Marching to their own tune, about 400 protestors rallied outside of the women’s prison in Chowchilla Saturday.
Sandra Johnson has a sister inside and was once a prisoner herself.
"It is very overcrowded, the rooms are too small, I'm very concerned about that because of course I have a loved one," said Johnson.
But CCWF spokesman Travis Wright disagrees.
"Central California Women's Facility is not overcrowded. All of our inmates are housed in traditional style beds, there are no non-traditional beds being used," said Wright.
The prison is currently operating at 187-percent capacity but prison officials say the capacity rating overlooks an important detail.
"The design capacity as of 1990 was 2,004 so that was without bunk beds. Now with bunk beds it has gone up to a little over 4,000," said Wright.
Since being ordered by the Supreme Court to reduce its prison population, the state of California has lowered the number of prisoners in its system by tens of thousands. But the protestors at Chowchilla say it isn’t enough.
"We've seen these overcrowded conditions before and now we are seeing them again just as bad as they were in 2007," said protestor Kolby Lenz.
