By Kenia Miranda Verdugo
Central Valley, California, home to some of the state’s most notable agricultural regions, is also known for its dense concentration of correctional facilities. Its prison ecosystem is complex and multifaceted, influencing the lives of incarcerated individuals and the surrounding communities. With facilities such as Avenal State Prison, California State Prison, Corcoran, and the Central California Women’s Facility, the region’s economy, social fabric, and even local politics are intertwined with the prison system.
Given its influence, there exists a significant need to invest in the people impacted by the Central Valley justice system. On July 25th, the Michelson 20MM Foundation hosted “Pathways From Prison to College: Highlighting the Central Valley,” where we discussed the region’s history, how it greatly differs from the rest of that state, and showcased organizations that are investing and doing great work to support systems-impacted people in prison.
History of the Central Valley
The prison system provides an economic backbone to the Central Valley. Correctional facilities create jobs for thousands of residents, ranging from correctional officers and administrative staff to healthcare workers and educators. These jobs often offer stable employment with benefits, which can be a rarity in rural areas. Additionally, local businesses benefit from contracts to supply goods and services to the prisons.
To understand why so many prisons exist within the Central Valley and why the region has such a pervasive school to prison pipeline, we must first understand its history.
Dr. Patrick Fontes, a history professor at Fresno State, shared that at the time of the 1870 census in Fresno County after the Civil War, “roughly around 75% of the white pioneers here in the Fresno County area were from the Confederacy and they brought their wealth with them.” He went on to explain how “They established farms and were the first doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, dentists, lawmen, judges.”
Unfortunately, they also brought with them the ideas and beliefs that undergirded the confederacy’s defense of slavery. At one point the Sheriff of Fresno was the imperial wizard of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) and California had more KKK members than any other state in the nation except Texas. Most of these founders were born in the Confederacy in the Deep South, and they established the foundation for the culture in Fresno.
Dr. Fontes spent roughly two years at the Superior Court archives in Fresno looking at thousands of criminal court cases to study how various immigrant groups were treated by the Fresno justice system from 1890 to 1945. He found that young brown and black young men were being sent to San Quentin and Folsom for first time offenses at an alarmingly higher rate than white defendants who were third time offenders.
According to Dr. Fontes, the Central Valley’s history of racism and white supremacy created reactionary systems that laid the foundation for today’s criminal legal system and the segregation of cities like Fresno. This includes the creation of San Quentin prison that would rent out prisoners as cheap labor to confederate refugees looking to consolidate their wealth in their new home after their defeat in the US Civil War. The specter of these systemic inequities persists and emphasizes the importance of providing education pathways to those impacted by the criminal legal system.
Social and Community Effects of the Prison Ecosystem
The presence of prisons also shapes the social landscape of the Central Valley. Families of incarcerated individuals often move to the area to be closer to their loved ones, impacting local demographics and community dynamics. Locals have the option of either working in the fields or working in the prisons for a higher wage and a benefits package. Education isn’t even an option for most people, and it especially isn’t an option for someone who is or has been incarcerated.
A Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) study found that Kings, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba counties have the highest rates of imprisonment. Tiny Kings County in the San Joaquin Valley has the state’s highest incarceration rate at 666 per 100,000 people.
The prison ecosystem also comes with its own challenges. Issues such as overcrowding, understaffing, and limited access to rehabilitative programs are pervasive. These challenges underscore the need for effective in-prison education programs, which play a crucial role in the rehabilitation and reintegration process.
The Importance of In-Prison Education
Education is a powerful tool for rehabilitation, especially within the prison system. In-prison education programs in the Central Valley and beyond are critical for both the individuals they serve and their communities. For every $1 spent on higher education in prison programs there is a $5 return on that investment, according to RAND. In addition, higher education in prison program participants are 43% less likely to recidivate than non participants.
Foundations in the Humanities Prison Correspondence Program
One exemplary program making a significant impact is the Foundations in the Humanities Prison Correspondence Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The program is rooted in the belief that studying subjects such as literature, history, and philosophy can provide profound insights and foster personal growth.
When a former student of Dr. Susan Derwin, Director of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, became incarcerated and reached out to her in hopes of bringing the men in his yard together to discuss learnings and ideas beyond prison walls, the Foundations in the Humanities Prison Correspondence Program was born. This program is now active in all 31 California state prisons, serving roughly 150 students a year with over 1000 students having taken a course in the program.
How It Works
As a correspondence program, incarcerated individuals receive reading materials and assignments through the mail, which are reviewed by a current UCSB PhD candidate. This approach ensures that even those in high-security settings or with limited access to in-person classes can participate.
“Students tell us that through the study of literature, they experience themselves as thinkers and students, not only incarcerated people or inmates, but as scholars whose knowledge is valued by their mentors.” -Dr. Christoffer Bovbjerg
“We have heard from our students that reading literature has a profound impact for them, we have learned that for them, literature is a mirror. In reading about other worlds, students are also learning about themselves,” Dr. Christoffer Bovbjerg, Associate Director of the UC Santa Barbara Interdisciplinary Humanities Center shared “Students tell us that through the study of literature, they experience themselves as thinkers and students, not only incarcerated people or inmates, but as scholars whose knowledge is valued by their mentors.”
“It’s still a pinch me moment for me… just two years ago, I was still doing a life sentence. Now, I’m sitting right here today in my office as an addiction treatment counselor.” -Dean Jacobs, former student
The Foundations in the Humanities Prison Correspondence Program has been a beacon of hope for many incarcerated individuals. As Dean Jacobs, a former student of the Foundations in the Humanities program, reflected, “It’s still a pinch me moment for me… just two years ago, I was still doing a life sentence. Now, I’m sitting right here today in my office as an addiction treatment counselor, using the keys in my office, I got my ID badge and right out these doors are patients who live here in the inpatient rehabilitation center.”
Jacobs described how this change within him was a process and how education prompted that change. “Just by being able to read stories… about social dynamics between characters, being able to put yourself in their shoes, it really starts to open up these little avenues in the mind and gets you to think differently.”
The Future for In-Prison Education in the Central Valley
Bringing the focus back to the Central Valley, Dr. Derwin provided insight on what’s to come in the next two years. She is hoping to launch a Leveraging Inspiring Futures Through Educational Degrees (LIFTED) program within UCSB, which would offer degrees through a hybrid model at Corcoran State Prison.
“Literature does expand a person’s ability to relate to other human minds and experiences and develops the capacity to exercise the empathic imagination in relation to others, but also—and this is really crucial—in relation to oneself,” Dr. Derwin said. “Developing that capacity is what the study of literature shares with the rehabilitative journey, and this is one of the reasons why, and as our work In the Foundations Program has taught us, studying literature is so transformative for incarcerated students.”
Considering the number of prisons and corrections facilities in the area, Dr. Derwin notes that “There’s just a patent need for higher education programs in the region. We’re particularly and very excited to be able to bring UC Santa Barbara to Corcoran because of the culture of learning that exists there.”
This panel eloquently underlined how education is essential for tackling systemic inequities, including those rooted in the Central Valley’s history of white supremacy. Higher education programs positively impact students and communities both within and beyond prison walls, benefiting even the children of incarcerated individuals.
The Central Valley has suffered long enough and we as a society must invest in this region to change the current prison ecosystem and transform the school-to-prison pipeline into a prison-to-college pathway. To learn more about “California’s Best Practices: Pathways From Prison to College,” visit our website.
Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation working toward equity for underserved and historically underrepresented communities by expanding access to educational and employment opportunities, increasing affordability of educational programs, and ensuring the necessary supports are in place for individuals to thrive. To do so, we work in the following verticals: Digital Equity, Intellectual Property, Smart Justice, Student Basic Needs, and Open Educational Resources (OER). Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.
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