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The Lowdown

Building the Empire: California's Prison Building Bonanza

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In 1950, California had four state prison facilities and about 11,500 prisoners. By 2006, at the peak of the state's prison overcrowding, there were 33 prisons and more than 172,000 inmates! That's an increase of more than 900 percent!

Scroll over the markers below for info on each of the state's 33 prisons


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