Four hundred Reception Center inmates living in West Block and the Gym attended a reentry fair Saturday, September 06, on the West Block Yard that provided information for successful parole back into the community.
Initiated by inmate Westley Barry (aka, “Preacher”), and facilitated by West Block Lieutenant D. Footman, information booths were arranged on the walls of t he West Block Yard that offered information on: drug and alcohol counseling, medical (HIV and Hepatitis C prevention and care), job training, education, mental health counseling, family counseling and housing assistance. Various members of the Protestant Chapel assisted in distributing Bibles and other valuable spiritual study materials.
Preacher, a four-time champion of the television show “American Gladiators,” seeks to inspire individuals and bring his sports discipline to others. With 11 years incarcerated, Preacher created the self-help program titled “Team Exodus.” Along with others, he has been facilitating the curriculum: “Grown Men Business.” This program addresses the recidivism of repeat offenders in prison. Through this two month study program, they are called upon to “Own up to their responsibilities to themselves, their families and their community.”
Footman observed 30 to 50 inmates attending these classes, and appreciates the true value in packaging elements of rehabilitation within the San Quentin Reception Center. With the exception of basic education, only the bare essentials of opportunity have been available to these individuals.
Beginning in the Gym, Preacher later expanded the program to include those in the West Block Unit. The 300 men from West Block who completed the Grown Men Business training, were the first allowed to attend the Team Exodus Resource Work shop. Once those in West Block were complete, the 100 men from the Gym who had also completed the program were allowed to benefit from the information
and resource fair.
“In my thirteen years working the R e c e p t i o n Center, I’ve asked many men why they’ve continued re- turning to p r i s o n ” Footman said, “many of them said that there’s noth- ing out there for them. And that d o e s n ’ t sound right,” she added. “ A l r i g h t , ” F o o t m a n cont inued, “Let me fix that for you.
Instead of you going to them, I’m bringing them to you.” A total of 14 agencies from outside, and another eight programs that are already a part of the mainline re-entry program here at San Quentin, along with a total of 55 outside guests, brought information concerning counties throughout Northern California. Fresno, Humboldt, Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento and Solano counties were all represented.
At the end of the event, informational material had run out at every booth, and a 1,000 questions had been answered by the outside guests. Future plans are in the works for a summit that is tentatively scheduled for February, and a second bi-annual Team Exodus resource fair for March 2009.