Bakersfield officials are sounding optimistic about putting some of their prisoners in the Taft Community Correctional Facility as early as July, but Taft officials say that’s news to them.
Recent news articles coming out about a City of Bakersfield task force meeting quoted Bakersfield officials as saying an agreement is close.
Taft’s mayor and city manager disagree.
Mayor Dave Noerr and City Manager Craig Jones said that there have been a series of meetings since last fall, there is nothing close to any kind of an agreement to house prisoners convicted of minor crimes in Bakersfield in Taft’s CCF.
Both Noerr and Jones said they were caught off guards by reports from KGET-TV and the Bakersfield Californian, quoting Bakersfield City Manager Christian Clegg and others that they were close to a deal and could have Bakersfield inmates in the Taft CCF a early as July or August.
Jone said nothing has changed since late January.
“I don’t know where they are getting this stuff from,” Jones told the Taft Midway Driller. “Nothing has changed since I talked to you (in late January).”
“We haven’t even discussed numbers with them,” Noerr said.
Noerr and Jones both said they think politicians are being pushed by the business community and prematurely raising hopes that a deal is imminent when its not.
Taft and Bakersfield have been talking about housing inmates in the CCF since late 2025. Nothing concrete has been discussed, Noerr and Jones said.
The conversations about bringing inmates convicted of minor crimes in Bakersfield to serve their sentence in Taft instead of just releasing them after sentencing in Bakersfield have led to the formation of a task force in Bakersfield involving city government, law enforcement and business owners.
The business owners, most in the downtown area, are fed up with repeat offenders for petty crimes like trespassing, public intoxication, vandalism and other minor offenses serving no jail time. They then come right back to the streets.
The Kern County Sheriff is limited by a court ruling and staffing on how many inmates they can hold.
That means many offenders serve little or no time.
Taft became an option because of the CCF. It houses inmates for the United States Marshals and the Bureau of Prisons but still has plenty of room for more inmates, and is willing to deal with other agencies like Bakersfield, Jones said.
With many details to agree on, Jones said, reaching an agreement will be complicated. Three agencies — The City of Taft, City of Bakersfield and the Kern County Sheriff’s Office — have to come to an agreement and there are still many logistical issues to hammer out, like medical care, transportation and liability.
And the details have not been discussed in depth yet, let alone worked out.
There have not even been any concrete discussion of the the number of inmates the CCF will be housing for Bakersfield.
“There is nothing formal at this point. Nothing,” Jones said. “But we are willing to meet with them and discuss this.”