Ironwood State Prison


Ironwood State Prison is a state prison located south of Interstate 10, in a detached section of Blythe, California, that lies west of the main portion of the city. It is located in eastern Riverside County, California, adjacent to Chuckawalla Valley State Prison.
WWW cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Lo...

Facilities and programs

ISP consists of four Level III facilities and an outside Level I facility. Parts of the Level III facilities have been converted to Sensitive Needs Yard housing, and one of the Level III housing units has been converted to an Administrative Segregation Unit. Neil McDowell has been the warden or acting warden since 2014.
As of July 31, 2022, ISP was incarcerating people at 112% of its design capacity, with 2,464 occupants.
ISP lists the following programs as available to those incarcerated in the facility:Academic: Adult Basic Education I, Adult Basic Education II, GED, Independent StudyVocational: Auto Body, Auto Mechanics, Building Maintenance, Carpentry, Electronics, Masonry, Office Services Related Tech, Plumbing, WeldingRehabilitative: Actors’ Gang, Alcoholics Anonymous, Alternatives to Violence, Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Community Based Art Program, Criminals and Gangs Anonymous, Father2Child Literacy Program, Great Dads, Healing Dialogue and Action, I-4-Sight, Inmate Peer Education Program, Inside Out Writers, Kairos, Life's Too Short, Lifer's Group, Narcotics Anonymous, Meditation Buddhist Pathways, Partnership for Re-Entry Program, Prison of Peace, Seven Areas of Life Training, Siddha Yoga Meditation, The Urban Ministries Institute, Veterans Group Ironwood, Victim Offender Education Group
In 2015, ISP became the second launch site for The Last Mile, a non-profit organization that teaches computer programming to inmates in prisons.

Notable events

In 2014, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition teamed up with the Ford Foundation and others to host a TEDx conference inside Ironwood with hundreds in attendance, including Richard Branson. ARC produced a short documentary about the event. A short documentary is accessible on YouTube.

Notable people incarcerated at the prison