San Quentin officials are moving ahead with plans for a pilot program that would enable parolees to leave the prison with a driver’s license or state identification card in their possession. Most certainly prison administrators are to be applauded for getting behind such a widely beneficial project.
The pilot program will closely mirror one that’s already underway in three other California prisons. Still left to be ironed out are the details of how payment will be made for the $27.00 driver’s license and the $23.00 state identification card, the cost of which will be borne by the inmates themselves. There is a possibility that parolees may be able to have the fee subtracted from their $200.00 gate money.
In order to gauge interest among inmates for the program, a recent survey was taken of H-Unit Stand Up Program participants, and the results of the survey revealed an overwhelmingly positive response and interest.
In these gloomy economic times where programs are much more likely to be cut than initiated, the birth of such a hugely inmate-beneficial program is truly a welcome breath of fresh air. Anyone who has ever paroled from a prison without at the least a state identification card knows just how much of a blessing such a program would be for us, the inmate population.
Two thumbs up to the administrators who have contributed their time and energies to make this program possible!
