The clients are inmates, and many are soon to be paroled. In large numbers, two evenings each week, they file steadily through the door of the California Re-entry Program in a seemingly unending stream.
For those who come through the door, their quest is for information vital to their success or failure on parole. Information which, for most, can be found in no other place behind the walls of this budget-challenged prison.
THROUGH THE DOOR
Twice each week many will come through the door seeking information in areas as diverse as post-parole employment, housing, college and financial aid assistance or child support information. For others, it’s information from the DMV, Social Security, drug and alcohol treatment facilities, dress-out clothing or bus and train schedules.
Whatever their needs, the small army of well-trained, friendly and enthusiastic volunteers of Director Allyson West’s unique program are well-equipped to make the connections between those who are soon to be paroled and the array of service providers in any of California’s 58 counties.
“The need was obviously there,” said West. “The inmates have so few places they can go for information.”
In addition, West regularly brings a representative from the Marin Employment Connection, occasional speakers and related service professionals into the institution to conduct seminars and instruct inmates in the development of resume building skills, sharpening interviewing techniques, how to expunge one’s record and related health issues.
About 25 volunteers of the CRP serve the needs of approximately 150 to 200 clients who come through the door each month, Tuesday and Thursday from 6;30 to 8:30 for H-Unit, and Tuesday evenings for residents of North Block. The CRP began servicing H-Unit in 2006.
For many of the volunteers, some of whom are exploring possible careers in social work or law enforcement, the experience is both preparation and training for eventual employment.
The volunteers come from a range of backgrounds as varied as the differences in their ages, from Tom, in his 70s, to Aliza at 22. Each is asked to commit to the program for a minimum of six months, says West, and some have been with the CRP for much longer.
Volunteers undergo four hours of training and must submit to a background check. Some elect to work both nights, some only one, but each will put in about 3 to 10 hours per-week of home research and information gathering to meet the never-ending needs of their CRP clients.
“This program would not exist without the volunteers,” said West, whose paid staff includes one part-time employee. “Without the hard work and dedication of all of them, none of this would have been possible for these past seven years”.
For North Block, the program operates out of building B in the old laundry building, and West assists about 20 inmates each week with preparation for Parole Board hearings as well as long-term parole planning.
CONTINUING PROBLEM
The CRP was founded by West in 2003 and is entirely funded through grants from charitable foundations and private donations of just five or ten dollars each. Funding is a continuing problem, says West, and additional sources must be found if the non-profit program is to continue operating beyond the end of the year.
The economic downturn has dramatically cut into the money available from charitable foundations that normally provide the bulk of funding for programs for the homeless, legal advocacy groups and a program such as the CRP.
The loss of the CRP would be a tremendous blow to the countless inmates who are critically dependent upon West and her unique program.
Allyson West has been involved at San Quentin for the past decade, initially as an algebra instructor for Patten University.
