City of Taft to try to repurpose state prison set to close May 31

May 18—With the Taft Modified Community Center is set to close on May 31, and the city of Taft will seek to repurpose the building into something new.

On Tuesday, State Sen. Shannon Grove announced her request to release the unoccupied facility back to the city had been approved. That leaves Taft officials the option to try to resurrect the soon-to-be vacant building in some way, although no ideas have yet been put on the table.

"After we finish our contract obligations which would be at the end of this month, then we would begin reviewing other buildings to repurpose the building," said Taft Mayor David Noerr. "Once the information is made available, and we have official notification that the state will not exercise their lease options and we get through the current contract, then the City Council will start working toward coming up with a list of ideas that, like I said, could repurpose or utilize the facility for the betterment of the community and the people of the city of Taft."

This is the second prison to close in Taft this year. After a prolonged battle, the Taft Correctional Institute, a federal privately-run minimum security prison, closed last year after the Bureau of Prisons found that around $100 million in improvements needed to be made.

The Modified Community Center, which opened in 1991, had previously been used to hold around 600 state inmates. However, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has shifted prison populations to other parts of the state, causing 80 job losses.

"I would like to thank the Governor and CDCR for working with us to release this facility back to the community, so the community can now use it for a purpose that benefits all of the residents of Taft," Grove said in a news release.

But what purpose the city could use the abandoned facility is still up for debate. The City Council is expected to take up the question soon. The city can either find a solution to benefit its residents better than the prison did, or the redevelopment could struggle.

"The possibilities really could go either way," Noerr said of the potential for the building. "We absolutely do not know at this point in time."

You can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415. You may also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC.