San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins held the second annual Access to Hope Symposium, May 29, in Chapel B at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. The event drew district attorneys from 11 counties with a participation of 33 lawyers and their staff.

The symposium featured conversations in which incarcerated persons informed the prosecutors of progress in their rehabilitation. The event also included a panel moderated by Jenkins in which one presently incarcerated person and three formerly incarcerated persons detailed their steps to successful rehabilitation.

“It’s important for DAs to take time to listen. We have an ongoing responsibility to make sure that rehabilitation works,” said Yolo County Acting District Attorney Melinda Aiello.

Jenkins has conducted many events at SQRC and visits frequently. Her previous events on prevention of smash-and-grab crime and on resentencing have made her and her events highly popular with San Quentin residents. Jenkins also hosted the first Spanish-language symposium on resentencing.

During her opening remarks, Jenkins said to her fellow prosecutors, “The goal is to see and share what I got to experience and to see the work the incarcerated people have done to go home.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman attended for the second time. Hochman said he appreciated the opportunity to hear from residents and to see their rehabilitation. “It’s always important to get as much information and as many perspectives as possible. It’s important to see what happens with people, to see what programs work to rehabilitate them and make them productive members of society.”

Besides Jenkins’s San Francisco County, prosecutors participated from El Dorado County, Los Angeles County, Mariposa County, Merced County, Placer County, San Mateo County, Siskiyou County, Tuolumne County, Ventura County, and Yolo County.

DA Cassandra Jenecke of Tuolumne County said she felt curious and excited to experience San Quentin for the first time. “I appreciate Brooke’s efforts.” Jenecke came with Assistant DA Stephanie Novelli, who said, “I am excited to have come.” She has visited San Quentin for the first time.

Brett Morris, an assistant district attorney from Mariposa County, said, “I have nothing but positive opinions, something that will turn people to education, something positive, away from the negative.”

The symposium began with a panel moderated by Jenkins. She included three returned citizens, Tommy Wickerd, Greg Eskridge, Ricardo Romero, and one current San Quentin resident, Eric Allen, who co-facilitated for the event.

Jenkins demonstrated her moderator skills by beginning with the statement, “I want to talk about everyone’s journey.” She then asked each of the panelists,“What was the mechanism that had you go back home?”

As Jenkins went from one panelist to another, her respondents explained the way San Quentin’s many rehabilitative programs enabled them to rejoin society.

To Jenkins’s question, “When you first did programs, what were the most impactful programs that you participated in?” Wickerd recited a long list of his rehabilitation programs and he concluded his list with the statement, “Thank God that CDCR implemented rehabilitation.”

At the end of the panel discussion, Jenkins asked for questions from the district attorneys in the audience. Los Angeles County’s Hochman raised his hand and asked, “So if you had a chance to go back to the moment before you committed your crime, do you think you could persuade your younger self not to do it?” All of the panelists came from Los Angeles County.

Allen, the event’s co-facilitator, said, “I would go and ask for help. In that moment I was grieving over my friend’s death. As a 15-year-old kid, I didn’t know what I was experiencing. I just knew I was hurt but didn’t want to say it or show it.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Hochman also said he appreciated the opportunity to hear from residents and to see their rehabilitation. The San Quentin News reminded Hochman that during his last visit, he said, “We need to blow up the L.A. Sheriff’s Department.” Asked whether he still felt that way, he responded, “The Sheriff’s Department has 9,000 officers and 9,000 non-officers. It runs the largest jail in the nation, which in turn, means it runs the largest homeless shelter and the largest mental health system in the country. The L.A. County Supervisors have not provided it adequate funding to maintain the facility. I am hopeful to put a spotlight on the issue that if someone comes into the system, we should offer rehabilitative treatment while they are there.”

Jenkins summed up the symposium with the word “successful.” She added, “Every time I come, I take away something new. My goal is that we work in partnership; normally it’s adversarial and sometimes that gets out of control. Hopefully, through these conversations, we create more public safety.”