Restorative Justice Lives at Mule Creek State Prison

By G. Mari Erlandson, MSW

The Restorative Justice Act, AB 2590, is a bill authored by Assembly Member Shirley Weber that recently passed the Assembly floor and is moving to the Senate. This bill offers a sustainable, effective and rational approach toward crime and justice by giving more flexibility to judges in sentencing, and taking the word punishment out of the penal code so education and rehabilitation can be the focus.

The bill is based on Restorative Justice Principles that emphasize accountability for the offender, and places the needs and the voice of the victim central to the restorative process. Many of the inmates at Mule Creek State Prison are involved in programs that are based on Restorative Justice Philosophy. Mule Creek offers abundant living examples of men who have turned their minds, behavior, and lives around through work, reflection, and study.

On Father’s Day, my partner and I attended the 11^th Annual Run for Rehabilitation Fundraiser that is one such stellar example. Joaquin Jordan, an inmate and peer leader, has been central in coordinating this annual event. In 2005, Joaquin helped to develop the Victim’s Awareness Offender’s Program (VAOP) which now has 1,200 Mule Creek inmate participants. This program focuses on exposing offenders to Restorative Justice Principles, values and ideas.

Joaquin has received numerous associate degrees online and aspires to someday become a clinical social worker.       The first charity run involved 200 inmates participating and raised $600 in donations from inmates, staff, and others. Since that first year, the run has expanded and has raised a total of $20,000 for non-profits, such as Operation Care of Jackson, Ione Head Start, Ione Elementary, the Hanna Rose Foundation, and the Special Olympics.

As I experienced the day, I observed that many of the men have a desire to do something positive with their life. Talent abounds out on the yard. I listened to classical guitar and heard original songs written and played by inmates skilled at writing poetry, as well as creating beautiful music. As we walked with a gentleman, who received vocational training in electronics, we took in a soccer game, heard hymns from a bible study group, watched some pick-up basketball games, dodged a handball as it bounced of the prison wall, and saw various groups and individuals involved in calisthenics.

By funding expensive prisons we prolong the myth that they keep us safe. Strong communities are our first bastion, not walls and concertina wire. It costs around $70,000 a year to keep an inmate in prison for a year, and somewhere between $6,000 and $15,000 annually to provide that same person a comprehensive re-entry program. We lead the world in the highest rate of incarceration. There is a better way!

One lesson of the Father’s Day run at Mule Creek is that people can turn their lives around with proper support and education. Let’s support AB 2590 and honorable people, like Shirley Webber and Joaquin Jordan, who are paving the path for a new paradigm for criminal justice.