As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, CCWF had a total of 1,205 staff and an annual operating budget of US$138 million.

The prison provides inmate academic education, vocational training, counseling and specialized programs for the purpose of successful reintegration into society.

The Madera County board of supervisors gave the prison its current name in 1989 "after months of discussion and disagreement".

[8] Starting in April 2007, CCWF received some inmates from California Rehabilitation Center after closure of the women's wing at that prison.

[22] After Governor Pete Wilson decreed in December 1991 that CCWF shall hold all female death row inmates in California, Maureen McDermott became the first death row inmate at CCWF.