The California Rehabilitation Center in Norco is a medium-security prison, currently housing 2,766? inmates and employing 1,191 staff.NORCO, CA — A state prison in Riverside County housing more than 2,700 convicted felons will close by fall 2026, officials announced Monday.The California Rehabilitation Center, located at Fifth Street in Norco, is being "deactivated" due to "projections of lower prison populations in future years" and "needed cost savings," according to the California Depart...
The California Rehabilitation Center in Norco is a medium-security prison, currently housing 2,766? inmates and employing 1,191 staff.
NORCO, CA — A state prison in Riverside County housing more than 2,700 convicted felons will close by fall 2026, officials announced Monday.
The California Rehabilitation Center, located at Fifth Street in Norco, is being "deactivated" due to "projections of lower prison populations in future years" and "needed cost savings," according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
CRC is a Level II medium-security prison, currently housing 2,766 inmates and employing 1,191 staff.
CDCR did not immediately respond to emailed questions about whether CRC employees and inmates will be transferred.
In a news release announcing CRC's closure, CDCR stated it "is taking every effort to mitigate the impact on staff, volunteers, and the population throughout the deactivation process. The state will provide support to the affected local community and workforce with an economic resiliency plan."
The state's Employment Development Department lists the Norco facility among the county's top 25 "major employers."
CRC's closure will leave few state prisons in Riverside County. Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe closed in November. The California Institution for Women remains in operation in Corona, as does the Bautista Conservation Camp in Hemet and the Norco Conservation Camp in Norco.
The planned closure in Norco comes as California's prison population has fallen. CDCR's incarcerated population — roughly 91,000 — is at its lowest point since the late 1980s. As recently as 2006, the population was more than 173,000, according to CDCR.
In recent years, CDCR has closed three prisons: Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California Correctional Center in Susanville, and Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. CDCR has also deactivated 11 facilities, portions of 2 facilities, and 42 housing units across 11 prisons, according to the agency.
"Combined, these recent closures and deactivations, along with administrative savings, result in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings," CDCR reported.
Shuttering the Norco prison is projected to save the state approximately $150 million in annual general fund spending, according to the CDCR.
CRC is an old facility. The building now housing the prison opened in 1928 as the Lake Norconian Club, a luxury hotel. In December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned the resort into a Naval hospital. The federal government donated the hospital to the state in 1962 for use as a narcotics center, and, in the 1980s, the facility also began housing inmates.