Aired on The California Report evening magazine on March 18, 2011.
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201103181630/d
With a reporter's notebook:
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201103181630/dx
In 1929, oil was discovered in the Kettleman Hills -- and the nearby town of Avenal was born. But by the 1960s, the oil business dried up, and Avenal struggled to find a new economy and identity. They found one, but in an industry most towns had previously shunned: a prison.
