The CCF is a City "Enterprise" brought about by the passage of California Assembly Bill 1591 (AB 1591) in 1988. The intent of AB 1591 was to allow the State of California to seek less expensive housing and maintenance for their inmate population. AB 1591 allowed the State of California to enter into contractual agreements with California cities to house CDC inmates for compensation to the cities by the state.
This contractual agreement with the State of California has allowed the City to create more jobs for local residents as well as the creation of another source of revenue which allows the City to provide better services to their citizens.
The Taft CCF is operated by the Taft Police Department, with the Chief of Police as the CCF Facility Administrator and a Police Captain as the Facility Manager. The daily operation of the CCF is accomplished by fifty-six Police Department employees.
The CCF operates seven days a week, twenty-four hours per day. It is managed by a Police Captain with a Correctional Captain in charge of security. There are four Correctional Lieutenants assigned as Watch Commanders and four Correctional Sergeants assigned as Assistant Watch Commanders. The balance of CCF staff includes six Senior Correctional Officers, thirty-two Correctional Officers and eight civilians.
The California Department of Corrections has three (3) state CDC Counselors on staff at the CCF as liaison with the CCF correctional staff and to be responsible for each inmate's personal case work.
Food service at the Taft CCF is provided by an independent food service company which is under contract with the city to provide the required diet regime afforded the inmates. The inmates also have an inmate "Canteen" (store), at which they can purchase varied sundry items.
The CCF, with assistance from local medical facilities and the Medical Hub at Wasco State Prison, provides medical services to the inmates.
The CCF also provides educational classes (G.E.D., computers, ABE, etc.) and vocational instruction. The CCF is charged with trying to make the inmates re-entry into public life as easy as possible, with the hope that they are successful in obtaining gainful employment to reduce the possibility of them coming back into the prison system. This is done through the educational and vocational classes offered at the CCF.
The inmate labor force benefits the City of Taft and other tax supported agencies within the sphere of influence of the City. The inmates perform many different labor tasks for the City, West Side Parks and Recreation District and the West Side Cemetery District.
The Taft Community Correctional Facility has been a pleasant success for the City of Taft. It has provided much needed additional income, given jobs to many Taft residents and has aided the City in their daily services to their citizens.
