SQRC’s Thousand Mile Club held its annual marathon in November of last year. As fans were in attendance to cheer on the top-flight runners, organizations were also in attendance, trying to take in the value of sports as rehabilitation.
SQRC’s fifteenth annual marathon included visitors Keramet Reiter from UC Irvine, Kelsey Engstrom and Jessica Osorio from the UCSF Amends program, as well James McCanne and Lewis, representatives from the Hoka shoe company which is the Thousand MileClub’s provider of athletic footwear.
The most intriguing visitors were representatives of the Washington State Penitentiary, who were in attendance to evaluate the Thousand Mile Club.
Courtney G., Washington’s Way Administrator who oversees 8 of Washington state’s 11 prisons said, “We provide education, vocational training, apprenticeship programs, transitional housing and are building the [sports] program while transitioning; empowering staff and residents to improve life for everyone. It’s like rebuilding the plane while flying it.”
Two other staffers from Washington’s prison system spoke of challenges similar to those California is facing as they install the San Quentin Model of rehabilitation throughout its state.
Steve Glenn, a Washington State Penitentiary employee for 17 years, is the prison’s Grievance Coordinator and is credited with starting Walla Walla’s running club.
Glenn visited SQRC with WSP administration to experience SQ’s Thousand Mile Club event.
“I’m all for using San Quentin’s 1000-Mile Club as an example,” said Glenn. “Our first event was a 5K run in October and we have scheduled a 10K run for December.”
Although WSP incorporates outside volunteers and selected staff, to oversee programming, Glenn believes their Department of Corrections has been moving towards rehabilitation over the last ten years. He added the programming has created a reduction in violence and a healthier attitude.
Mike Land, a Washington State Penitentiary staffer for one year, touted Walla Walla’s current programming as well. Land said their recreation [programming] department consists of roughly six-hundred minimum security residents who have access to Walla Walla’s Community College classes, a golf simulator, table top tennis games with weekly tournaments, intramural sports and their new running club.
Land said he is responsible for close custody as well as recreation, “working both ends of the spectrum.”
Land added the running club has been well received with a fairly constant level of participation from the incarcerated residents and as many as fifteen volunteers and staff overseeing the club.
With attempts to upgrade WSP’s programming, the two staffers noticed the same challenges SQRC has experienced.
“The staff is encouraged to interact but there is a lot of push back from ‘old guard’ staff,” said Land. “I’m impressed with the marathon event at San Quentin and hope to replicate it at WSP.”
Glenn agreed with Land as he noted the old culture as well.
“There seems to be more push back from the officers than the incarcerated,” said Glenn. “[The] rehabilitative and educational opportunities are on the increase, [and] I think that is the direction the department may be going, but I don’t know if it will be [at] our facility.”
Washington’s belief that, rebuilding the plane of rehabilitation may take time, is warranted. However, the shared experiences of SQRC’s Thousand Mile Club’s Marathon, and sports as rehabilitation, can be shared throughout the country.
