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San Quentin Rehabilitation Center graduates have a good chance landing job placements
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center is living up to its name. On Thursday, more than five dozen incarcerated men graduated from the facilitys job-training programs. We report on the success the program has had over the last 10 years.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The gates of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center opened on Thursday to allow families and visitors for graduation day.
More than 50 men incarcerated at the station prison received certifications and apprenticeships for job-skills in industries they hope to work in upon release.
The keynote speaker for the graduation was Chris Schuhmacher, a software engineer. He is former graduate of the same program at San Quentin 10 years ago where he learned computer coding skills that led to his eventual career in the tech industry. Schuhmacher works at Checkr, a San Francisco-based company that provides background check for businesses.
"Ten years ago, no one knew if this program would even work," he said. "Could we bring computers and technology into prison? Could incarcerated individuals learn this stuff? Today it really feels like The Last Mile works."
The Last Mile is a non-profit organization that provides the education and workforce reentry programs for people who are incarcerated in California prisons. The programs are offered in partnership with the California Prison Industry Authority and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. TLM said 75% of graduates go on to become employed and it has a 4.5% recidivism rate.
The men who graduated on Thursday earned certifications in computer coding, audio/visual production, and pre-apprentice construction labor.
Latice Collins, 37, and Willie Johnson, 68, each participated in the coding program where they learned front end web development.
"I never knew what it was," Collins said of computer coding. "When I got here, they gave me such an ample opportunity to learn and put so many resources before me that I gravitate toward it. Now I love it. This is a career I really want to get into."
"Graduating from a program like this is one of the top priorities," Johnson said.
Success stories are not rare. The California Prison Industry Authority said a 2021 study by UC Irvine found that by three years after release, 85% of participants did not return to custody.
Collins and Johnson hope to be a part of that statistic. They each have an opportunity for parole in 2027.
"The egotistical person I was before no longer exists," Johnson said. "This is a humbling experience."
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San Quentin state prison is one of the most infamous lockups in the nation. Inside the gate, barbed wire and watchful guards monitor incarcerated people around the clock. That group includes the nation’s largest death row population, a system the state is dismantling. But on this Wednesday morning, none of that matters.
Collins feels proud to earn his coding certificate and is looking forward to the next phase of the program.
"I really enjoyed this process, and it showed me I have more skills than I thought I had before," he said.
Schuhmacher said every person at San Quentin is learning from their mistakes and with time comes change.
"I believe the men who have graduated today, they are not their crime," he said. "They should be judged for all the work they've put in to learn and grow from their past and also who they've become."