Mirror LCF

Built in 1993, the Liddell Women’s State Correctional Facility is an example of Californian prison architecture in the mass-incarceration age. Twenty-six ‘housing units’ (from A thru Z), accommodate over 2,900 female inmates, whose security classification ranges from minimum security, through medium to maximum security. Special Housing units facilitate isolation housing for disciplinary problem inmates. New inmates arrived through the much-hated “Intake & Processing Centre”, before being subject to a period of “Orientation” in one of the prisons four intermediary holding ‘pods’. The aim of "Orientation" - known to the inmates as "hell week" is to initiate new arrivals in the world of a modern State Correctional Facility - with all the noise, grind, brutality and humiliation which is characteristic of such places. Inmates are subjected to a harsher regime in the "Orientation" period than they might have expected - and successive LCF Warden's have placed trust in the efficacy of a 'short, sharp shock' at the opening inmates' incarceration. The prison also houses California’s only Death Row for female inmates - eight spartan cells leading to the execution chamber.

The prison housing units are fully homogenous. 40 cells are arranged in two levels, ten cells on the lower and ten on the upper. Together, the forty cells form a single "pod", or - more correctly - "housing unit" in which inmates live during their incarceration. Accommodation is sparse and tight, with each double bunked cell having bunks, a stainless steel toilet/ sink pedestal combination and a small desk and fixed chair for eating or writing. The cells are configured so that a Corrections Officer can see throughout the cell. Each cell also has a CCTV camera internalised in the lighting fixture.

A large prison yard, with concrete flooring and concrete and wire mesh security cage walls is centred within the prison. The centrality of the yard is fully intentioned, to limit escape opportunities and also to give inmates a view only of the prison. Views of the outside world are very limited. A maximum of three housing units - 120 inmates in total - use the yard at any one time. Two housing units-usage is more normal to prevent overcrowding, and troublesome situations developing. The yard is always heavily guarded when in use, although most Correctional Officers tend to remain on the outside of the yard, or near the exists. Only the most confident, or set-assured, Corrections officers walk through the yard when in use, talking and occasionally confronting inmates in their own environment.

Medical services in the prison are limited by budget and personnel. State funding is limited, and many medical services once provided have been withdrawn. However, the medical staff who have stayed are well trained, effective and determined. Many of them genuinely have an interest in inmate welfare, and the correctional issues faced by incarcerated women in particular. The mental health services are particularly effective, with medium- and long-term counselling, addiction-prevention and women's-health services all being available. Short term triage in the prison is also available, but limited in scope. Any serious multiple emergency - such as gunshots or riot-inflicted injuries - would be treated in the local (five miles distant) St. Saviour's Hospital, a fully accommodated modern hospital in the Californian town of Liddell.