This summer, I worked at a small non-profit organization called Humans of San Quentin, whose primary aim is to humanize incarcerated people through personal narratives and other creative contributions. I not only read about the lives and experiences of countless people in prison, but also talked to them on the phone and asked questions that only someone who has personally experienced incarceration could answer.
Many people I crossed paths with expressed a genuine desire to contribute positively to society, defying the longstanding disbelief in rehabilitation. In August, I met Michael Moore at an event inside San Quentin, where he has been incarcerated since 2013. Michael is currently serving his third prison sentence, having been behind bars since October 24, 2000.
During Michael’s time at San Quentin, significant changes have been made. It marked a political pendulum swing in the direction of rehabilitation, away from the harsh punitive conditions in California prisons. In May 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom introduced a plan coined the “California Model.”
The goal? To improve public safety by breaking cycles of crime and incarceration, implement programs targeting rehabilitation, education, and restorative justice.
San Quentin is California’s oldest and most notorious prison. It was previously home to the United States’ largest death row and used gas chambers for executions in the 1900s. In 2005, NBC reported the prison’s chronic overcrowding, inadequate medical services, and unsanitary conditions. Poor prison environments like this often lead people to relapse into criminal behavior, known as recidivism.
Focusing on lowering recidivism is imperative, given that California has incarceration rates that stand out internationally, with 494 people per 100,000 behind bars, higher than most global democracies. The state is second only to the U.S. as a whole, which incarcerates 614 residents for every 100,000.
Due to California’s alarmingly high incarceration rates, the California Model isn’t the first attempt at improving abhorrent conditions present in the state’s prisons. In 2011, SCOTUS affirmed the ability of federal courts to remedy issues in state prisons when the conditions become so dire as to undermine humane conditions. The case, Coleman and Plata v. Schwarzenegger, ordered California to fix the extreme crowding present in its prisons and improve access to essential medical and psychiatric care. In 2019, Newsom himself issued an indefinite memorandum on capital punishment in California.
However, the California Model represents the largest shift towards refocusing California’s carceral system on rehabilitation, attempting to replace longstanding punitive measures that plague prisons. When asked about these changes in San Quentin, Michael told me, “Any change that humanizes the incarcerated population is a good move in the right direction.”
A common phrase in prison is ‘hurt people hurt people.’ Rehabilitative prospects hinge on humanizing incarcerated people.
Humanization starts with acknowledging that criminal behavior is often rooted in adverse life experiences. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, even before entering prison, incarcerated people are disproportionately likely to experience trauma and abuse. Thirty to sixty percent of men in state prisons experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before entering prison, a staggering amount compared to the three to six percent of the general male population. Rehabilitative programs like the ones available at San Quentin directly target these issues rather than focusing on merely punishing incarcerated people.
While rehabilitation in prisons offers clear benefits for people inside and outside the system, the social misconception that harsh prison terms and conditions deter people from committing crimes prevails. In fact, rehabilitation benefits everyone in the system and society at large. It gives prisoners a chance to change, get educated, and envision a future life beyond criminal activity. Society benefits because rehabilitated people are better prepared to reenter, helping reduce recidivism.
Critics of rehabilitation often focus on the needs and wants of victims. Yet, it’s a myth that victims want offenders to be extensively punished, and they don’t always prefer long-term imprisonment for offenders. According to the PPI, 75 percent of violent crime victims prefer holding people accountable through options “beyond prison,” such as restorative justice. 85 percent prefer investing in more mental health treatment, and 72 percent prefer incentives for pre-release rehabilitation, meaning earning shorter sentences through good behavior and participation in rehabilitative programs. The majority of victims desire atonement and justice through rehabilitation, rather than the abusive and violent experience many incarcerated people face.
Programs in prison are transformative in and of themselves. In Michael’s words, “You have people wake up in the morning, they have a purpose, they have a reason to get up. The guys that are not in programs, they don’t even really get out of bed. They go to breakfast, they go back to bed.” Providing purposeful activity for prisoners has various benefits, including the development of new skills, boosting an individual’s confidence and self-esteem, and improving mental health prospects.
Michael discussed how his programs have offered him all of these benefits. When asked which program has been the most important in his process, he didn’t hesitate to answer. “I had an eighth-grade education up till I got involved in the college [at San Quentin]. So when I got the college education here, that’s what really started reshaping who I was.” Before gaining an education and classroom experiences, Michael describes himself as antisocial, standoffish, and isolated. He lacked confidence and struggled to feel involved in things. “Education taught me to think critically. I can discuss something that might normally repulse me or disgust me, … [and] contribute to the conversation.”
Education has improved Michael’s confidence and mental health and given him valuable skills needed outside prison, for jobs and social interactions. “I learned to set goals and…meet deadlines. I didn’t have any of that in my life prior, not really.” Education substantially lowers recidivism. According to a 2022 report, the two-year conviction rate post-release is 10 percent lower for those who completed just one educational achievement.
San Quentin also became a lower-security facility, which has allowed more socialization and interaction among different groups. Michael notes that “Because the segregation in prison is very strong in the upper levels, I wasn’t able to actually hear other races talk and ask questions. [In San Quentin], I got to see what other people were like. Come to find out, we are not so different. We have a lot more in common than we do different. I did not know that. I did not believe that. So that changed my belief system.”
These skills aren’t just important to Michael and other incarcerated people as individuals. They are subsequently beneficial to the neighborhoods they will live in upon release, the workplace they will join, and all the people they will interact with. Rehabilitating California’s incarcerated population is impossible to ignore, especially given that approximately 95 percent of incarcerated people will be released from prison.
Alongside taking classes, Michael has participated in addiction recovery counseling, non-violent communication, and peer literacy mentorship. From all these, the Peer Support Specialist (PSS) stands out. PSS is a pilot program enacted by Newsom that offers 30 paid positions in each California prison. Participants are trained to use their lived experience to provide trusted, rehabilitative support to their peers.
To become a PSS mentor, Michael underwent a vetted and rigorous training and application process, which was a learning process in itself. He developed a professional resume, engaged in an in-depth interview process, and was evaluated by medical and behavioral professionals.
This program is special, as it grants Michael a quality job and a clear future when he is released. “I’m California-certified now, so there’s no doubt I’ll have a job. I’m a veteran, and I get to go to veteran transition, so this peer support program really gave me a future that I did not have prior.”
Michael notes that at his age, job opportunities are limited. “Especially at my age, what am I gonna do when I get out of prison after 25-26 years at 66 years old? Well, because the qualifications are lived experiences, I can do this. So it’s just a really amazing opportunity.”
The PSS program is also transformative for the men that Michael and his colleagues serve, whom the program calls “consumers.”
“We help them by discussing and sharing our own life experiences to put them at ease.” Michael’s job is to facilitate self-help groups and one-on-one consultations for the 14 consumers he works with. The program focuses on motivating consumers to alter their unproductive behavior into behaviors that will help them lead an increasingly self-directed life. Michael described how a few consumers he works with responded to the last six-week cycle about the stages of change. Participants began meditating and praying when they woke up in the morning, and some were walking a mile after breakfast, when they used to go back to sleep until 11. “So they’re more motivated. And I asked, ‘Why are you walking?’ They said because they’re encouraged and I walk with them, so we encourage the exercise.”
Reflective listening is another aspect of their discussion, requiring participants to reword their goals to be more realistic. For example, in one of Michael’s recent meetings, a “consumer” commented on avoiding his triggers as a method of avoiding getting into trouble.
“I asked the other consumer that was there, ‘What do you guys think about what he just said?’” By redirecting the question to other participating members of the group, PSS attempts to move away from traditional student-teacher dynamics. “They say, ‘well that’s denial, we can’t avoid our triggers.’ I said ‘that’s right’ so I asked the guy again… ‘reframe that.’ He said ‘well, I need coping skills when I am triggered, yeah I can’t avoid my triggers.’ So that was a big change.”
Research has shown that peer support brings numerous mental health benefits, including increased self-confidence and esteem, increased sense of hope, increased empathy, increased social functioning, and more. Mental health programs like these are important in prison as they target the root causes behind the commission of crimes. In Michael’s experience, “[A] hopeless person is much more dangerous than a hopeful person.”
Hopelessness is what led Michael to become a repeat offender, eventually resulting in the third-strike prison sentence that he’s currently serving. “A 25 to life sentence did not deter me from robbing this bank…I was at my wit’s end. Mentally, I was at my wit’s end too, that I almost gave myself three choices. One, I’d get shot, two, I’d get away with it, or three, I’d go to prison. And I was ok with any of those three options, compared to the reality that I was living in.”
Michael’s hopelessness is the result of a lack of rehabilitative, educational, and mental health resources in his previous prison sentences. His first two terms involved no programs or rehabilitation whatsoever. In addition, he received no education or skills that would be useful in any occupation other than the criminal activities he had already grown so accustomed to. In his own words, “I didn’t want to be a criminal anymore. I wanted to start my own business. I started a sprinkler business, but I started it with no foundation. I didn’t have a business license. I didn’t have the education. I still only [had] an 8th grade education and GED, so no problem-solving skills. I ended up with my life being unmanageable again…I robbed another bank.”
Four years into his third term, Michael came to the realization he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison. Beyond just words, Michael has taken action to better himself, so when he does get another chance at freedom, he will be prepared. Michael deliberately chose to move to San Quentin to get an education, which he describes as the most impactful rehabilitation he has participated in.
In the classroom, Michael was forced to participate, keep track of deadlines, help others, and be open to accepting the help offered by the people around him. These proved to be formative interactions. “[I] started understanding society. I’ve been able to understand the world around me and my position in it, which was a huge step towards having empathy and compassion for the community and other people. [I] realized that everybody suffers.”
Seeing members of the community outside prison come into prison solely to help Michael and his peers better themselves profoundly impacted how he views others.
“A lot of people come into prison to humanize us. When they come in, it’s really us humanizing them… Through rehabilitation, we humanize other people and can relate to them. So, we don’t want to hurt them.”
Rehabilitation isn’t only focused on tangible, employable skills. It centers on genuine shifts of a person’s attitudes and behaviors, making reentering society a safer and more productive process. Rehabilitation inside prisons like San Quentin benefits us all. In Michael’s words, “Rehabilitation is really about being honest and ready to change, and knowing that the community is there to help us. Everyone is in need of change. We’re not so different.”
Featured image source: Franco Folini on Flickr
