California State Prison, Solano (SOL)
2100 Peabody Road, Vacaville, CA 95696 , (707) 451-0182
Opened in 1984, this male-only prison is one of two prisons in Vacaville, very close to Travis Air Force Base. The prison is about midway between San Francisco and Sacramento - 45 miles from San Francisco and 35 miles from Sacramento. The other prison is the California Medical Facility, which is a prison offering medical care. SOL, however, is more of a traditional prison, with a population of 5,050 in December, 2011. This number, however, has surely decreased due to AB109.
In 1998, the prison so was overcrowded that inmates were housed in triple bunks there, including inside the prison gyms. By 2009, such triple bunking had been removed and no one lived in the gyms anymore. The prison was also somewhat famous for a 2002 federal district court of appeals ruling that allowed Muslim inmates there to wear traditional, long beards and attend weekly Muslim services.