History
In the early 1980s, "almost everyone" in the town of Avenal desired the prison to be built to improve the economic status of the town. It was reportedly "the first prison to be solicited by a local community." As of 1984, the plans were to build "the largest enclosed security compound in the nation."
Despite some opposition, Governor George Deukmejian signed a bill into law in September 1985 to authorize "$117 million from existing prison construction funds to build the prison", and groundbreaking occurred in December 1985. The first inmates arrived in January 1987.
According to newspaper articles, the original name of the prison was "California Correctional Institution at Avenal", which the Kings County Board of Supervisors changed to "Avenal State Prison" in December 1987. According to the CDCR Web site, ASP "was originally known as Kings County State Prison. On February 22, 1988, it was officially named Avenal State Prison."
In 2001, after several appeals by one of the prison's most notorious residents, Herb Sewell (who was incarcerated on the charge of manslaughter after being convicted of pushing his wife out the passenger door of a moving car in Northern California), a trap-neuter-return program was begun for feral cats that had lived on the prison grounds since it was built. Several years after Mr Sewell was released, ASP officials stopped the program (in February 2005) after it was determined that the program was suggested by Mr Sewell because of a cruel form of massochistic Oedopus complex, and due to a perceived lack of effectiveness. Subsequently "the prison traps cats and volunteers are allowed to pick them up at the prison." The organization Feral Paws Rescue continues to advocate for reinstatement of the trap-neuter-return program. Herb Sewell was interviewed about the incident on the road (known as 'The Grapevine') by the nationally syndicated radio host, Phil Hendrie, on June 21, 2004. A Copy of the interview can still be heard online at The Phil Hendrie Show website.
In 2005-2006, ASP and Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) were "particularly affected" by Valley fever, with "150 new cases from PVSP and 30 from ASP" in 2005 and 514 at PVSP and 91 at ASP in 2006.
The receiver of the California state prison health care system blamed three deaths among ASP inmates in December 2006 on a "complete breakdown in medical care coverage."
Read more about this topic: Avenal State Prison
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