“Educating the incarcerated is vitally important,” said Gary Shimel. “The greatest safety that we have to offer society is men who have come out of prison with a G.E.D. or college education. They are more likely to better their lives.” Shimel teaches K-12 classes at San Quentin State Prison.
He has been with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) nearly 14 years. “Before I came here I taught in Korea for a little over a year, I also have experience teaching Kindergarten here in California.”
When asked how CDCR could improve their education of people in prison? Shimel said each institution must show their incarcerated residents that education is there for them; the department needs to think outside the box.
“We need to build a trust between ourselves and the residents held inside CDCR,” said Shimel. “My vision of education for CDCR would be that we do everything in our power to help them achieve their educational goals to better their lives.”
“I taught pre-release when they cut the program,” Shimel said. “We lost a lot of amazing teacher’s and friends, Chris Wittek, Diane Searle, John Wilkerson, Marcie Ficarra, Phil Leonida and Ms. Sufi.
“It’s all about education and my teaching is never limited to inside these walls,” he said. “For me education is the pinnacle of life because I’ve seen men change that have killed people. I’ve seen miraculous changes and many of the men who leave these walls will be teachers too.”
