California Institution for Men (CIM)
14901 Central Avenue, Chino, CA 91710, (909) 597-1821
This is a male-only prison in San Bernardino County. It is the state’s largest Level 1, minimum security prison (no perimeter fence), although it also houses maximum security prisoners, has a 100 bed HIV/CID unit and a mental health unit.
The prison serves as an intermediate stop for those sentenced to prison from Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego County, as well as those transferred to prison from the Pitchess Center in Los Angeles County. Prisoners will be transferred to CIM before moving on to their ultimate prison destination.
The prison was built in 1941, it is the third-oldest state prison. It houses over 5,000 prisoners. In 2004, a nearly twenty-year prison guard there was found guilty of distributing drugs to prisoners there who were members of the Nazi Lowriders, a white supremacist group In 2009, there was a prison riot there and over 250 prisoners were injured. The riot broke out between African American and Hispanic prisoners and over 50 of the injured prisoners were sent to local hospitals. The prison was featured in the Hollywood movie, “American History X” involving Edward Norton. The film, about two brothers involved in a Neo-Nazi movement, showed graphic violence.