Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is the only supermax facility in the state of California. This prison (which is 275 acres (111 ha)) is located in Del Norte County, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the west. The prison lies in a detached section of Crescent City, several miles north of the main urban area and just south of the Oregon border. PBSP's primary purpose is to house violent male prisoners from the California state prison system; 40% of Pelican State's inmates are serving life sentences and nearly all have histories of violence at other California prisons which resulted in their transfer to Pelican Bay. The sole exception are the institution's minimum security inmates, who work as part of the prison's outside main