More than 100 inmates and about a dozen community members celebrated the graduation of a group of inmates from San Quentin’s Victim Offender Education Group (VOEG) Next Step program on April 16.
The prison’s chapel served as a place of comfort for attending crime victims and offenders alike as the audience acknowledged the 31 graduates.
Ellen Barry honored the men for “completing a very, very deep and healing process.” She said VOEG is a program about forgiveness, accountability and compassion.
“I was struck by the amazing quality of the programs. This is some of the bravest work I’ve seen done,” Barry said.
The VOEG curriculum is designed to bring perpetrators of crimes and crime victims together in dialogue and to facilitate victims’ healing.
“I have an appreciation for the men who have really looked into their lives and gained a deep understanding about the harmful decisions they’ve made and have learned from those mistakes,” said facilitator Lynn Cooper. “Every day I’m impressed with their insight and commitment to the changes the inmates have made in their lives.”
In the Next Step curriculum, inmates go deep into strengthening their relapse prevention plan, understanding the significance of past trauma, building relationships, learning how to prepare for the parole board and planning for reentry.
“The inmates are reclaiming their past and are reconnecting the dots in their lives to show how they got to the worst thing in their lives and understanding the context of their lives,” Cooper said.
During the graduation, several crime victims took to the stage, telling the audience how VOEG helped them heal from pain and suffering.
In February 2005, Patty Riley was on the first San Quentin VOEG victims’ panel.
She said on April 19, 2004, her husband was killed by a drunk driver. She said the incident tested her faith.
“I had three choices,” Riley said, “Leave the Catholic church because I couldn’t forgive, stay in the church and not forgive, or stay in the church and forgive. In the end, my faith carried me through.”
The toughest thing for a criminal to do is to see the look on a victim’s face as they hold themselves accountable to explain their actions, Riley told the audience.
“I kept coming inside San Quentin because I feel we’re all sinners,” she said. “I believe divine providence led me to Restorative Justice. There’s realness in listening to the dialogues and panels.”
Dionne Wilson is a new member of San Quentin’s VOEG program and sits on victims’ panels. Her husband, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty.
“Before learning about VOEG, I was part of an ‘us versus them’ attitude. It wasn’t until I was able to connect with people through VOEG did I realize what healing is,” Wilson told the audience. “It’s how I found forgiveness. You have no idea what it did for me. It completely changed my life. The man who killed my husband is right here on Death Row. I wish he were here. But I’m not allowed to connect with him. The system is taking away my chance to heal. So, I’m dedicating my life to change that.”
San Francisco native Alexander Germanacos said even before college, he was interested in working with incarcerated people. Now, Germanacos is a third-year family therapy student at California Institute of Integral Studies( CIIS).
“CIIS uses a holistic approach to treatment that takes into account what the client believes in. It’s not just what we think,” Germanacos said. He is scheduled to facilitate VOEG at San Quentin when the next classes begin.
Accompanying Germanacos was Eliza Bruce, who helps facilitate a different San Quentin program that concentrates on inmates who committed their crime as juveniles, Kid CAT. Bruce said she has completed the VOEG facilitator training to help her understand how to assist in the healing process.
“I’m inspired by restorative justice work — all forms of this kind of work,” Bruce said. “I think the connection between inside and outside is necessary and important for everybody involved.”
As a part of the inmates’ training, James Fox teaches yoga. The author of Yoga; a Path for Healing and Recovery, Fox has been teaching yoga to inmates since 2002. His book has been sent to more than 10,000 inmates worldwide, free of charge.
“Powerful book,” said yoga instructor Gibran McDonald. “It has meditation that helped me. It especially helped me to stop my inner wars.” McDonald assists Fox in his yoga classes in San Quentin. “I teach at a donation-based studio [Earth Tribe Yoga] and at elementary schools.”
More than 50 prisons and jails, including San Francisco County Jail and Solano State Prison, have invited Fox to teach yoga to inmates. He said his next project is to get a yoga program set up in R.J. Donovan State Prison. He said he has been invited to help start yoga programs in Norway and Germany.
“People who go through VOEG look closely at themselves,” Fox said. “Yoga is very supportive of this cognitive process. Yoga offers this mind/body integration. It can help accelerate the restorative process.”
At San Quentin, there are four yoga classes—one in H-Unit, one for veterans and two for the mainline. There is currently a waiting list for mainline participation.
“If I had the space, I’d start another tomorrow,” Fox said.
Lead facilitator Rochelle Edwards has been working with VOEG since 2001. Edwards is stepping down from the VOEG program. She said the VOEG program is indebted to Jamie Carroll for creating the curriculum.
Sonya Shah stepped into Edwards’ position as Restorative Justice Program Director and Cheryl Cranshaw is the new Clinical Supervisor of Facilitators.
Inmate David Basile said while doing his time, he was stuck in a rut. However, in 2006 he met Edwards.
“Rochelle held me accountable for things I’ve done in my life,” Basile said. “After I went to the hole and got out, she told me that she wouldn’t give up on me. That was the first time someone had told me they weren’t giving up on me. It was significant in my healing process.”
Pending the governor’s approval, Basile is scheduled to parole this coming summer after more than 30 years of incarceration.
The inmate VOEG facilitators presented Edwards with a plaque of appreciation and all the community facilitators were presented with flowers grown by inmate Frankie Smith.
Robert “Red” Frye has been with San Quentin VOEG since its beginning.
Edwards told the audience about Frye’s involvement in the program, and congratulated him on his accomplishments and upcoming parole.
“I’ve had the honor of seeing him grow and change,” Edwards said. “Tomorrow we’ll have the honor of seeing him go home after 25 years of incarceration.” Frye walked out of San Quentin on April 17.
“What a gift this community has been for me during the last 14 years,” Frye said.
