Officially named el Centro de Readaptacion Social de la Mesa, El Pueblito was constructed in 1956 in Tijuana to accommodate 2,000 prisoners as a new experiment in corrections. It allowed the families of those incarcerated to join them and remain close to them in prison to facilitate inmates eventual readjustment to the outside world. Wives, children, girlfriends, entire families would live inside the prison walls, some staying there full-time while others came and went at will. Children head off to school each morning return to El Pueblito in the afternoon. "El Pueblito" shut doors in 2002.
