By Jerry Maleek Gearin, Journalism Guild Chair 

In the heart of criminal justice reform, California lawmakers have passed legislation in an effort to humanize life for incarcerated people.

On Oct. 1, 2025, Senate Bill 551 passed by a majority vote, modifying sections 1170 and 5000 of the Penal Code by adding section 5000.5 in relation to corrections and rehabilitation.

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation, which encouraged the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to invest in better relationships between correctional officers and incarcerated people. The bill’s objective is to create healthier people and safer prison environments.

“Humanity is safety, if we reduce the ‘us against them type of mentality,’” said San Quentin Rehabilitation Center’s Warden C. Andes, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the prison’s new learning center.

State lawmakers recognized that prison life has had a negative psychological impact on incarcerated people as well as correctional staff.

The national suicide rate for incarcerated people is 31.2 deaths per 100,000 people. The suicide rates for those working in prison settings are 39% higher than the national workforce, according to SB 551.

Resident Jose Maya said he feels that residents and correctional officers who engage in a professional relationship will slowly start to build empathy for one another. These collaborative efforts can cater to a more relaxed and stress-free environment.

For example, a resident could empathize when an officer continuously works double shifts to sustain his family. In addition, an officer who travels far to get to his/her workplace, the combination of overtime and lengthy travel can cause stress, Maya stated.

Maya concluded by saying that an officer can empathize after learning a model resident has suffered a death in his/her family. An officer who shows sympathy towards a resident’s grief can bring them to the realization that they are human, despite having committed a crime.

Senate Bill 551 stated in order to have effective rehabilitation, it is essential that incarcerated people live with dignity and respect.

Correctional officers would receive training on how to show residents dignity, respect, and flexibility when exerting their authority. The deprivation of freedom fulfills the purposes of penal punishment, and the additional purpose of incarceration is rehabilitation, noted the SB 551.

“If an officer has a hard time showing me respect, and or treating me with dignity, I would ask him/her if we could have a conversation as two human beings,” Maya said. “That I am a person who had unhealthy coping tools, uncontrolled impulses, and unprocessed trauma.”

Prison staff who repeatedly engage in conversations through activities foster a healthier environment. People who are familiar with each other are less likely to respond with violence, according to the SB 551.

Resident Charles Jamison, incarcerated for 23 years, gave his perspective on bridging the gap of respect and alliance.

The improvement of the interaction between correctional staff and incarcerated people requires mutual aid on projects and activities. This teamwork can bridge the “chasm” that has historically divided the two sides, Jamison said.

He stated, in healthy conversations all interactions between human beings are important, whether they are representing themselves and or a people as a whole.

“In this communication, people can achieve a shared objective of being mentally, emotionally, and psychologically safe,” Jamison said. “To treat residents with respect is to create an environment that is conducive to healing from past traumas.”

The standard of making incarcerated life as close to a normal society as possible, compared to life on the outside, prepares residents to be law-abiding citizens once released, noted the SB 551.

The legislation declared that people serving time in California prisons would be encouraged to obtain useful job skills that will enable then to become “good neighbors.”

Resident Maya said the new learning center contains space for media, education, and technology. The center includes a coffee shop, planted trees, and shrubbery.

In addition, Maya stated that there are large murals within the prison. The new building includes recycled redwood benches, but there is also a need for humanizing attire if allowed. All of these new applications can bring prison life closer to a normal society.