CDCR – California Correctional Institution (CCI)

CDCR – California Correctional Institution (CCI) basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 661-822-4402

This facility is for adult inmates.

The inmates housed at CDCR – California Correctional Institution (CCI) located at 24900 Hwy 202
PO Box 1031 in Tehachapi, CA are placed according to their custody level (determined by a number of factors including the past criminal history and the length of their sentence). There are ample educational and vocational training programs for all inmates, especially ones that show a willingness to learn new things that will prepare them for a better life when they are released. The mission is to promote and prepare the offender to leave in better shape than when they arrived, giving them the best chance to never come back and thus lower the state's recidivism rate.

California Correctional Institution (CCI) is a supermax state prison operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation located in Cummings Valley, west of the city of Tehachapi in southern CA. CCI is sometimes referred to as "Tehachapi prison" or "Tehachapi". The prison has been frequently referred to in popular films, especially when it was all-female before the 1952 earthquake.

CCI operates with minimum to maximum custody inmates and has a Segregated Housing Unit known as the SHU. The SHU can be used for inmates with disciplinary infractions, and for various security reasons.

Some notable inmates that have served here are Barbara Graham, served 5 years in CCI for perjury, was later executed for murder; Rafael Pérez was transferred from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood to CCI in July 2001; later that month he was released from CCI and paroled; Juan-Carlos Cruz, Celebrity chef sentenced to 9 years in 2010 for soliciting murder; Lyle Menendez was sent to CCI in September 1996 to serve a life term without the possibility of parole; currently incarcerated at Donovan State Prison; Art Pepper, jazz musician, 1964–1965; and Alonza Thomas Jr, focus of a 2014 PBS Frontline documentary entitled "Stickup Kid." Sentenced to 13 years at CCI for a crime committed as a 15-year-old juvenile.

CCI offers inmates programs where inmates can earn a high school equivalency diploma and other programs such as substance abuse treatments. Select inmates may be able to do various programs that teach a vocational skill such as working in a clothing factory, upholstery, HVAC refrigeration, appliance and auto repair. Inmates can also work with printing, carpentry, and welding. Skills are taught to the inmates and knowledge that can be used as a profitable skill after the inmate is released.

California Correctional Institution (CCI) – Inmate Programs

• Prison Industries Authority (PIA), Fabrics (Clothing) manufactured for the following: California Youth Authority (CYA) Trousers, Shirts; CDCR, Blue Trouser, Shirts, Denim, and Foul Weather Jackets, Camp Pants and Jackets, and Women Pants; Department of Military, Navy Trousers; State Hospital, Khaki and Dark Brown Trouser, Shorts Aprons, and Jackets; and other miscellaneous sewn products.
• Vocational: Computer and cabling, office services and word processing, air conditioning and refrigeration, automotive repair, welding, auto body repair, building maintenance.
• Academic: Literacy, Adult Basic Education, GED, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Under 21).
• Religious Programs with staff chaplains to include Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Protestant and Catholic.
• Self Help Programs to include Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Criminals and Gang Members Anonymous (CGA), Celebrate Recovery, Purpose Driven Life, Alternatives to Violence (ATV), St. Vincent de Paul Society (Assist indigents), White Bison (Native American) and Incarcerated Veterans Group.

DRP Programs

CDCR's Division of Rehabilitative Programs offers a wide range of programs for inmates. Check to see which programs are offered at this institution.

CDCR – California Correctional Institution (CCI) – Visitation Guide

visitation Info

CDCR – California Correctional Institution (CCI) – Visitation

The intent of CDCR's Visiting Program is to help develop and maintain healthy family and community relationships.

This page assists the general public in locating, contacting, visiting, and corresponding with inmates and juveniles who are in our institutions.

Check Visiting Status

You can find out the visiting status of a CDCR facility in one of two ways:

• Call the Visiting Status Hotline at 1-800-374-8474
• Check the VPASS Visiting Status; locate the facility you plan to visit.

You should always do this the day you plan to visit, because visitation can sometimes be unexpectedly cancelled.