From Prison to College

Education reshapes the future for former inmates

by Albert Gregory, Maddison October, Cameron Lee and Raj Paul Ghusar

The incarceration system is a complicated institution. When a person enters prison, their life is often changed forever. Hope for a promising future may feel like a fleeting memory.

Whether incarcerated as a youth or an adult, education has been a life raft for many inmates drowning in the feelings of hopelessness and depression. Education can be the only way to step away from their environment, and it can play a huge role in preventing a reoffense.

For youth experiencing incarceration, education has not always been up to the equivalent standard their counterparts are receiving on the outside. However, an increased emphasis in education and community outreach have coincided with a decrease in incarceration numbers in California.

Here is a peek into the education in incarceration system through the experiences of people who were formerly incarcerated, teachers, nonprofits and administrators:

Elizabeth Quiroz and
Lisa Diaz

Two motivational speakers from Santa Rosa, California, who are both survivors of human trafficking and experienced incarceration — starting at an early age.

Elizabeth Quiroz

Elizabeth, 36, experienced sexual and physical abuse starting at the age of 4, growing up in Sacramento and San Francisco. As she describes it, she comes from a family of alcoholics, addicts, child molesters and gang members. Elizabeth escaped her mother’s abusive home and later ran away from foster care at the age of 14. Eventually, she landed at her father’s house, where she met her first trafficker. She was first incarcerated at the age of 16.
Following her first incarceration, the trafficking continued, and she was sold to multiple men over the years. She eventually began selling drugs while dealing with her own struggles with addiction, and was incarcerated repeatedly over the years.
Elizabeth first received education in incarceration as an adult when she was locked up in San Mateo and started working towards her GED, which she later received in Sonoma County. She got into Starting Point, a 12-step program, and later Women’s Recovery Services, a drug treatment center for mothers. She returned to school and got involved with a support program for the formerly incarcerated students at Santa Rosa Junior College, known as the Second Chance Club; she later became the president of the program.
Elizabeth received her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Sonoma State University in May 2021. She will be attending Arizona State University in the Fall to obtain a Master's Degree in Social Justice and Human Rights.
Elizabeth, who has been clean for nine years, now works as a motivational speaker and is a counselor at Athena House, a recovery home for women and their children.
“That’s what helps me to get out of bed is to use my past to help others and use my trauma as a triumph. To speak a message that’s going to help others and bring them to a victory as well.”
Elizabeth and Lisa are currently working to open a safe house in Sonoma county to house survivors of human trafficking.

Photo by Pocho Sanchez

Lisa Diaz

Born and raised in the South Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California — Lisa, 46, grew up in a dysfunctional household. Her uncle was a gang member and exposed her to a lot of chaos from an early age. Whether it was violence in the home or the police raiding them, Lisa never felt safe.
She first recalls being molested at the age of 5 by her grandmother’s boyfriend. When she was 8 years old, after moving back in with her mother, her stepfather started sexually abusing her. That abuse continued until she was 17. Early on into the abuse, her stepfather instilled in her the mindset to bargain with her body by bribing her to commit sexual acts.
By 17, she was a drug addict and an alcoholic. After escaping a physically abusive relationship, she ended up with her first trafficker. At first, he made her feel safe, but a couple of months later he forced her to start selling herself on Santa Rosa Avenue. Over the years, she was trafficked all over the Bay Area and, through the Internet, was even sold to men as far away as New Jersey and New York.
Throughout the years, she was incarcerated many times. However, the first time Lisa experienced any education while incarcerated was as an adult when she went through a 12-step program called Starting Point in Sonoma County. It was there she was introduced to the Second Chance Club, a program that provides resources and support to formerly incarcerated students at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Lisa is currently attending SRJC, working towards two Associate's Degrees in Human Services and Advocacy. She plans to graduate in 2022 and attend Sonoma State University, where she will pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology. Her ultimate goal is achieve a Master's Degree in Social Work.
Lisa now works as a motivational speaker and is a counselor at Athena House, a recovery home for women and their children.
Lisa and Elizabeth are currently working to open a safe house in Sonoma county to house survivors of human trafficking.

Photo by Pocho Sanchez

CA youth incarceration offenses
Infogram

In the late '90s and early '00s, youth incarceration numbers were on the rise. But starting around 2007 the populations dwindled as education increased and communities looked for alternatives to incarceration.

Photo by Pocho Sanchez

What education looks like from the inside

Here we speak with Daves Bates, Elaine Leeder and Andrea Cantora who have worked in the jails and prisons providing education to inmates.

The effects

According to the RAND study on Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education the study found a correlation between education's affects on lowering recidivism rates and the overall outcome after the inmate is released.

Those that went through an education program had a 43% lower chance of returning to a facility once they served their time.

The study also found that those who participated in an education program while incarcerated have a 13% higher chance of finding employment.

Dave Bates

Senior Director of Transitional Employment and Reentry Services for Five Keys, School and Programs

Andrea Cantora - Director of Second Chance College Program through the University of Baltimore

Elaine Leeder

Retired Professor Sociology and the Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University in California.

"[My students] asked me to have a tour of a prison, so it took some on a tour of a prison and when the tour was over. I said to the warden, "Do you have any education in here?" This was at Elmira Correctional Facility in upstate New York, and he said, "No, they just had GED." So I sort of spontaneously offered to bring in college education. I went back to my university, and I asked if I could do it, and they said, 'If you want to volunteer, sure'."

The ideal student

Rehabilitation vs. Retribution

The Success

Shani Shay

Her past experience in incarceration motivated Shani to create a program at Contra Costa Juvenile Hall that helps incarcerated youth, providing knowledge and resources to give them a foundation before making the transition to college.

Incarceration to College, which Shani started remotely in 2020, is a college readiness course taught in juvenile facilities designed to improve detainees academic futures.

Pictoral Chart
Infogram

Although the incarceration rates for youths in California have dramatically declined since the 1980s, a lack of resources available to incarcerated minors still persists. Children are susceptible to a myriad of obstacles like sexual assault, physical and psychological abuse that leads to mental health disorders.

Aside from the emotional trauma facing incarcerated youths, proper education is not always guaranteed. The Contra Costa Juvenile Center, located in Martinez, California, has implemented a new program created by Shani Shay — a person who experienced incarceration and recognized the shortcomings in the current education system.

Robert Bowers, the principal at Mt. McKinley School at the Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall, discusses the significance of the Incarceration to College Program.
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