CAL PIA

Coming back to prison to help bridge the digital divide

May 23, 2018 by Wayne Boatwright

Tulio Cardozo with Jon Gripshover

Behind San Quentin’s walls, there is a pair of programs dedicated to closing the digital divide, Code.7370 and TLMWORKS. Tulio K. Cardozo, a former San Quentin inmate, runs one of them. These programs are sponsored by The Last Mile.

Cardozo is in charge of TLMWORKS, a coding development joint venture. It pays a whopping wage of $16.49 an hour to inmates.

“I’ve got to make four client calls this afternoon,” said Cardozo as he guided me to the TLMWORKS offices. “Why don’t you speak with a few of our team members first?”

The men of TLMWORKS are completely quiet as they write code for clients ranging from private companies and municipal governments to nonprofits and our own San Quentin News.

The coding rooms have numerous customer logos framed and hanging like trophies on the walls. Each one represents a successful client project.

Anouthinh Pangthong chimed in when asked about what sets Cardozo apart, “Tulio believes in us. Everything that I’ve done here is identified ‘PROUDLY DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED AT TLM WORKS.’ He makes us shine.”

Cardozo appreciates the importance of respect. He was a San Quentin H-Unit dormitory yard inmate for more than three years.

“From 23-30 years of age I was incarcerated; this is my chance to give back to society,” said Cardozo about one of his main his reasons for returning to San Quentin.

As the on-site manager, Cardozo’s chief role is keeping each project on task and time.

“The way I learned this stuff is by trial and error. Just like you are now but you have the benefit of my experience,” Cardozo told a teammate, Jason Jones, who was working to optimize a client’s website.

Around us, tech-jargon was flying hot and heavy: “Debugging Node from JavaScript” and “Have you used Chrome DevTool to allow you to decompile more efficiently?” asked Cardozo of Jones.

The work vocabulary is necessary to facilitate precise communication of what the team needs to do on a given client-project. A key procedure for Cardozo, is to explain a specific skill then find a way to convey it to all the other inmate-employees of TLMWORKS.

“These men learn cutting-edge technology through Code.7370, and then we keep their skills up to date [at TLMWORKS],” said Cardozo.

The consistent opinion heard from the TLMWORKS team is that Cardozo demands the best of them and does all he can to provide them with the tools and skill sets needed to succeed.

“He walked the same path as we do. The fact he came back here as a success tells me that I can also have a career in coding,” said Jones.

“I’ve been involved with The Last Mile since 2013,” said Harry Hemphill. “Working for TLMWORKS for almost two years already. My salary is $16.50 an hour for an average of 30 hours a week.

“He was an inmate and was in H-Unit where I live. He taught himself to code, left prison and started his own web-design shop.

“My passion is to start my own dev-shop,” Hemphill continued. “He is guiding me to be able to have all the skills necessary to become my own boss. It is not his job; what most impresses me about Cardozo is that he is compassionate and really wants each of us to succeed at TLMWORKS and on the outside.”

When asked about the most difficult aspect of working at San Quentin, Cardozo said, “The process of how to work without direct connection to the net always adds complexity to an already complex process.”

Authorized to have internet access, Cardozo must walk inmate-workers through the information that will help them do their job. Tutorial videos verified by Cardozo as appropriate and authorized for release was played to the team.

“This is first and foremost a business. All our employees know that both the company and they are accountable to our clients,” he said.

All of the TLMWORKS inmate employees were graduates of CODE.7370 training program also offered at San Quentin.

If an inmate can complete at least two of the six-month CODE.7370 training cycles, he can apply to work at TLMWORKS. All the current employees have completed all three cycles offered by CODE.7370.

“There is real opportunity here,” Cardozo emphasizes, “If you really connect in this space, if it excites you and you want to come back to class and challenge yourself, we have the tools to allow that.”

When asked about the key to successes at both CODE.7370 and TLMWORKS, Cardozo said, “You can believe in yourself. This is the best opportunity to practice here and learn what it is like to work on a team at both a professional and individual level. There is no better time to build professional habits than right now.”

TLMWORKS is growing. “I now have six people on my roster and looking to hire more when the next batch graduates [from CODE.7370].

“We operationally can handle about three projects at one time right now. We have a well-developed pipeline of potential clients. Like many development shops on the outside, we don’t have a shortage of projects, rather of talented people. We will hire as many as can come through the CODE.7370 program,” said Cardozo. “If you are qualified and able, I will consider you as a serious candidate to become part of our team.”

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/
https://sanquentinnews.com/game-theory/
Boatwright

Taking on the task to teach a new way of thinking in coding

May 8, 2018 by Juan Haines

A student speaking with Jon Gripshover in his office

In spite of the monumental challenges, Jon Gripshover, a supervising instructor, without fail, walks to a classroom in prison industries four times a week to teach incarcerated men computer coding.

“This was one of the first times in my life that I saw hard work and determination not get the results sought after, even after 110 percent effort,” Gripshover said. “That was one of my profound moments in teaching”

Gripshover notes that in coding, “you’re wrong 90 percent of the time. You have to get used to it. You have to see mistakes as opportunities for taking a different path to solve a problem, not as a failure.”

Why is he so committed?

He said working in prison has been the most challenging, yet rewarding, job that he has ever had.

According to Gripshover, the program not only teaches coding, it also teaches new ways of thinking.

“We teach methods to work your way out of problems,” Gripshover said.

On the day of the April 3 interview, he walked from his office and into a brightly lit classroom of about two dozen incarcerated men sitting at desks with double-screen computers. Lines of numbers and figures filled their computer screens — others had programs running.

Gripshover stepped on an elevated platform. The men stopped typing and conversing to hear his announcement.

“I want you all to know how important our site visit by Slack will be tomorrow,” Gripshover told the men about the electronic messaging firm. “Even though, they want to see what you guys can do, they also want to spend some time with you to understand who you are.”

Gripshover planned to show the Slack executives three programs that the inmates developed.

Iris is an automated tax filing application; Geek Sheet is an e-commerce cite for people who like purchasing “geekie” items, like Star Wars memorabilia; and Jolt is a localized search engine (like Google) dedicated to educational computer networks.

“This is an opportunity, not only for you, but for what this class represents — that you are not just criminals serving time, but you are also a good resource for Silicon Valley,” Gripshover said.

Coding student asking Jon Gripshover a question about a program

Creator of Iris, Angel Falcone, said, “What’s unique about Iris is that it is a running account of income and expenses, and it prepares the application and files it electronically without having to go to a tax preparer.”

Falcone sat at his workstation, working on “The Challenge of the Day,” which is a coding problem Gripshover gives the students to solve.

“For me, this one is kind of hard. I’ve been working on it for about two and a half hours. But, it’s these exercises that help us understand coding.”

The program, called Code.7370, is an innovative technology-training program that began in 2014 at San Quentin State Prison. It is the brainchild of venture capitalists Beverly Parenti and Chris Redlitz. The duo teamed up with the California Prison Industry Authority and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to manage the program.

Gripshover said when he took this job, he was told that not everyone would pass. But, that was against his “no child left behind, no matter what,” philosophy, he said.

“I am the kind of person who takes people where they were at,” Gripshover said referring to the time when he worked with at-risk youth. He said, however, getting youngsters out of crisis didn’t solve their overall problem. It always turned into, “what next?” Gripshover said he felt education was key to success.

When he took the job at San Quentin, Gripshover said, “I didn’t like hearing the notion that people would fail and drop off. But, six months later, I learned that because people have different starting points of learning and people learn at different levels, especially in the prison setting, some are more suited for this kind of training than others—simply put, not everyone can be a coder.”

Code.7370 provides teacher’s aides to assist struggling students. The TAs graduated from the program. They crosscheck with the struggling students to ensure that all the resources provided in the curriculum have been exhausted. If the TA is unable to solve the problem, Gripshover steps in. If all else fails, Gripshover does internet research through a website dedicated to coding problems.

“My first week in CDCR, I was told thanks more than I have in my life,” Gripshover said. “I feel good about the work that I do.”

TA John Levin said, “Jon makes sure that we are given the latest and most current materials. It is a self-paced class, where there are different tracts, which allows people to progress at their own pace.

“Jon allows me to share my experience to the class. This program lets me keep my skill set current. I have a marketable skill once I do get out of prison.”

“The men here value what we have created,” Gripshover said. “I feel safer here than the last high school where I worked. It’s still prison, but I try to inject a little humor here and there during the day. The right people with the right humor take away from the daily tension of life in prison.”

CALPIA’s Pattillo explains the options of prison job training

March 26, 2017 by Juan Haines

The jobs inmates do in California’s prisons are diverse, and they demand skills that can be used in the outside workforce, according to Charles Pattillo, General Manager of the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA).

Over the years, CALPIA has expanded from making license plates to producing a wide variety of different products including furniture, baked goods and agriculture. Now the agency is providing training in a number of highly skilled trades, such as computer coding, Computer-Aided Design, commercial diving and iron working.

Pattillo said that inmates working in the Healthcare Facilities Maintenance (HFM) program and similar inmate jobs could be eligible to continue working for the state, once released from prison. The only place Pattillo said ex-inmates could not work is in the Capitol building and where there are highly sensitive computers.

Pattillo has expanded HFM jobs (hospital janitorial work) from 900 positions to 1,200 positions. In an interview, Pattillo was asked why he has increased janitorial jobs in the state’s prisons. “Not everyone can be a computer coder,” he said.

Pattillo is currently working to make the workplace more accessible for workers who need substance abuse programs as well as educational services.

Pattillo said having those services on-site eliminates an inmate having to choose between working or going to a self-help program. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Innovative ideas got Pattillo national recognition late last year when the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA) selected him for the 2017 Rodli Award.

The Rodli Award was first given in 1978, and Pattillo is the first director from California to receive it.

Pattillo, who’s been on the job for 10 years, is the longest serving director in CALPIA history.

“Chuck has not only been a leader in the Correctional Industry field through his work at CALPIA, but he is also eager to share his expertise and resources to help other Correctional Industries across the country launch new programs and/or problem-solve challenges,” said NCIA Executive Director Gina Honeycutt in a CALPIA press release. “Chuck has volunteered countless hours of his own time to support NCIA in its mission to support the professional development of our members and we are thrilled to recognize, him with this highest honor.”

California’s top corrections official Scott Kernan said, “Mr. Pattillo is tasked with one of the hardest jobs in California government: rehabilitating offenders in prison by developing and implementing results-based employment training in the framework of a profitable, self-sufficient and diversified business model. Mr. Pattillo has demonstrated great discernment, business judgment and sound government principles in ensuring CALPIA’s success despite an often challenging environment that includes times of decreasing resources, correctional reorganization, public safety realignment and the extreme uncertainty of politics. He is a great proponent and practitioner of collaboration at all levels, finding ways to accomplish goals even in the toughest of times.”

Pattillo cited many different numbers and statistics that support what CALPIA has accomplished over the past years, but the statistic he said he’s most proud of is the low recidivism rate of CALPIA employees. CALPIA employees return to prison on average 26 to 38 percent less often than offenders released from the general population, and CALPIA’s Career Technical Education programs have a cumulative recidivism rate of 7.13 percent.

Pattillo, proud of the work his team does, says that inmates employed by CALPIA is the best savings for Californians in tax dollars and public safety.

More information about CalPIA can be found at www.calpia.ca.gov.