Providing inmates with valuable skills that they can utilize for employment once out of prison became a priority for Beverly Parenti and her husband, Chris Redlitz, after a visit to San Quentin State Prison five years ago.
“Our mission is to provide marketable skills that will result in gainful employment,” said Parenti in an interview with CBS SF Bay Area News. “We believe that having a job is truly the key to successful re-entry.”
Parenti and Redlitz, who spent years working in the high-tech industry, were inspired to create The Last Mile program after meeting the inmates at the prison. The program has also taught inmates how to start a business and other entrepreneurial skills necessary in the industry today. Shortly after The Last Mile began teaching computer coding at San Quentin.
For her ground-breaking work with the inmates of San Quentin State Prison, Parenti recently received the Jefferson Award, reported CBS News.
“What The Last Mile did was introduce us to the idea of how technology has changed, the way businesses operate and the way businesses compete,” said Kenyatta Leal, a graduate of the program, in an interview with CBS.
Leal is one of the graduates of The Last Mile who is now out of prison and gainfully employed. Leal currently manages campus services for RocketSpace, a technology incubator in San Francisco.
“Computer coding is one business area where you would be judged by the quality of your work, not by the stigma of your past,” said Parenti.
The Last Mile program has become so successful that it has received funding for expansion to six more prisons including two women’s facilities.
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