Over the past six weeks there has been a noticeable influx of young prisoners, age 18 to 23, being transferred to the prison where I'm at. They are part of a new program implemented after the passage of SB260 back in 2013, designed to give these youth a chance to avoid the snares which normally entangle youthful prisoners and pull them into chaos before they have a chance to figure out what's going on and who to trust.
This prison, CSP-Solano, was chosen as one of the sites for this Youth Offender Program (YOP) for a variety of reasons. The atmosphere here is relatively mild in comparison to most California prisons. The prison also has a wealth of self-help programs and vocational programs for the youth to get into. Moreover, by bringing youth to this prison, they are brought into direct contact with the OMCP mentors.
I personally am praying for the success of this new program and believing that it will work.
On a personal note, I wish that at age 21 when I came to prison I had the chance to start off at a Level II prison like Solano. Instead I started off at the Level IV prison in Lancaster (CSP-LAC), where I wasn't protected from the jackals that greet young prisoners, or introduced to the caliber of programs that exist today. I am glad to see that the Department of Corrections is addressing areas where it fell short in the past, and is starting to get more things right.
This prison, CSP-Solano, was chosen as one of the sites for this Youth Offender Program (YOP) for a variety of reasons. The atmosphere here is relatively mild in comparison to most California prisons. The prison also has a wealth of self-help programs and vocational programs for the youth to get into. Moreover, by bringing youth to this prison, they are brought into direct contact with the OMCP mentors.
I personally am praying for the success of this new program and believing that it will work.
On a personal note, I wish that at age 21 when I came to prison I had the chance to start off at a Level II prison like Solano. Instead I started off at the Level IV prison in Lancaster (CSP-LAC), where I wasn't protected from the jackals that greet young prisoners, or introduced to the caliber of programs that exist today. I am glad to see that the Department of Corrections is addressing areas where it fell short in the past, and is starting to get more things right.
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