Advocates say inmates who participated in Arts-in-Corrections and paroled are far less likely to return to prison.
Since California claims the highest recidivism rate in the country, Sen. Ted Lieu said the state could afford to use $3-5 million of its $2 billion plus surplus to mitigate recidivism.
Studies show that inmate art students generate fewer disciplinary problems and 70 percent of parolees are still out of prison after two years, a 40 percent improvement when compared to the general prison population.
“(V)irtually all of arrested prisoners will come out one day,” Lieu said. “They will go back to our communities, and the question is, do you want them to commit more crimes, or do you want them to have a better way to express themselves, manage their emotions, learn new skills and be productive members of society?”
With studies and the support of groups like the California Arts Council and Tim Robbins’ Actors’ Gang behind him, Lieu said he plans to resubmit a request to restore arts in prison programs.
Many of San Quentin’s Arts-in-Corrections programs are made available to inmates through donations by the William James Foundation, including Zoe Mullery’s Creative Writing Class.
Mullery has taught creative writing in San Quentin for 15 years.
“The majority of people who come to my class are people that I feel are really working on being a person of integrity,” Mullery said.
