It was 1981 and then-Gov. Jerry Brown had a problem. Californiaâs 12 prisons were bulging at the seams with more than 28,000 inmates, thanks largely to tougher sentencing laws he signed, and he was told to expect another 20,000 more inmates within a few years.
The state hadnât built a new prison in two decades, stretching back to when Brownâs father, Pat Brown, was governor. The Department of Corrections, as the prison system was then called, wanted Brown to launch a major prison construction program to handle its rapidly growing inmate load.
The young governor, nearing the end of his second and final term, was reluctant to ask voters for billions of dollars in bond money to build new prisons. His state architect, Sim Van der Ryn, had even refused to endorse plans for new prisons, reflecting opposition by those on Brownâs left flank.