Central California Women's Facility

California's largest women's prison and the reception center where women enter CDCR custody, outside Chowchilla in Madera County.

Overview

Central California Women’s Facility is, in CDCR’s words, the largest female institution in the state. The Office of the Inspector General identifies it as the only female prison designated as a reception center, which means women entering CDCR custody are received and processed here before a longer-term housing assignment. CDCR’s June 2026 weekly population report listed about 2,170 people against a design capacity of 1,986.

The prison sits on rural Road 22 outside Chowchilla, directly across the road from Valley State Prison, a men’s institution. Two state prisons share the same rural area, so the assigned facility — not the town name — determines the destination and the visiting rules.

What Makes Central California Women’s Facility Different

• It is the entry point for women in CDCR custody: the only female prison designated as a reception center, so most women start their sentence here regardless of where they are eventually housed.
• It held California’s only condemned unit for women. CDCR’s Condemned Inmate Transfer Program page states the segregated unit has been phased out and the women previously housed there have been relocated to general population at CCWF.
• It sits across the road from Valley State Prison (21633 Avenue 24), a men’s prison — families sometimes confuse the two Chowchilla institutions.
• Programming runs at unusual scale for a women’s facility. CDCR lists prison industries (dental laboratory, fabric products, farming, garment making), vocational training, and academic programs through a college degree.

Visiting Hours and Procedures

CDCR posts CCWF’s schedule, processing cutoffs, and family-visit instructions on the facility’s visiting status page.

Family (overnight) visits are scheduled Tuesday-Thursday and Friday-Sunday. CDCR’s statewide rules exclude anyone still in the reception process from family visits. CCWF publishes specific food-ordering steps for family visits — groceries are ordered through delivery to the visitor processing building on a set timeline — so review the current instructions on the visiting status page before the visit.

Video visiting has been decommissioned at CCWF, consistent with CDCR ending weekend video visiting at adult institutions in 2023. Statewide rules, dress code, and the approval process are covered in Visiting in California.

Getting There and Parking

CCWF is in the Central Valley along the CA-99 corridor, reached by local roads off the highway near Chowchilla.

CDCR does not publish CCWF-specific parking details online. CDCR directs visitors to check Caltrans QuickMap for road conditions before traveling; Central Valley fog is a seasonal factor on CA-99.

There is no public transit to the prison. Madera County Connection runs a weekday bus route between Madera and the town of Chowchilla, but it does not serve the prison, so the final approach on Road 22 is by car.

Nearby Services

Chowchilla is a small town; services cluster along the CA-99 corridor. Hotel sites list chain properties in Chowchilla, including Days Inn by Wyndham, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, and SureStay Hotel by Best Western. Broader food, grocery, and lodging options are in Madera and Fresno.

The nearest hospital is Madera Community Hospital in Madera, which reopened in March 2025 with a 22-bay emergency department after a closure that began in late 2022. Full-service hospitals are in Fresno.

For broader family support beyond the institution itself, Friends Outside is a California nonprofit, operating since 1955, that assists families of incarcerated people and operates visitor centers at state prisons.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at a California state prison:

• Visiting in California — CDCR approval process, dress code, scheduling
• Mail & Packages — What you can send and what gets rejected
• Phone & Video Calls — Call costs, tablets, and video visits
• Sending Money — How to add funds to a CDCR trust account
• Medical & Mental Health — Healthcare in CDCR facilities
• Transfers — What happens during transfers