Phillip Garrido arrived at his new, permanent home on Thursday — Corcoran State Prison — one day after his wife, Nancy, was taken to a women's prison in Chowchilla.
The 60-year-old Garrido now begins serving his 431-years-to-life sentence for the 1991 kidnap and rape of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard and likely will spend it in the close company of some of the nation's most notorious inmates.
Upon arrival, Garrido was placed in a segregated cell for his own protection but, after processing, likely will be placed in the prison's protective housing unit with 14 other inmates, including cult leader Charles Manson and mass-murderer Juan Corona.
The unit is the only one of its type in the state prison system and is designed to protect high-profile or notorious inmates from the general population by holding them in what officials call "exceptional placement."
In essence, the unit is a mini-prison within a prison, meaning the men held there can interact, have yard time and share meal times but are kept separate from the other inmates.
Nancy Garrido, 55, was taken Wednesday to the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla to begin her 36-years-to-life sentence.
Prison officials said she is in a single cell in the reception center while she is processed and her long-term housing placement is decided.
The Garridos had been held at the El Dorado County jail since August 2009 while they awaited the outcome of the kidnapping case. Both eventually pleaded guilty and were sentenced June 2 for abducting Dugard and holding her captive for 18 years.
Dugard, who had two daughters in captivity as a result of Garrido's sexual assaults, has a book coming out in July and is expected to appear in an interview on ABC before the book's release.
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