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32-717: The Fresno Bulldogs can be traced back to the 1970s but did not become an independent street gang until the 1980s. Their independence developed in the California prison system during the prison wars of 1984—1985. Back when there was still an allegiance between Norteños and F-14ers, the gang was known as F-14. In 1986 the F-14ers went to war with the Norteños, which led to a violent war in the California prison system known in gang folklore as "The Red Wave". The F-14ers began using

64-459: A $ 15.8B budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which was 7.4% of the state budget , and $ 13.6 billion ($ 13.3 billion General Fund and $ 347 million other funds) for CDCR in 2021-22. The state's prison medical care system has been in receivership since 2006, when a federal court ruled in Plata v. Brown that the state failed to provide a constitutional level of medical care to its prisoners. Since 2009,

96-411: A constitutional level of medical care to its prisoners and ordered the state's prison medical care system be put into receivership . The receivership started in 2006 and is still active. After the state's prison population peaked in 2006, a three-judge panel was convened in Plata and Coleman . This panel ordered the state to reduce its prison population to 137.5% of prison design capacity. The court order

128-422: A doubled sentence for any felony if the person convicted had a prior "serious or violent" felony conviction. It also required a mandatory 25-year-to-life sentence for any felony if the person convicted had two prior "serious or violent" felony convictions. Three Strikes was one of the largest drivers of California's increasing prison population over the next 2 decades. The highest recorded CDCR daily prison population

160-705: A federal court ruled in Plata v. Brown that the state failed to provide a constitutional level of medical care to its prisoners. Since 2009, the state has been under court order to reduce prison overcrowding to no higher than 137.5% of total design capacity. "The state spends millions of dollars each year in class-action litigation costs alone", often related to overcrowding or inadequate health care. In 2012, in response to multiple long-standing class-action lawsuits, as well as budget concerns and continuing overcrowding after Public Safety Realignment , CDCR published "The Future of California Corrections: A Blueprint to Save Billions of Dollars, End Federal Court Oversight, and Improve

192-779: A history of substance abuse. PVSP converted one of its general population yards into a sensitive needs yard (SNY) in November 2002, and now houses approximately 900 SNY inmates on D Facility. Then in May 2004 converted A Facility to a sensitive needs yard and houses 1000 inmates on A Facility. As of July 31, 2022, PVSP was incarcerating people at 116.4% of its design capacity, with 2,688. In 2005–2006, PVSP and Avenal State Prison (ASP) were particularly affected by Valley fever , with 150 new cases from PVSP and 30 from ASP in 2005 and 514 at PVSP and 91 at ASP in 2006. In 2007 Valley fever had killed at least four PVSP inmates and one staff member over

224-744: A moratorium on the death penalty, it has the largest condemned population of any state in the United States. While the last execution in California was in 2006, incarcerated people die in California prisons regularly. The most common cause of death in prison is "natural causes" (old age, chronic illness, or disease), followed by homicide at the hands of a law enforcement officer and then suicide. There were 9,909 deaths in CDCR custody from 2005 - 2018: Most suicides are via hanging. Most accidental deaths are from drug overdoses. The state's prison medical care system has been in receivership since 2006, when

256-503: A neighborhood per se, but instead operate throughout the city such as DLG (Dog Life Gang) Bulldogs, RTL (Ruthless Thug Life) Bulldogs and Primos Bulldogs. The Fresno Bulldogs do not have any allies and are one of the few gangs in California unaffiliated with the Bloods , Crips , Sureños , or Norteños . Their main revenue is from the street level distribution of marijuana , heroin , and methamphetamine . The Fresno Police Department and

288-520: A state budget of $ 15,788,581,000, or 7.4% of the total state budget, and was the 4th largest agency area budget. The majority of that budget goes towards personnel costs, with an estimated 57,653 positions funded for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. CDCR funding is organized into the following programs: The costs to run prisons are substantially subsidized by the use of incarcerated labor. Incarcerated workers do meal preparation, laundry, janitorial services, building maintenance, and other activities necessary for

320-529: Is a system of prisons , fire camps , contract beds, reentry programs, and other special programs administered by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Division of Adult Institutions to incarcerate approximately 117,000 people as of April 2020. CDCR owns and operates 34 prisons throughout the state and operates 1 prison leased from a private company . The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had

352-772: Is still active. Since that court order, the state has taken several steps to reduce prison overcrowding. In 2011, California passed Public Safety Realignment , which altered sentencing and supervision guidelines to shift responsibility for some prisoners to counties. Under Realignment, people with convictions for "non-serious, non-violent, non-sex" crimes serve their sentences in county jails and are under county community supervision upon release. CDCR also contracted with private companies to incarcerate thousands of people in private facilities in other states. Other legislative changes to reduce prison overcrowding include 2014 California Proposition 47 , which changed some felonies to misdemeanors, and 2016 California Proposition 57 , which allowed

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384-884: The Eighth Amendment 's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as due process under the Fourteenth Amendment . This court case ended the use of indeterminate solitary confinement in California. Pleasant Valley State Prison Pleasant Valley State Prison ( PVSP ) is a 640-acre (260 ha) minimum-to-maximum security state prison in Coalinga , Fresno County, California . The facility has housed convicted murderers Sirhan Sirhan , Erik Menendez , X-Raided , Paul Flores and Hans Reiser , among others. The prison opened in November 1994. On July 17, 2000, PVSP activated two substance abuse programs involving community services for inmates who have

416-523: The parole board to release people convicted of "non-violent" crimes once they served the full sentence for their primary offense. Prop 57 also required CDCR to develop uniform parole credits for good behavior and rehabilitative achievements, to incentivize rehabilitation. While prison populations have been declining since their peak in 2006, as of April 2020, 32 of California's 35 state-run prisons have incarcerated populations above their design capacities, and 10 prisons have incarcerated populations greater than

448-448: The 137.5% limit from the Plata and Coleman court order. Valley State Prison has the highest overcrowding rate, with an incarcerated population at 150.1% of design capacity. Since the 2007–2008 fiscal year (the oldest year with enacted budget records maintained online by the state), Corrections and Rehabilitation has been between 6.3% and 7.8% of the California state budget. In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Corrections and Rehabilitation had

480-565: The 1990s to late 2000s (decade). The Fresno Bulldogs are found across the city in different neighborhoods and outside of the city limits. There are many minor cities outside of Fresno CA that are home to the Bulldogs Gang including but not limited to Clovis, Sanger (Sanger Bangers), Dinuba, Reedly, Kerman, Coalinga, Parlier, Selma (VSR), and Fowler. The cities outside of Fresno directly are referred to as "County Dogs." Most sets are referred to by their corresponding neighborhoods and sides of

512-681: The Bulldog gang continues to exert its influence on the community. Bulldogs gang members sometimes fight each other because of affiliation with a rival Bulldog gang set. One rising concern in the California State Prison System as well as the Fresno County Jail and Fresno County Juvenile is gang violence between the large Hispanic gangs, particularly the Fresno Bulldogs, Norteños , and Sureños . At

544-621: The Bulldogs are the highest security threat in the Fresno County Jail . The Bulldogs are also considered one of the highest security threat groups in many of California's State Prisons, such as Corcoran State Prison , Pleasant Valley State Prison , Soledad State Prison , and Valley State Prison . Within the last 5 years, the Bulldogs have started small-scale to large-scale riots in each of these prisons. Prisons in California The California state prison system

576-590: The Fresno County Sheriff's Department have tried various different crackdowns on Bulldog gang activity. In November 2006, Operation Magic was launched to wipe out the Bulldog street gang. The operation has led to thousands of arrests, but the independent nature of the gang has complicated police efforts to contain crimes attributed to gang members. The Fresno Police Departments efforts have led to 2,422 felony arrests of Bulldog gang members and associates. However, even with increased gang suppression tactics

608-577: The Prison System", which articulated a strategy to improve rehabilitative programming, health care, housing, and parole operations. In 2013, people in long-term solitary confinement in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison initiated a hunger strike in protest of the state's solitary confinement practices. A subsequent lawsuit, Ashker v. Governor of California , alleged that long-term solitary confinement violated

640-405: The bulldog name and mascot of Fresno State University including the paw print and bulldog head image in their graffiti and tattoos. They also bark to one another as a call sign, "Bulldog Calling" and address each other as "Dog", "Perro" or "Efe". They also adopted Fresno State apparel as de facto uniforms; causing a tenfold increase in royalties to the university from licensed merchandise sales from

672-571: The city. "Eastside Bulldogs" include neighborhoods located on Fresno's Eastside & Southeast side. They often represent their set with the 3 letters "ESF, or East Side Fresno. Sets include the Bond Street Bulldogs, McKenzie Street Bulldogs, 5th Street Bulldogs, Backer Street Bulldogs, Fresno Flats Bulldogs, Calwa Bulldogs, Eastside Bulldogs, Lewis Street Bulldogs, Butler Park Bulldogs, Daisy Park Bulldogs, Floradora Bulldogs, and Sunny City Bulldogs. Fresno's westside, often represented by

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704-446: The day-to-day operations of a prison. Incarcerated workers are paid between $ .08 and $ .37 per hour for their labor. CDCR divides the in-custody population into men and women. Men make up 95.5% of the in-custody population. Prisons facilities are designed for and run based on a specific gender. In 2019, the California state legislature passed SB 132, "The Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act", which will require that CDCR "house

736-567: The following designations: California has two death row locations for men at San Quentin State Prison and Corcoran State Prison . There is one death row location for women being Central California Women's Facility . While capital punishment is still legal in California, the last execution was in 2006 and Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on executions in 2019. See Capital punishment in California for further details. Over

768-538: The heart of the problem is the Fresno Bulldogs, who have participated in over 32 battles with other prison gangs from 2018 to 2019, ranging from small fights to full-scale prison riots , according to data prepared for the AP by the inspector general's office. Many correctional officers have often stated the members of Fresno's notorious Bulldogs gang have been particularly resistant to peacemaking, with gang members brawling in what critics labeled “gladiator fights”. Officials say

800-473: The most recent CDCR "Offender Data Points" report, the California state prison population breaks down by ethnicity as follows: As of the most recent CDCR "Offender Data Points" report, the California state prison population breaks down by sentence type as follows: Per the report, "Others" includes "those with commitment information not yet entered, those sentenced to prison for diagnostic evaluation, and boarders from other jurisdictions". While California has

832-491: The passage of the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act of 1976 . The introduction of determinate sentencing and subsequent increases in prison sentence lengths was the largest driver in a nearly 900% increase in California's prison population over the next 3 decades. In 1994, as part of a wave of "tough on crime" laws passed across the country, California passed a Three Strikes Law that required

864-531: The past 4 decades, the California prison system has been substantially shaped by a set of legislative initiatives that caused a large increase in the prison population, which resulted in severe prison overcrowding and unconstitutional living conditions. Those conditions led to a set of court cases that mandated a reduction in overcrowding and changes to prison services, which resulted in a number of legislative initiatives to reduce overcrowding and improve conditions. California's prison population grew dramatically after

896-425: The person in a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference" starting in 2021. Two prisons, California Institute for Women and Central California Women's Facility , are designated for women, and additionally Folsom State Prison houses men and women in separate facilities. All other prisons are designated for men. 3 of the 44 fire camps are designated for women. As of

928-624: The state has been under court order to reduce prison overcrowding to no higher than 137.5% of total design capacity. California's first state prison was the Waban , a 268-ton wooden ship anchored in San Francisco Bay. Men incarcerated on the Waban constructed California's oldest active state prison, San Quentin State Prison , which opened in 1852. California's newest state prison, California Health Care Facility , opened in 2013 as part of

960-757: The state's response to the federal court ruling in Plata v. Brown that the state failed to provide a constitutional level of medical care to its prisoners. Today, CDCR owns and operates 34 state prisons. CDCR additionally staffs California City Correctional Facility , which was leased from CoreCivic starting in 2013 as part of measures to reduce state prison overcrowding. Two facilities, California Institute for Women and Central California Women's Facility , are designated for women, and additionally Folsom State Prison houses men and women in separate facilities. The Legislative Analyst's Office describes four special missions for specific California state prisons, which impact their design and staffing: CDCR additionally makes

992-475: The three letters WSF or simply Westside Fresno, features College Street Bulldogs, Westside Bulldogs, Parkside Bulldogs, and Sunset Bulldogs. Fresno's Northside, represented by the three letters NSF or Northside Fresno, is home to the Highway City Bulldogs, Northside Bulldogs, Marty Block Bulldogs, Pinedale Bulldogs, and Pleasant Street Bulldogs. There are several other Bulldog sets that do not have

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1024-453: Was on October 20, 2006, with 173,643 people under custody. In response to this population growth, between 1984 and 2005 California built 21 of the 35 prisons that CDCR currently operates in the state (see List of California state prisons for full details). Despite this construction, most of the prisons continued to be overcrowded. In 1995, the court ruled in federal class action civil rights lawsuit Plata v. Brown that CDCR failed to provide

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