Mule Creek State Prison

Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) is a California State Prison for men. It was opened in June 1987, and covers 866 acres located in Ione, California. The prison has a staff of 1,242 and an annual operating budget of $157 million.

As of July 31, 2022, MCSP was incarcerating people at 115.2% of its design capacity, with 3,785 occupants.

SNY Facility
In 2005, MCSP became the only California state prison exclusively for Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY) inmates. SNY inmates are segregated from the general prison population for their own safety. Many are gang dropouts, informants, sex offenders, and former law enforcement officers.

Former notable inmates

 * Robert John Bardo – Stalker and killer of Rebecca Schaeffer, transferred to Avenal State Prison in Avenal, California
 * John Linley Frazier – Mass murderer; committed suicide by hanging in 2009
 * Joshua Bradley Jenkins - Teenage family annihilator; Transferred to California Medical Facility
 * Roger Kibbe – Serial killer and rapist; killed at Mule Creek in 2021
 * Suge Knight – Record producer, music executive, former American football player released in 2004, later charged with manslaughter
 * Bruce Lisker – Wrongfully convicted of murder; released in 2009
 * Big Lurch – Former rapper convicted of killing and cannibalizing his roommate, transferred to California Health Care Facility in Stockton, California
 * Andrew Luster – Rapist, transferred to Valley State Prison
 * Lyle Menéndez – Killed his parents alongside his brother, transferred to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego
 * Gregory Matthews Miley – Accomplice of serial killer William Bonin; murdered in 2016
 * Herbert Mullin – Serial killer and mass murderer, died in prison in August 2022
 * Gregory Powell – Kidnapped two police officers and killed one of them; died of prostate cancer in 2012
 * Geronimo Pratt – Military veteran wrongfully convicted of murder; released in 1997 and died of a heart attack in 2011
 * Hans Reiser – Former computer programmer and entrepreneur convicted of killing his wife, transferred to Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California
 * David Turpin – Convicted of kidnapping and torturing his own children, transferred to California State Prison, Corcoran
 * Charles 'Tex' Watson – Manson family cult member; later transferred to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility