Laura Bowman-Salzsieder, who has been integral to building San Quentin’s reputation as a “programming prison,” will be leaving this summer.
Some 70 programs that help men turn their lives around have been assisted by Bowman-Salzsieder, manager of community partnerships at San Quentin.
After leaving San Quentin, she and her husband, a lieutenant colonel who has been in the Army for 26 years, will be moving to Florida.
For the last eight years, Bowman-Salzsieder has linked the outside community with prisoners and staff, helping facilitate a rehabilitative atmosphere seen at no other California prison.
“Good things are possible when good people work together,” said Bowman-Salzsieder.
She is the primary liaison to the local community on almost all things regarding the institution’s delivery of rehabilitation services, particularly San Quentin’s community participation programs, or Leisure Time Activity Groups. Bowman-Salzsieder coordinates the more than 3,000 visitors and volunteers that come into the prison each year.
She began as a bridging teacher in the prison’s Education Department, where Tony Beebe, the current principal, was a mentor to her, she says. She admits that when she took the community partnership position, it increased her workload so tremendously that her time became spread very thin. Yet despite all the responsibilities her position imposed on her, she said she has thoroughly enjoyed the job.
“It is very hard to think back to only one fond memory that I have had here at San Quentin,” said Bowman-Salzsieder. “There have been so many.”
She enthusiastically points to the prison’s Vietnam Veterans Group, Shakespeare in San Quentin, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, the Get on The Bus Program, the 1000-Mile Club, and all the various graduations that she has attended as examples of the successes that are possible when people come together.
–Aly Tamboura contributed to this story.