Filthy Water in California's Avenal State Prison

Avenal State Prison (ASP) is a men's state prison in the city of Avenal, Kings County, California, situated near Interstate 5 about halfway between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

ASP is a "low-medium security" prison with "open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage." As of 2009, ASP had 1,603 staff and an annual budget of $144 million. As of September 2007, it had a design capacity of 2,920 but a total institution population of 7,582 (the largest among California state prisons). ASP has been described as the "most overcrowded prison in the state [of California]"; its September 2007 occupancy rate was 259.7 percent.

In the early 1980s, "almost everyone" in the town of Avenal desired the prison to be built to improve the economic status of the town. It was reportedly "the first prison to be solicited by a local community." As of 1984, the plans were to build "the largest enclosed security compound in the nation."

The receiver of the California state prison health care system blamed three deaths among ASP inmates in December 2006 on a "complete breakdown in medical care coverage."

ASP houses mobility-impaired inmates in two facilities that, according to the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation, have been modified to meet ADA standards.