Access to programs for many incarcerated people at San Quentin continues to be a problem two years following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rehabilitation center makeover.
According to current data, there are waitlists of nearly two years for self-help programs and community-based organization groups, and according to the 2024 Reimagining San Quentin report, “waitlists to participate in programs can be particularly devastating to residents.”
“When I arrived here from Centinela State Prison, I figured it would take me about a year to get into a program,” said Anthony John Gumina. “But after being here for a year-and-a-half now, I’m realizing that I am no closer to getting into a program now than I was when I got here.”
Common to people here at San Quentin are challenging issues that CDCR administrators acknowledge have hindered the reduction of waitlists.
Two such challenges are the demand for physical space for programs, and the recruiting and retaining of staff, according to the report.
Until these concerns are addressed, coupled with expanding funding for the expansion of programs, San Quentin’s waitlist predicament will continue to expand, said the report.
Solutions that have been recommended range from offering “rapid response programming” for the short-term population (those with sentences of two years or less) that allow all residents to meet their programming needs for re-entry. However, implementing this solution would take encouraging CBOs to create program options of shorter length, according to the report.
“Centinela had plenty of programs: Criminal and Gang Members Anonymous, AA/NA, and others. At San Quentin, I signed up for the trucking program, vocational paint shop, Career Technical Education, and chapel clerk,” said San Quentin. resident Frederick Roberts. “Everything I have attempted to get into has an eight-month or longer wait time. I have been volunteering in different areas so that I can just stay busy, but that doesn’t mean anything when I can’t show the parole board what I’ve been doing.”
San Quentin residents require equitable access to programming, said the report. It encourages rehabilitation, reduces recidivism, and enhances the re-formative processes required to help facilitate an environment that promotes healing, redemption and reconciliation.
The target population for the programs are the 70 percent of San Quentin residents scheduled to be released back into society, and then 30 percent who are required to go before a parole board hearing in order to be released.
According to the Community Resource Manager’s office of programming, the implementation of programs to help alleviate the long waitlists for self-help groups has been an ongoing process, with the goal being to fast-track inmates into groups as quickly as possible.
“Allotting space for programs, along with the heavy workload of the CRM office, we continue to accommodate as many groups as we can, and I believe that we are moving in the right direction in getting people into programs as expeditiously as possible,” said the Community Resource Manager’s office. NOTE: Was this a statement released by his office or did the CRM say it himself? You should be more specific. “It may take a little time, but we will get there. We just ask that the community continue to be patient.”
Roberts arrived at San Quentin in 2024 from the California Medical facility in Vacaville, where he was involved in the college program.
“I had heard about all the programs that San Quentin had to offer and I wanted to come here for the programs that CMF did not have there,” said Roberts, who is in his 41st year of incarceration. “I needed to be in programs that fit my specific needs for the purpose of the parole board. When I arrived and began signing up for the groups being offered, I discovered that it would take me 18 months or longer to get into just one.”
The report has recommended that the office of the Associate Warden of Programs be tasked with the following:
*Invest in quantifying and reducing waitlists, including matching needs to programs based on each person’s rehabilitation plan,
*Digitize program operations and bring transparency to program enrollment,
*Create paid peer mentor positions to help people understand and use the program enrollment process – this is currently being implemented,
*Create a fund and pathway for residents to apply to pilot programs and grow their own new programs. This is currently being implemented through unit-based programs,
*Proactively ensure accessibility requirements can be met and offer training to create peer mentors who are able to work as paid American Sign Language and Spanish translators.
The action items listed here are not lost on San Quentin administrators, as the rehabilitation center moves forward in providing equitable access to programming through the diligence of Warden Chance Andes.
