INSIDE THE WALLS of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, inmates and prison staff celebrated the completion of a new, modern learning center with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The four-building complex cost $239 million and took nearly two years to complete construction.
It includes a coding classroom, a podcast studio, a newsroom, multi-media production spaces, a library and cafe. All of the new spaces are equipped with brand-new TV screens and computers.
Besides the inmates dressed in matching blue and heavily armed guards standing nearby, the facility resembles a community college campus more than a prison.
The new learning facility is another step in the prison’s transition into a rehabilitation center, focusing on giving inmates the tools for self-improvement and learning so that they can have successful lives once they leave San Quentin.
“We didn’t want to pave over the old cow path. We didn’t want a new, modern version of the old system,” Newsom said in a speech at the facility Friday. “To start connecting that sense of humanity and hopefulness is what this is all about. Again, I’m very proud of this.”
Modern space in an aging place
The only inmates who will not be allowed to use the center are those who have sentences of life without parole.
The center stood out among the prison’s aging facilities, some of which are over 100 years old. A chain-link fence with barbed wire separated the learning center from the rest of the prison, but soon that will be torn down.
Some inmates also toured the new facility, expressing awe and excitement about being able to work on their crafts or learn a new skill in the learning center.
Miguel Munoz Huerta, who has been at San Quentin for three years, is eager to work with new equipment in the film department after having worked in the previous space, which was cramped.
“Not only do we have a new space to work in, our own individual space, but we also have an entire green screen room,” he said in an interview. “For me personally, being an artist, being able to express ourselves creatively, you can’t really compare that with anything.”
‘It’s going to be awesome’
There is also a new studio for the producers of the award-winning podcast “Uncuffed,” which gives inmates the opportunity to share their stories while also learning video and audio production skills.
Andre Davis, who is the studio facilitator for Uncuffed, has been in prison for more than 20 years.
“When I see this place, I’m like ‘Damn!’ Davis said in an interview. “It’s a trip to me because I never thought that we would have something like this in the prison setting, but now we do, and it’s going to be awesome.”
San Quentin began its transition from solely a prison into both a prison and a rehabilitation center about three years ago. The addition of rehabilitation programs has helped reduce recidivism rates as well as improve the overall morale and safety inside San Quentin, said Chance Andes, the prison’s warden.
“We’ve seen our violence drop,” Andes said in an interview. “We’ve seen our recidivism drop by offering more programs. We know for a fact, when we keep individuals busy doing positive things, that they’re going to be positive too.”