Steve Emrick, San Quentin Arts in Corrections program coordinator, received an award from His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his compassionate contributions to society.
The award, “Unsung Heroes of Compassion,” is a ceremony in which champions of empathy and kindness from around the world are honored for their work and compassionate actions. Emrick was honored, in the third such ceremony, for his tireless work instructing incarcerated men in the arts. His work earned him the Buddhist distinction of Bodhisattvas “those who joyfully serve the world, dedicated to compassion and the liberation of every being.”
The ceremony was held April 25-26 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in San Francisco and attended by honorees and people there to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s speech on Dharma.
“People there were paying a lot of money to hear the Dalai Lama speak,” said Emrick. “What I remember about it the most is: being in a room with amazing people.”
Emrick, who holds a masters degree in fine arts, has more than twenty years working in the California prison system. He started at Tehachapi Sate Prison, then worked at Deuel Vocational Institution and the California Youth Authority, finally landing at S.Q. where he has been teaching art for the past six years.
“My family does not understand why I do what I do” explained Emrick. “But I can see the change in people as they learn and interact; they escape the harshness of prison through art and become better people.”
Offenders who participate in the Arts in Corrections program have 75 percent fewer disciplinary actions and their recidivism rate is 27 percent lower then the rest of the prison general population, according to a 1987 study.
Emrick has successfully petitioned $30,000 in grant money which has been used to bring artists and other instructors into the prison. Such notables as doctor and humanitarian Patch Adams and local author Tobias Wolff are recent visitors.
Some of the activities which Arts in Corrections features are music, painting, creative writing and drawing. The program provides an outlet for prisoners’ artistic expression and is one of the last art programs among California’s 33 overcrowded prisons. Not many people have the patience and tenacity which Emrick possesses which allows him to teach in the prison environment.
“I resigned three times in my first year as a teacher,” says Emrick. “My boss kept talking me into coming back.”
“I do see an influence in the program; it does make a difference,” says Emrick “The art program improves public safety by lowering recidivism.”
