Family members won't get to visit inmates this weekend at California's 33 state prisons due to a budget-slashing measure by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

It's the first time inmate visits have been cut on weekends because of budget problems, officials said. Canceling weekend visits will save $400,000 in overtime pay. Because of department hiring freezes and staff reductions, officials say, prisons have had to pay overtime to staff the visiting areas on weekends.

Some who have family members in prison worry that visits could be cut again as the state's budget picture worsens. That could mean trouble for prisoners, families and even the economies of prison towns.

About one-third of the state's 160,000 inmates are housed in 10 prisons from Madera County through Kern County.

The decision to curtail visits wasn't an easy one, although it's not the first time, said Cassandra Hockenson, a corrections spokeswoman.

In the past, visits have been halted to prevent the spread of swine flu and when prisons are on security lockdowns, she said.

Corrections officials already had reduced the budget with a hiring freeze, staffing cuts, reduced travel, furloughs, training program reductions and cuts in supplies purchases, but a shortfall still loomed, Hockenson said.

"This was the last straw, the last thing we considered cutting," she said.

This weekend was chosen, Hockenson said, because it was the final weekend of the state's fiscal year -- which ends Wednesday -- and money had to be saved this budget year.

Lawyers and relatives of terminally ill patients still may visit, she said.

Karen Chavez of Los Angeles, who visits her son in Corcoran on Sundays after traveling to Blythe to visit her brother-in-law on Saturdays, said she worries that this will not be the last time inmate visits are sacrificed to budget cuts.

"I feel that this may just be the start," she said. "They have cut inmate programs ... the only thing they have to look forward to now is visits from loved ones."

Chavez said some people make arrangements weeks in advance and even buy airline tickets so they can visit inmates.

Prison officials last year cut visiting days from three to two, which lengthened the waiting times to see relatives and shortened the time visitors can spend with inmates, she said.

"A lot of these inmates are going to come home," Chavez said. "Some of these guys have nobody to visit them, and just a letter will give them something to look forward to. A little bit of love goes a long way toward rehabilitation."

Prison officials acknowledge that the potential for visits provides a strong incentive for inmates to maintain good behavior.

That creates a better atmosphere within the prison's walls and safer conditions for inmates as well as employees, said Lt. Stephen Smith, a spokesman for the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran.

Visits are important for families, too.

When children don't see their fathers, there are changes in their behavior, said Karen McDaniel, an educational psychologist in Calipatria who brings her two children to the nearby state prison every weekend to see their father.

"They understand they are going to see their dad," she said. "They don't understand budgets and overtime, they understand time with their parent."

While canceling this weekend's visits will save money for the prison system, it will cost local businesses that cater to visitors, who pay for hotel rooms, food, fuel and other incidentals.

Valley prisons typically get 250 to 800 visitors per weekend, local corrections officials say.

Corcoran city manager Ron Hoggard said it's not clear how much money visitors to the two Corcoran state prisons generate in his community.

"They are frequenting the eating establishments in our community and surrounding communities, so I would think that has a fiscal impact," he said. "Many of the visitors don't live in the area."

About half the visitors on weekends to Corcoran's 45-room Budget Inn are inmate families, said Alicia Medina, a hotel desk clerk.

"They eat at the restaurants, the three pizza places and the hamburger place," she said. "I see the pizza guy knocking on doors to our rooms several times a day."

The state's budget woes have had other impacts on inmates, said Vic Abrunzo, of Thousand Oaks, chairman of the Inmate Family Council for the Central Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla.

Over the last three years, college courses also have been cut, which affected about 500 of the roughly 4,000 inmates at the women's prison, said Abrunzo, who visits the daughter of a close friend there once a month.

He also said most rehabilitation, substance-abuse prevention and high school education programs were budget casualties.

"I think the 'R' in CDCR is getting smaller every year," he said.