Youth Authority days.

  The project would have generated hundreds of headof-household jobs, including temporary construction jobs during the remodeling phase and permanent jobs once the facilities opened.

• Letters to the Editor 1/12

  Letters to the Editor 1/12

  Wolf invader

  Our state “fish and game” is not doing its job. That wolf that came into California that everyone wants to make a pet out of needs to be eradicated. It is an invasive species just like the mussels in our lakes.

  As to the endangered species part that someone will bring up, these are Canadian wolves. They are not endangered. Canada has plenty of them. We do not need them. Our government killed all the deer and elk on Santa Rosa Island because they were not native. This wolf is not native.