Education at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center allows residents to follow their dreams while reforming their lives.
The facility offers five different college programs, which the population can attend to further their education.
The prison has a self-accredited on-site College program, named Mount Tamalpais, in which Professors come into the prison and teach higher learning.
The residents have the same opportunity, with college correspondence courses, that includes Lassen Community College, Coastline Community College, Adam State University, and Ohio State University.
The programs allow residents to achieve accomplishments from Associate Arts to Master Degrees.
“I enrolled in college while incarcerated to finish what I started in my younger days,” said K. Soy a resident at San Quentin. “I attended college before getting incarcerated but, never got a chance to attain a degree.”
While in prison, he earned an Associate Science Degree in Business Administration and an Associate Art degree in Social Behavioral Science.
Since then he has become a Peer Literacy Mentor to help others in their education journey.
He plans to attend one of his dream colleges, the University of California at Berkeley, and Los Angeles. These Institutions offer an Under Ground Scholars program that help the formerly incarcerated the UC system.
(His advice to the youth who want to attend college), “if you decide to attend college, get all of your general education requirements out the way,” said Soy.
Residents like Jose Maya choose to take Ministry from Gateway College to further their education in Christ, to see all avenues of theological belief.
He says that he never attend college on the outside, prior to prison he had scholarship to Northern Arizona University. Adding earing a college degree always has been a dream of his.
He wants to break that chain and become the first generation in his family to attend college and earn a degree.
“Earning a college degree in Gateway will help complete my walk in Christ as I will now know the way of the truth…live my life,” said Maya
Once released Maya plans to attend University Southern California, and earn a Master Degree in Transformational Teaching and Peer Counseling, to help people solidify their faith, and educational journey.
He says that he has learned so much about his spirituality and about his own theology when it comes to why he believes in Christ Jesus. He believes that taking college can help people accept responsibility for their actions.
(Maya wanted the incarcerated youth to know that), “never give up on yourself, enroll in college make time to educate yourself because you can do anything you put your heart too,” Maya said.
