Hundreds of angry residents packed the Zamora Community Hall last week to fight what they called an underhanded attempt to build a new form of prison near their ranches and retirement homes.

Men in baseball caps and work boots leaned against the back wall, while senior citizens sat on folding chairs and fanned themselves in the evening heat.

They took turns venting frustration at a dozen government officials who had come to promote a 500-bed mini-prison – a re-entry facility – in rural Yolo County.

"I didn't move out here for someone to be sneaky about putting a prison in my backyard," said Vaughnette Lovell, 42, of Dunnigan. "Go away."

The facility, like others planned around the state, is designed to look more like a residential center than a prison: no concertina wire or extreme security. It would house inmates in their last year of detention; they'll get help learning how to cope in the outside world and avoid reoffending.

Officials said the facilities will lessen the burden on the state's overflowing prisons.

The new facility would also net Yolo County $30 million from the state to expand its crowded county jail in Woodland.

The re-entry center would provide up to 350 jobs in an area county officials have slated for construction of thousands of new homes.

"You don't get too many home runs like this from an economic development perspective," said county Supervisor Matt Rexroad of Woodland on Friday.

Rexroad said the facility was better suited to an industrial area, but the county shouldn't let the opportunity pass.

At Tuesday's meeting, many had already made up their minds against the re-entry prison.

Among those who questioned it was Rexroad's father, Jack Rexroad, 72, of Zamora.

Cheryl Washington, 60, of Zamora was greeted with loud applause when she vowed residents would fight.

"We're farmers," she said. "We're digging in the soil. We don't want it."

Residents say county officials quietly targeted the Dunnigan-Zamora area because they knew Davis, Woodland, and West Sacramento would reject the facility.

Wilma Gullatt, a retiree who lives amid almond orchards near Dunnigan, said the county was not upfront with residents early in the process, raising suspicions.

"I think if they had been honest from the beginning, you wouldn't have seen the meeting you did the other day," she said. "They underestimated us."

Months ago, Yolo County began applying for $30 million in state funds to expand its jail. A condition of the grant was hosting the re-entry facility.

Discussions about possible sites have taken place in closed-door sessions of the Board of Supervisors, meetings some have questioned.

Matt Rexroad insisted there was no attempt at secrecy.

While officials say no site has been chosen, the county has narrowed its search to around Dunnigan and Zamora, near Interstates 5 and 505.

The re-entry facilities are part of a legislative package enacted last year to add thousands of prison and jail beds around the state and provide rehabilitation. The mini-prisons offer vocational and educational programs, drug treatment and counseling.

Twelve counties, including Yolo, are in line to receive a total of $750 million in jail construction funds in exchange for hosting the facilities.

Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto and Public Defender Barry Melton support the plan.

Duane Chamberlain, a rancher and chairman of the Board of Supervisors, represents a large farming area that includes Dunnigan and Zamora.

Among the five supervisors, he alone opposes a re-entry facility in his district.

Chamberlain wants it elsewhere in the county. He said he cast a vote for the facility when he thought it would be located beside the county jail in Woodland.

But the state said that 3-acre site was too small, and gave the county just a few months to find an alternative.

The cities made it clear they didn't want it, he said, and have the power to reject it through their city councils.

That left unincorporated areas of the county.

But the rural area near Dunnigan and Zamora has little infrastructure, and water could be a serious problem, Chamberlain said.

"It's crazy," he said. "Put it near one of the towns, somewhere between Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento."

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation listed 759 parolees living in Yolo County last year.

Only one was from Dunnigan, and none were listed as residents of Zamora.

The vast majority live in larger cities, including 371 from Woodland, 287 from West Sacramento, and 39 from Davis and El Macero.

About half of the 500 inmates in the facility will be from Yolo County, Kathy Prizmich of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said at Tuesday's town hall meeting. The rest would come from neighboring counties.

A not-in-my-backyard attitude among residents is understandable, she said.

She said inmates would return to Yolo County, however, whether they came from re-entry facilities with programs – or straight from prison, with $200 and a bus ticket home.

"Prisoners come back," she said, "whether they're prepared or not."

Call The Bee's Hudson Sangree, (916) 321-1191.