Future of education program in California prisons uncertain after investigation of nine faculty members

By Emma Hall
The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Los Rios Community College District’s prison and rehabilitation program, which offers college courses in local correctional facilities, faces an uncertain future after the district investigated nine faculty members.

The core of the investigation, according to faculty members, lies in the distribution of letters written by students.

Kalinda Jones, the program’s faculty coordinator, said the letters included student concerns and were part of a class project in which students write letters to their future selves, a project the program has been running for years.

The district claimed that physically transporting the letter may have violated a California Department of Corrections law. politicswhich requires the permission of a prison director for the transport of letters.

A Los Rios spokesman said the investigation is now complete. No evidence of wrongdoing by any Los Rios employee was found.”

But the future of the program is still uncertain, Jones said. During the investigation, the teachers’ contracts to work in the prison expired, and in order for classes to be held in the fall, a contract must be negotiated.

This contract sets out clear working conditions and protections for professors, such as safety, training and academic freedom, Jones said.

Since the Los Rios teachers’ union has no information about working conditions in prisons, it must work with the district to get this done. The contract must later be voted on by the union’s executive board, which does not meet this summer.

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The magnetometers will be deployed randomly and on a sample basis in unspecified prisons, said Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez.

The judge acknowledged the city’s serious efforts to address staffing shortages by hiring more COs with better pay and incentives, but stressed that more needs to be done.

Nevertheless, the district plans to “continue offering classes this fall and continues to work with teachers to put together the most complete schedule possible for the upcoming semester.” The district said there are ongoing discussions “about how to provide the best possible environment for teachers in this program.”

“Our goal has always been to continue the program and offer as many courses as possible this fall, and from the district’s perspective, any investigation had nothing to do with that goal,” said Gabe Ross, the district’s chief strategy and communications officer.

Student writes concerned letters

In the winter of 2023, several incarcerated students wrote letters to the college’s Student Senate expressing their concerns and criticisms about the program. Students reported They did not have adequate counseling needs and classes were held without books and computers.. The district said it had hired a consultant the previous year.

“I feel like incarcerated students are treated like three-fifths of a student,” said Angelo Ward, a graduate of the program and now a student at Sacramento State. “It’s like our voices don’t count because we’re incarcerated. Out of sight, out of mind.”

For Ward, the program opened up a different perspective on life. As a black and Pomo Indian man, he remembers being fired and racially discriminated against. Ward said he took his anger out on others as a result.

His classes and professors have taught him to grow, to relate differently to others, and to have a voice to create positive change. Today, he is working to be better, not only for himself, but for his daughter as well. Programs like this have proven beneficial for incarcerated students. Higher education lowers an individual’s recidivism rate and offers incarcerated students a new path in life.

Ward is confident his lecturers have done nothing wrong. He said the investigation began with letters from students expressing concerns and the formation of a student task force.

Teachers like Jones said the abuse occurred because the district could get away with it. Unlike their non-incarcerated peers, incarcerated students can go unnoticed.

“Something like this would never happen on campus,” Jones said. “It’s simply because our people are hidden behind barbed wire fences.”

Even now that the investigation is complete, Jones still does not know if students will receive the resources they requested. Jones said the district is Prison and educational law, This requires universities to comply with specific requirements for their prison training programs.

“Los Rios has not provided resources for incarcerated students to ensure they receive an education equivalent to that of on-campus students or consistent with the criminal code,” Jones said.

Ward said when incarcerated students spoke to the administration, it felt like their concerns fell on deaf ears. He said the district administration initially encouraged the task force, but over time it seemed like the support was just “stuff.”

The goal of this working group was to get “some kind of support” for the program, Ward said.

Faculty said the district was slow to provide resources for the courses and failed to meet the program’s needs.

“I’m just frustrated and sad,” said Veronica Lopez, one of the professors. “This is a fantastic program and it changes lives. One student after another says it has changed their perspective.”

The letters at the centre of the investigation

The main focus of the investigation was the transport of letters.

Jones sent letters to student senates addressing student concerns about the program. After emailing the letters on December 5, Jones was notified that she was under investigation.

Later that month, Jones said she was called to a meeting just before the Christmas break where she was read a statement saying she had “jeopardized the safety of the Los Rios administration and classified employees.”

Jones said she was told she would not be allowed to teach at another prison until the investigation was completed.

In her view, it is “still unclear what exactly (the district) was investigating.” She said the only details she received were that she “improperly used the district’s email addresses to distribute letters to students.”

“There are no student letters being distributed. These are student papers that they have produced for a class project in which they have advocated for something,” Jones said.

In March, eight other faculty members were informed that they were also under investigation.

“I never thought I would be investigated just because I was CC’d in an email,” said Veronica Jones, the prison reintegration faculty coordinator. “I was just doing my job.”

The teachers involved in sending the letters not only believe they violate no law, but also say the school district is “criminalizing” their curriculum.

“They’re picking the law to criminalize us, even though it obviously doesn’t apply to teachers in prison,” said lecturer Joshua Fernandez in June. “The law applies to people who actually carry personal letters outside of prison. That’s what the law is for, not teachers.”

Faculty were investigated for other reasons. Fernandez, who teaches English, was told that teaching material that was not explicitly on his syllabus was “a criminal offense,” he said.

Legally, the curriculum only needs to include a description of the course, its duration and its assessment structure, Fernandez said, and the rest is up to the instructor.

Jones said she had never heard any complaints about the letter project before and that it had even been praised by college administrators, including her department head, the Folsom Lake College administration, faculty members of the district’s Academic Senate and the Los Rios Prison Education Administration.

“I don’t think (Los Rios) is willing to provide the resources or the respect that’s needed,” Jones said. “We would never be where we are now with this investigation if they had just asked the faculty a few questions. Just ask for clarification, just communicate with us.”

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