The San Quentin News “Health and Wellness Corner” column runs when articles are submitted for publication. A Centerforce health professional will answer questions that you submit about health issues. Feel free to ask us questions about any medical concern that you have, and it may be answered so that everyone can benefit. Put your questions in a U-Save-Em envelope addressed to:
Health and Wellness Corner, Centerforce (Education Dept) – Medical Box. Your name and number will be kept confidential.
In this edition, we will address our mission statement:
The Centerforce mission is to support, educate and advocate for individuals, families and communities impacted by incarceration. Centerforce’s founders established the first Visitors’ Center in California outside the gates of San Quentin. In 1981, with the help of the late state Assemblyman William Filante, Centerforce drafted legislation that mandated the CDCR to establish visitor’s centers outside each adult state prison with an inmate population of more than 800. The California visitors’ Centers provide information about prison visiting, transportation to and from public transit terminals, hospitality clothing exchange, social service referrals and activities for children.
Currently, Centerforce provides the following programs:
LIFE (Leaders In Future Environments) – This is a one-on-one mentoring program that aims to support youth who have or have had a parent incarcerated.
HRMF (Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood) – The goal of this program is to strengthen marriages/relationships of incarcerated fathers released from prison. Activities include parenting and relationship classes with fathers inside H-Unit (Back-To-family classes), the couples enhancement workshops (held inside H-Unit visiting) and family reunification case management for families after release from incarceration.
Project START Re-Entry Planning (formerly the Healthy Outcomes, HOP) – This program provides re-entry planning services for men released from San Quentin.
Peer Health Education – Centerforce currently employs five peer health educators to provide health information to other men living at San Quentin. Presentations are given to men entering the institution, in education classes and in some housing areas. Additionally, the peer health educators are available to anyone living at San Quentin at any time to answer question about health issues. This program also provides a five-day training annually to other men interested in providing education to their peers. The current peer health educators are Alfonso Carranza, Darrell Cortez Hartley, Kenyatta Leal, Lonnie Morris and Tung Nguyen.
If you have questions about these programs, contact Dolores Lyles or Julie Lifshay from Centerforce.
The organization’s web site is www.Centerforce.org
