By Christopher Zoukis Federal Correctional Institution Mendota, located near Fresno, California, houses about 800 inmates. Opened in 2012, the medium-security male prison in California with an adjacent minimum-security camp has recently been the focus of numerous investigations on whether conditions
Read MoreTag: California
Sitting Pretty: Vocational Prison Education Preps for Life After Prison
By Christopher Zoukis Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California has a beauty salon. It started as a vocational prison education program in 1996 when the facility was for women only. Although it’s a men’s prison now, the salon, and the
Read MorePrison Garden Program Goes to Roots of Offender Reformation
By Christopher Zoukis It’s been proven true that in balanced circumstances, physical, mental, and manual labor is good for your health, and in Oakland, California, they are using physical work as a way to provide job skills training to offenders
Read MoreIncreased Access to Higher Education Programs for California Prisoners
By Christopher Zoukis Some California prisoners, including those confined at the notorious Pelican Bay supermax, are enjoying access to higher education courses provided by the state’s community colleges. A 2014 law eliminated the requirement that all classes taught by community
Read MoreHow prison vocational training can help keep America’s productive sector afloat
A shortage of skilled laborers in the craft of welding is poised to seriously hinder America’s production capacity in the coming years. With education policies emphasizing that all students should pursue “traditional” college upon high school graduation, there’s been a
Read MoreCalifornia Prisoners to Get Jobs as Programmers
By Jessica Guynn California inmates can earn cash making license plates for state residents. Soon they’ll be able to get paid for writing code. In a first for the country, prisoners at San Quentin State Prison are being considered for
Read MorePrisoners Fighting Fires
By Dianne Frazee-Walker 
Image courtesy grist.org
The California prison system is stepping up to the plate by fighting fire with fire. Yes, that’s right — they are saving tax-payer’s money and providing low level offenders with valuable skills and purpose by putting them to work fighting wildfires. Another side benefit of this ingenious project is California’s prisons are emptying out because these inmates are earning earlier release dates and are not reoffending.
Demetrius Barr is one of the first Los Angeles County inmates to be granted the opportunity to leave his confined jail cell and enter a natural atmosphere of breathtaking landscapes and spacious campsites. Not only can Barr help save this precious land from the destruction of fire, but his own life can be salvaged from the unforgiving world of crack dealing.
Image courtesy justicenotjails.org
Barr doesn’t get to enjoy this new type of freedom for nothing. He receives this privilege by maintaining his fitness and best behavior, and being willing to fight thousand-degree flames. The best reward for fulfilling his commitment to the Pitches Detention center where he was trained, is earning good-time credits that will permit him to decrease his seven-year sentence by 35%. This would also insure that Barr “has what it takes” when confronted with a challenge as significant as a raging forest fire.
The general public would be surprised if they realized about 50% of California wildfire fighters are prisoners and a few of them are incarcerated women. Capt. Jorge Santana, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) liaison who supervises the camps, confirms these inmates are dedicated to changing their lives while serving the public and are saving the state over $1 billion a year. Inmate firefighters are contributing a major positive impact on California’s financial and environmental well-being.
Rehab By The Numbers
Infographic courtesy cironline.org
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