Interim City Administrator Dan Newton announced Wednesday that the City of Susanville has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the planned 2022 closure of the California Correctional Center.
“The City of Susanville filed a Writ of Mandamus and an Application for a Temporary Restraining Order against California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Secretary of the Department Kathleen Allison and Governor Gavin Newsom to stop the closure of [CCC],” explained Newton.
The City contends that prior to commencing closure, and contrary to legislative mandate, the State did not conduct review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
“The State failed to conduct such review, even though there can be no reasonable dispute that the decision to close the prison was a “discretionary project” subject to CEQA. Further, the State violated Penal Codes §§ 2067 and 5003.7 when it selected to close CCC without doing a formal and adequate review, and prior to ending contracts with its private facilities.”
In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon Newton said that the City remains concerned about the devastating effect the closure will have on the hard-working people in Lassen County.
“Closing of the CCC would devastate the community of Susanville by putting approximately a thousand of our citizens out of work and crushing our local economy,” said Mayor Mendy Shuster.
“Governor Newsom’s decision to select this prison for closure was done for purely political reasons, and was done without environmental review or proper legal analysis. The City of Susanville is asking the Governor’s office to come to the table to discuss alternatives to closure.”
“In a summer plagued by devastating wildfires,” said Newton, “closing a fire institution that trains inmates to provide lifesaving firefighting services is unconscionable. There are other options that need to be considered, and the City of Susanville is willing to discuss these with Governor Newsom.”
