diff --git a/base/c9s-python-3.11/Dockerfile b/base/c9s-python-3.11/Dockerfile
index f0f0d570c..c71c79d47 100644
--- a/base/c9s-python-3.11/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/c9s-python-3.11/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,21 @@
-FROM quay.io/sclorg/python-311-c9s:c9s
+FROM quay.io/centos/centos:stream9
+
+# perform the setup that python image used to do for us
+#  but this way it uses a lot less disk space (hundreds of megabytes less)
+ENV APP_ROOT="/opt/app-root"
+ENV HOME="${APP_ROOT}/src"
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV="${APP_ROOT}"
+ENV PATH="${VIRTUAL_ENV}/bin:${PATH}"
+ENV PYTHON_VERSION=3.11
+ENV PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=off
+RUN mkdir --parents "${HOME}" && chmod --recursive 0771 ${APP_ROOT} && chown --recursive 1001:0 ${APP_ROOT} && \
+    useradd --uid 1001 --gid 0 --no-create-home --home-dir "${HOME}" \
+      --comment "Default Application User" --shell /bin/bash default && \
+    dnf install -y python311-pip && dnf clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum/*
+COPY --from=quay.io/sclorg/s2i-core-c9s:latest /usr/bin/fix-permissions /usr/bin/rpm-file-permissions /usr/bin/
+
+USER 1001
+RUN python${PYTHON_VERSION} -m venv "${VIRTUAL_ENV}"
 
 LABEL name="odh-notebook-base-centos-stream9-python-3.11" \
       summary="Python 3.11 CentOS Stream 9 base image for ODH notebooks" \
diff --git a/base/c9s-python-3.9/Dockerfile b/base/c9s-python-3.9/Dockerfile
index f3ed220aa..7128e8f59 100644
--- a/base/c9s-python-3.9/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/c9s-python-3.9/Dockerfile
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ RUN echo "Installing softwares and packages" && micropipenv install && rm -f ./P
     tar -xzvf /tmp/openshift-client-linux.tar.gz oc && \
     rm -f /tmp/openshift-client-linux.tar.gz && \
     # Fix permissions to support pip in Openshift environments \
-    chmod -R g+w /opt/app-root/lib/python3.9/site-packages && \
+    chmod -R g+w /opt/app-root/lib/python${PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages && \
     fix-permissions /opt/app-root -P
 
 WORKDIR /opt/app-root/src
diff --git a/base/ubi9-python-3.9/Dockerfile b/base/ubi9-python-3.9/Dockerfile
index 938fd8c5b..a1dcdc757 100644
--- a/base/ubi9-python-3.9/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/ubi9-python-3.9/Dockerfile
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -U "micropipenv[toml]"
 # Install Python dependencies from Pipfile.lock file
 COPY Pipfile.lock ./
 
-RUN echo "Installing softwares and packages" && micropipenv install && rm -f ./Pipfile.lock
+RUN echo "Installing software and packages" && micropipenv install && rm -f ./Pipfile.lock
 
 # OS Packages needs to be installed as root
 USER root
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ RUN curl -L https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/$(uname -m)/clients/oc
     rm -f /tmp/openshift-client-linux.tar.gz
 
 # Fix permissions to support pip in Openshift environments
-RUN chmod -R g+w /opt/app-root/lib/python3.9/site-packages && \
+RUN chmod -R g+w /opt/app-root/lib/python${PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages && \
       fix-permissions /opt/app-root -P
 
 WORKDIR /opt/app-root/src