Central California Facility Releases

CCWF Release Path

Central California Women's Facility is a CDCR state prison in Chowchilla. That single fact controls the release search. A person released from CCWF is not found through the Madera County Jail's archived booking system unless that person also had a separate county booking. The governing record is a CDCR record, and the public search begins with CIRIS, the California Incarcerated Records and Information Search.

A CCWF release may be a determinate sentence release, a release after a parole grant, a transfer, a discharge, a supervision handoff, or another CDCR status change. CIRIS can help identify the state record. The Board of Parole Hearings can explain parole-suitability timing and results when the person does not have a simple fixed release date. After release, CDCR Division of Adult Parole Operations or county PRCS may be the next agency, depending on the person's status.

Confirm a CCWF Release

The CCWF search should move from state custody status to release date and then to supervision. Search by name or CDCR number in CIRIS. Compare identity details carefully. Open the record and look for custody location, release-related dates, parole eligible dates, or released/discharged status. If the record points to parole eligibility or a hearing rather than a fixed date, check BPH calendars and results.

1. Open CDCR CIRIS and search by CDCR number when available, or by name when the number is not known.
2. Confirm that the record belongs to the right person by comparing available identifying details.
3. Check location, custody status, release date, and parole-eligible date fields.
4. Use BPH hearing schedules or results if the person has an indeterminate sentence or parole-suitability issue.
5. After release, use CDCR DAPO or Madera County Probation for parole or PRCS routing when that status applies.

The CDCR CIRIS source is the state search screen for people in CDCR custody or CDCR records.

CIRIS is the right first search for CCWF because it is a state-prison record system, not a county jail roster.

Do not assume that a release date is final. CDCR dates can change because of credits, court orders, resentencing paperwork, parole review, holds, or case-record processing. CDCR's release and resentencing material says case records professionals process court abstracts and minute orders as quickly as possible, but a public search can lag behind court action.

CCWF Records and Contact

The CDCR facility page identifies CCWF's phone and physical address. A contact to the institution should be framed around state-prison records or case-records questions, not county-jail release records. Public callers should have the full name, CDCR number if known, date of birth if known, release date or parole date at issue, and the court case or commitment county if available.

For post-release supervision, the source may shift away from the institution. CDCR DAPO's Northern Region directory lists Fresno parole units for the area, and CDCR's PRCS page explains that people who do not meet DAPO supervision criteria may be released to county supervision. Madera County Probation is the local county supervision contact path when PRCS or probation applies.

CIRIS

California's public search for CDCR custody and state-prison records.

BPH

The Board of Parole Hearings, which schedules and records parole suitability proceedings.

PRCS

Postrelease Community Supervision, a county supervision path for some people leaving CDCR institutions.

About CCWF Release Records

CCWF's location in Chowchilla makes Madera County release searches easy to confuse. A person can be physically housed in Madera County while still being part of the state correctional system. The sheriff's inmate inquiry is built for Madera County Jail bookings. It does not become the release system for CCWF merely because the prison is nearby. The CDCR record controls state-prison custody, discharge, and supervision status.

CDCR and BPH use date terms that differ from a county jail's estimated release date. BPH materials define terms such as Earliest Possible Release Date, Minimum Eligible Parole Date, Nonviolent Parole Eligible Date, Youth Parole Eligible Date, Elderly Parole Eligible Date, and controlling parole eligible date. A CCWF record may therefore show release eligibility before actual release. The hearing outcome, review period, and state record should be checked before treating a date as final.

Madera County CDCR Facilities

Section 19 highlights a distinctive Madera County angle: two CDCR prisons sit in Chowchilla. Central California Women's Facility and Valley State Prison both create state-prison release records, not sheriff jail releases. This matters for families and court watchers because "in Madera County" can describe a physical location, a county case, or a state prison. Those are different records.

Use CCWF's page for someone housed or released from Central California Women's Facility. Use Valley State Prison release records when the CDCR facility was VSP. Use Madera County Jail records only if the person had a local booking at the county jail. Mixing those sources can lead to a false negative because a released CDCR person may never appear in the county jail archive.

CCWF and ICE Release Questions

Madera County's TRUTH Act materials are relevant to local law-enforcement access, but they do not turn CCWF into a county jail release source. Immigration custody questions after a state-prison release should be checked through the official immigration custody path when applicable, and any county disclosure should be read as a transparency record about local access. A CDCR release, a county jail release, and an immigration transfer can be separate events.

For CCWF, start with CDCR. If the question involves a Madera County Jail booking before or after the prison term, search the county archive separately. If the question involves immigration custody after release, use ICE's detainee locator and official court or agency records. Note: A state-prison release in Chowchilla is not automatically a Madera County Jail release.

Search CCWF Release Records

Use the search below as a broad public-record tool only. Official CCWF release confirmation should come from CDCR CIRIS, CDCR records, BPH when parole suitability is involved, and the proper parole or PRCS office after release.