Juan Corona, who in the early 1970s slashed and hacked to death 25 farm workers before burying them in a shallow grave in a peach orchard near Yuba City, has had a transient history of being transferred across California's state prison system. After originally being recommended for San Quentin, which at the time had facilities for those with heart ailiments such as Corona's, Corona was committed to California Medical Facility in Vacaville in 1973, where he was later stabbed and blinded by another inmate. Corona was then transported to Correctional Training Facility in Soledad where he stayed for five years, including the period when his retrial was conducted.

In 1982 he was then transferred to Corcoran, but in 1999 suffered another attack in the prison yard. This time, three other inmates had gained access to the emergency ward that imprisoned Corcoran's most famous prisoners, including Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, minorily injuring Corcoran and smashing Manson's guitar. According to the Associated Press (16 Mar 1999), Corrections Department officials said that gaining entrance into the protective housing unit of the prison is a "badge of honor." Apparently, the three inmates, who had been primed in wait for the moment the protective custody unit became insecure, gained entry by taking advantage of a sensor unit malfunction that signaled a light to authorities that there was a breach of access. When authorities were alerted, a prison guard fired a round from a wood block gas gun, similar to a tear-gas rifle, to quell the disturbance.

 

In 2002, Corona suffered yet another attack that rendered him unconscious in his cell. He was taken to a nearby hospital and placed into intensive care under constant guard supervision. At 69, Corona is reported as sick with dementia, muttering words to himself as he paces the prison yard. Juan has been denied parole a total of six times, in part because he consistently declined to admit to his murders.