Sierra Conservation Center CDCR Inmate Lookup

Sierra Conservation Center Overview

Sierra Conservation Center is operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Jamestown. It is the one CDCR adult institution physically located in Tuolumne County, but it is not part of the Tuolumne County jail system. The correct lookup route is the statewide California Incarcerated Records and Information Search, commonly called CIRIS, because SCC holds people sentenced to CDCR custody rather than people held for local booking or short county-jail detention.

CDCR describes SCC as a mission facility for housing, programs, services, and training or placement into the Conservation Camp Program. The facility includes two dormitory-type facilities for minimum and low-medium custody and a 270-design facility with celled housing for high-medium custody. Research also identifies the institution as a Level I, Level II, and Level III Non-Designated Programming Facility, with minimum, low-medium, and high-medium custody populations.

Warden Joshua Prudhel has been listed by CDCR as the warden since May 2025. The prison's local role is larger than ordinary housing because it trains and places people into conservation and fire-camp assignments, connecting Tuolumne County custody infrastructure to statewide wildfire response and rehabilitation programming.

Sierra Conservation Center Capacity and Population

The most specific SCC population figures come from CDCR's weekly population report dated April 15, 2026. That report listed Sierra Conservation Center with a population of 4,132, design capacity of 4,592, staffed capacity of 5,424, and 90.0 percent occupancy. These numbers are state-prison figures and should not be mixed with the BSCC county jail daily population numbers for the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department.

SCC's scale also explains why CDCR, not the Sheriff, controls its public custody search. A person who disappears from county custody after sentencing may have been released, moved to another local agency, or transferred into CDCR reception and classification. Once CDCR custody begins, CIRIS is the practical public locator.

How to Look Up an Inmate at Sierra Conservation Center

Use CDCR CIRIS for Sierra Conservation Center. Do not search for SCC custody through the Tuolumne County jail portal unless the question is about an earlier arrest, booking, or pre-sentence county jail stay. CIRIS can search by CDCR number or by name, and public fields include current location, commitment counties, admission date, and Board of Parole hearing dates and outcomes where applicable.

1. Open CDCR CIRIS, the statewide incarcerated-person locator for California prisons.
2. Search by CDCR number when known, or search by last name with optional first name and age filters.
3. Confirm that the current location field lists Sierra Conservation Center or another CDCR institution.
4. If CIRIS does not locate the person, follow CDCR's fallback references to VINELink, the BOP locator, or the CDCR Identification Unit at 916-445-6713 during business hours.

The CIRIS screenshot below is from the official CDCR locator and fits SCC because state-prison custody is searched through CDCR rather than the county jail.

CIRIS did not list public mugshots as a documented result field, so use it for custody and location information rather than as a prison photo gallery.

Sierra Conservation Center Address and Contact

Sierra Conservation Center has separate physical and incarcerated-person mailing formats. The public facility address is on O'Byrnes Ferry Road in Jamestown. CDCR's mail format uses a 5150 O'Byrnes Ferry Road mailing line and requires the incarcerated person's name, CDCR number, and housing number. Sending mail without those identifiers can delay routing inside the institution.

For someone who might still be in local pretrial custody, the Dambacher Detention Center and the Sheriff's custody status process remain separate. No BOP or ICE facility was located in Tuolumne County, so the correct federal and immigration fallbacks are the BOP locator and ICE ODLS.

Visiting Someone at Sierra Conservation Center

Sierra Conservation Center uses CDCR statewide visiting rules, not the Tuolumne County jail's SmartInmate, Securus, or daily evening schedule. State prison visits generally require approval and compliance with CDCR scheduling and visiting procedures. The practical first step is to confirm eligibility and current CDCR visit rules before travel, because prison visiting can change by custody level, housing, disciplinary status, health restrictions, or statewide policy.

Do not import the Dambacher Detention Center visitation rules into SCC planning. The county jail visit length, visitor count, and vendor conflict are local jail issues, while SCC is a state prison operating under CDCR family and friends rules.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Sierra Conservation Center

CDCR statewide rules control SCC mail, packages, phone access, and money deposits. Official material provides the SCC incarcerated-person mail format but does not document a county-style commissary fee table for the prison. Use CDCR family and friends resources for current package vendors, phone rules, money transfer options, and restrictions before sending funds or property.

The distinction matters because the DDC jail mail address is a Smart Communications processing address for Tuolumne County Jail. SCC mail must identify the person by name and CDCR number and use the CDCR-listed Jamestown format.

Sierra Conservation Center Admission and Classification

SCC is not a street-arrest booking center. A person reaches SCC after conviction and sentencing into CDCR custody, followed by state intake, classification, and placement decisions. Jail records cover the earlier local stage, such as arrest, booking, first court appearances, and local custody at Dambacher Detention Center. CDCR records cover the prison stage after transfer.

Grand Jury details help explain the facility layout. The 2022-2023 Civil Grand Jury described Level I A Yard dorms with 32 inmates each, using 16 double bunks, day rooms, toilets, and showers. It described B Yard as Level II housing and C Yard as Level III housing with five separate buildings and cells usually housing two inmates each.

Sierra Conservation Center Programs, Camps, and Local Role

SCC's mission includes housing, programs, services, and training or placement for the Conservation Camp Program. CDCR says SCC supports 30 adult male camps, including 26 camps jointly operated with CAL FIRE and four with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The facility's medical and mental-health designation is low- to medium-risk medical and Correctional Clinical Case Management System or lower.

Documented programs are broad. Grand Jury and CDCR materials identify GED, Adult Basic Education, physical fitness, firefighter training, community college, religious programs, Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment, cognitive behavioral interventions, Transitions Program, California ID Card Program, CARE grants, Arts in Corrections, and vocational trades. Grand Jury notes also referenced auto body and fender, auto mechanics, welding, masonry, carpentry, office services, electronics, building maintenance, Prison Industry Authority sewing and textiles, self-help groups, and a dog program with Friends of the Animal Community.

SCC gives Tuolumne County a local connection to statewide conservation work. The Grand Jury tour observed inmates doing cement work and a mural, and prison staff wanted more volunteers and more public awareness of rehabilitation work. That local detail fits SCC's public role: the institution is both a state prison and a training hub for fire-camp assignments that reach well beyond Jamestown.