The State - News from Jan. 30, 1989

State prisons may be located in two more San Joaquin Valley communities during the 1990s-- Porterville and Coalinga. Prisons have become the valley’s biggest growth business of late with new men’s lockups opening at Avenal and Corcoran in Kings County, the world’s biggest women’s prison being built in Madera County and smaller facilities on the boards in other valley towns. A state Department of Corrections report to the Legislature says plans are moving ahead to locate prisons at Coalinga in western Fresno County and at Porterville in southeastern Tulare County. A preliminary site evaluation under way at Coalinga should be finished by spring, the report added. And corrections officials hope to hold community meetings in the Porterville area later in the year before beginning site evaluations.