COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS ARE proving that they play a vital role when it comes to public safety in California. The California Reentry Institute, directed by Collette Carroll to help potential parolees, has graduated more than 230 incarcerated individuals in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
At least 132 of them have since returned to their communities and have a zero percent recidivism rate.
“Our mission is to empower, heal and transform individuals in and outside of prison, supporting successful reentry and safer communities,” said Carroll, who has been volunteering in prisons for more than 24 years.
CRI is a program that has been operating for close to two decades. It’s an 18- to 24-month-long trauma-informed program that teaches a 350-hour curriculum based on cognitive behavioral therapy and restorative justice practices.
Incarcerated individuals sign up to participate two years prior to parole eligibility to undergo these group sessions. CRI focuses on criminal and addictive thinking, anger management, childhood trauma, abandonment and low self-esteem issues. It also deals with domestic violence prevention and crime victim impact.
“What I like about CRI is that I didn’t have to take 15 different groups,” said Michael Moore, who is one of 40 new graduates from the fall of 2024. Moore spent five hours every Saturday with community volunteers and peer facilitators who helped him explore the causative factors for his criminal behavior.
“They made it easy for me to understand my triggers and my coping strategies, and how to create my own relapse prevention plans,” said Moore.
Breaking out of the comfort zone
Timothy Pinckney has been incarcerated for 27 years. He also graduated from CRI.
“This program has helped me step outside my comfort zone,” said Pinckney. “I was antisocial. I didn’t talk to anybody. I had so much hurt and pain in my life I shut everybody out.”
Pinckney said CRI helped him deal with his childhood abandonment and release that pain. When he learned about the impact of his crime, he was able to feel a deep sense of remorse. It provoked him to speak at the graduation.
“This is the first time I ever spoke,” he said. “I’m not used to this and I don’t even know if I have the right words. But I know that I am not my crime. I am free to move forward and make amends to my victims.”
CRI uses incarcerated facilitators to help break through to new members. They offer support and guidance. They share their stories to show their relationship to one another. Donald Thompson has been incarcerated for 29 and a half years. He graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic and was asked to stay on as a facilitator.
“I get a sense of satisfaction out of facilitating,” said Thompson. “I feel like my voice matters and it helps me open up even more. I often remind the guys that this is your group. I am just here to keep them on track, but iron sharpens iron.”
CRI also follows graduates once they parole, providing wraparound reentry services.
“Once I graduated I became a part of the CRI family,” said Moore. “When I parole, they will help me with transportation, housing, clothing, groceries, education and even a prepaid cellphone.” CRI graduates are often picked up by Carroll and others from the program and taken out to breakfast, before heading to transitional housing.
Frankie Smith is a formerly incarcerated person who graduated from the program and who has been a facilitator for 14 years. He is facilitating a new cohort at the California Medical Facility (CMF) in Vacaville. Smith attended this year’s graduation.
“CRI will help you navigate society,” he told graduates. “Everything you learn now will come into play when you get out of prison. Don’t take what you learn in this program for granted.”
Teaching the skills to cope on the outside
Arthur Robinson graduated from the program before he was released four years ago. He talks to kids at schools about the consequences of crime. He also helps facilitate at CMF.
“CRI taught me to think about expectations and consequences,” he said. “I needed every tool this program taught me. They also helped me get my identification which took over a year because I had to go to court and legally change my name.”
Bruce Fowler is a recent parolee who also graduated from the program. He joined CRI as a facilitator just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I rely on everything CRI taught me, everyday out there,” he told graduates. “All the triggers people face in society, I use my coping skills. I learned that there are too many opportunities to mess up.”
Fowler now resides in transitional housing. “It’s a paradise,” he said. “It makes everything less difficult and the resources and support are nonstop. I have so much peace, and love the nature. I live out back on the deck with the squirrels.”
Fowler now wants to join the force of formerly incarcerated facilitators.
“Everything I learned about myself behind these walls, I need out there. I feel like coming back inside to help others is my duty,” he said.
There are more than 90,000 incarcerated individuals in California prisons. While San Quentin has been called the epicenter of rehabilitation in the state, there is a shortage of community volunteers and rehabilitative programming space to serve the population even at San Quentin. Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke about this problem in November.
“Even with a significantly decreased population, the demand for programming space has dramatically increased,” he said in his veto message to Assembly Bill 2178, which would have closed more prisons. “In assessing the operational capacity needed, we must have the flexibility to place significant emphasis on programming space.”
CRI can only accommodate about 40 individuals every 18 months, according to Carroll. But Moore sees another possible approach. “If there were more programs like CRI and more community volunteers to help, we could get a lot more people in self-help groups,” he said. CRI offers everything we need to be successful on parole. Maybe more groups should follow this example.”