Folsom State Prison

California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) program includes administration, a Braille enterprise, a license plate factory where the inmates have been making California license plates since before the 1930s, maintenance, metal fabrication, a printing plant, and a sign shop.[14]

The Vocational Inmate Program referred to as Construction and Technical Education (CTE's) include welding, auto mechanics, electronics, electrical works, masonry, building-maintenance, plumbing, carpentry, Sustainable Ecological Environmental Development (SEEDS), and office services.

The Academic Inmate Program includes Adult Basic Education, High School/GED, English as a Second Language, a literacy program, and computer assisted instruction.

In 1920, three convicts hijacked a prison train that was used to move materials and smashed it through a prison gate to escape.[17]

On June 16, Dwight E. Abbott, 24, a Los Angeles robber, escaped from Folsom by making a lifelike dummy. The dummy was cleverly made to look real enough with Abbott's own hair, that of his cellmate, and a plaster of Paris face, to fool the guards until late the next day. This, according to the Warden, was seen in his bed and deceived the guards until general lock-up.[18]

An inmate, Carl Reese, tried to escape in 1932 using a diving suit fashioned from a football bladder, a goggle lens, and other scrounged materials. According to Floyd Davis, a prison guard of 13 years who continued to volunteer at the museum after his retirement, the inmate only made one mistake: he didn't make his breathing tube long enough and ended up drowning in the power-house-mill pond.[17] Guards had to drain the pond to recover the inmate's body.[17]

Approximately 40 inmates had been waiting to talk to Warden Clarence Larkin concerning upcoming parole hearings when seven of the inmates suddenly attacked him.[19] As they took him into the yard, other guards started firing. In the commotion that followed, Officer Harry Martin and Warden Larkin were both stabbed to death. Officer Martin died at the scene, and Warden Larkin died of his wounds five days later.[19]

The inmates involved in the attack were said to have attacked the Warden and the officer with shanks (prison-made knives). Also, a prison-made wooden semiautomatic pistol was found; it was carved and meant for use in the attack.

One of the seven inmates who attempted to escape was wanted for the murder of Officer James Hill, of the Marlow, Oklahoma Police Department, on April 20, 1931.[19]

Two of the escaping inmates were fatally shot during the incident. The remaining five were all sentenced to death and eventually executed in late 1938. Two suspects, including the one who had murdered Officer Hill, were executed in the gas chamber on December 2. Two others were executed on December 9, and the leader of the group was executed on December 16.[20]

Inmate Glen Stewart Godwin's notable escape earned him a spot on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

In 1987, Godwin attempted to escape during his incarceration at Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy, California, and he was moved to the maximum-security Folsom State Prison.

Authorities believe Godwin's wife, Shelly Rose Godwin, and his former cellmate in Deuel, Lorenz Karlic, helped to plan his successful escape from Folsom.[21] A hacksaw and other tools had been smuggled into the prison for Godwin. On June 5, 1987, he cut a hole through fence wire and escaped into a storm drain that emptied into the American River. Godwin dropped through a manhole and crawled 750 feet through the pitch black drain. Either Godwin's wife or his accomplice Karlic had left a raft that Godwin used to float down the river, following painted arrows on rocks that directed him where to go.[21]

In June 1987, Karlic was arrested in Hesperia, California,[22] and convicted for aiding Godwin's escape.[23] In January 1988, Shelly Godwin was classified as a federal fugitive for her role in her husband's escape. The FBI captured her in Dallas, Texas, on February 7, 1990.[24]

Godwin was arrested in Mexico in 1991 but escaped again from a prison in Guadalajara in September of that year and remains at large.[25]

Two minimum-security inmates, Jeffrey William Howard, 43, and Garrett Daniel Summet, 34, escaped from Folsom on October 19, 2010.[26]

Prison spokesman Lt. Anthony Gentile did not elaborate on the circumstances of how the men got away, only saying that the two men fled from the prison's Minimum Support Facility,[26] and that the escape was discovered when the two failed to report to their work areas.[27]

Folsom State Prison correctional staff and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Office of Correctional Safety agents initiated escapee apprehension efforts.[27] The CDCR, local law enforcement agencies, and the California Highway Patrol joined the search for the two men,[26] who were apprehended in Inglewood, CA on November 22, 2010.[28]

Inmate Todd Willis walked away at about 8 A.M. from a minimum-security housing facility at the prison; five days later on October 31, 2017, an off-duty officer was driving through Rancho Cordova when she spotted him. Police were contacted and Willis was quickly apprehended.[29]

Singer Johnny Cash made FSP widely known to the outside world through his song "Folsom Prison Blues" (1956) – which narrated a fictional account of an outlaw's incarceration, and through the two live concerts he performed at FSP. The first was in 1966; the more famous, held on January 13, 1968 in the FSP cafeteria, was recorded as the album At Folsom Prison. Cash later said the FSP inmates "were the most enthusiastic audience I ever played."[33] The "Folsom Prison Blues" single from that album was #1 on the country music chart for four weeks, and the album was on the top 200 pop album chart for 122 weeks.[33] A 40th-anniversary tribute concert was to take place in the same cafeteria at FSP on January 13, 2008, with a special appearance by Cash's original drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland.[34] The original plans were to stream the concert over the Internet, with four nonprofit groups underwriting the show and sharing in any proceeds from the show.[34] However, a few days before the concert was to occur, it was canceled in a dispute over filming rights, media access, and security concerns.[35]

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cash's groundbreaking concert, the California norteño band Los Tigres del Norte performed for both male and female inmates at FSP. The performances were filmed as part of a Netflix special, and was released in September 2019.

FSP has been the location of a number of feature films, including Riot in Cell Block 11, Convicts 4, American Me, The Jericho Mile, Another 48 Hrs., Diggstown, parts of Walk the Line (a biographical film of Johnny Cash), and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison.

On the M-5 freeway in Farmington Hills, MI, two service drives – named Folsom and Freedom – are adjacent to the eastbound and westbound sides respectively.

Folsom Prison is mentioned in The Offspring's 1998 song, "Walla Walla." However, the implied or mistaken location of Folsom is in Walla Walla, Washington, based on the song's lyrics.

New Folsom Prison in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty was named after the facility.