Corcoran is a city located in the east of the state of California, in Kings County, and is known for its California State Prison. The first prison in Corcoran was opened in 1988, and the second one appeared approximately one decade later. Running forward, it should be noted that the creation of prisons in Corcoran was not driven by the high crime rate. Instead, the case of Corcoran presents an interesting case of how the decline in the agricultural sector caused by several factors that are discussed below turned people to the required to construct the prison. However, the expectations did not meet reality, and not all of the hopes were fulfilled. The present essay explains an ornate connection link between agriculture and prisons and discusses the influence of political and economic trends in the US from the 1970-s – the 1990-s on some of the failures of the prison in Corcoran.
The history of Corcoran is peculiar because it shows the transition from a prosperous city with a developed agricultural sector to impoverished city dwellers who have to leave it. The production of cotton was the basis of Corcorans economic growth. However, the first factor contributing to this prosperity’s destruction was an attempt by governmental activists and agricultural industrialists to employ white supremacy and introduce divisions between white and Chinese, Mexican, African, and other non-white workers. This was a problem because suppressed workers were unwilling to agree with this idea and, hence, allied to fight for decent working and living conditions and adequate wages. These strikes turned into losses in harvests in the 1930-s. Despite the adverse consequences of the problem with non-white workers, the government failed to stabilize the situation and facilitated the further division of rights between workers of different races.
After the strikes of the 1930-s, the city was shaken by the Second World War. The major problem was that local farmworkers changed their specialization because their capabilities were needed in the wartime industry, and, therefore, the gap in the agricultural workforce appeared. To fill this gap, in 1942, the federal government introduced the Bracero program. This program invited Mexican farmworkers to work in the American agricultural sphere. By the middle of the 1960-s, the Bracero program provoked the rise of the United Farm Workers. The situation with the farming sector in Corcoran became even worse in 1973 when the decade of drought started. The shortage of water became a reason for the formation of the strategic alliance between the world’s largest cotton grower, Boswell, and the state’s second-largest cotton producer, Salyer, against the increase of water supply of the Southland. As a result of the prolonged drought, the agricultural industry in Corcoran suffered significant losses. Apart from the sharp decline in productivity rates, the drought caused mass unemployment and poverty. The absence of income and ability to get employed motivated local farmworkers to move away. Even workers who were not employed in the sphere of agriculture had to move away because of the low purchasing power of their neighbors.
The appalling poverty was the primary driver of the townspeople to request the state the construction of the major local prison. The decision of the Corcoran City Council was based on the example of another city in the state of California, Avenal, that had a prison for 3,000 people. In addition to that, the California Department of Corrections (CDC) persuaded the locals that the construction of the prison would turn into enormous benefits for them. Firstly, the CDC promised that the building process of the prison would require the creation of 900 working places, and the prison per se would need up to 2,000 permanent working positions. Secondly, the prison would raise one-time mitigation funds that would cover the infrastructural costs. Thirdly, the city would gain from $1 to $4 million from local purchases of the CDC. The following benefits are annual subventions and donated labor. Finally, 20 percent of the CDC employees were expected to move to Corcoran. Consequently, the construction of the prison would entail the construction of living facilities. Overall, for Corcoran, the construction of the prison is an escape from poverty and massive unemployment and the guarantee of sustained local development.
Even though the advantages of the prisons opening are convincing, in Corcoran were people who opposed this idea. First of all, the public sector, for decades before the construction of the prison, managed to compensate for declines in incomes from agriculture and extraction of resources. Secondly, locals, the Tulare Lake basin farmers, in particular, were afraid that this prison would make Corcoran a significantly less safe town even though the CDC members argued that prisoners rarely escape. Thirdly, the oppositionists to the prison construction were concerned that farmers would become obliged to compete with the CDC for water supply. Besides, in case of a drought, the water prices would become unaffordable high for small farmers. Nonetheless, history shows that activists who acted against prisons lost these debates because, for the majority of Corcorans population, the benefits from the prison described by the CDC outweighed the possible costs.
Still, the major problem that became apparent after the construction of the prison in Corcoran was that the majority of the local population was Mexicans and African Americans. Even though the period since the 1970-s is known for the fight for equality of rights of minorities, for the representatives of the non-white population, it was almost impossible to get employed in prison. This is because racially exclusive hiring practices were deeply rooted in the minds of white locals. Besides, the national fights for equal rights had just started at the time of the prisons construction and were not forceful enough to provide Mexicans and African Americans in Corcoran with jobs. Furthermore, in the 1970-s and early 1980-s, white corrections professionals still had not reached a consensus on whether corrections officers of color would indeed be capable of enhancing the security of prisoners of color and maintaining order.
To conclude, a decade later, after the opening of the first prison in Corcoran, the rate of unemployment increased from 26 to 29 percent and proved that turned people against the national politics of prison extension (Gilmore, 2007). Currently, prisons in Corcoran could be regarded as city-forming enterprises because the economic advantages of prisons are evident. Nonetheless, the failure to increase the rate of employment in Corcoran is related to the fact that the construction of the prison does not correspond to the historical specialization of the city. What is more, it could be suggested that for the city dwellers who used to be farmers, it was rather challenging to become workers in prison.
Reference
Gilmore, R. W. (2007). Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. University of California Press.