On the road to.....

We’re on the road again, headed Tuesday to CCWF in Chowchilla—one of two women’s prisons in California. We’ve been invited to participate in what the institution is billing as “Bridging the Gap,” one of the first events introducing the California model of prisons.

While the agenda is still a bit vague, CCWF’s administration and the Inmate Advisory Council (previously known as the WAC) are promising games, interaction with the residents and staff and a BBQ lunch, all of which will give those of us who are ‘providers’ a chance to introduce our services to the population. We’re excited about the possibilities of this opportunity, based on the concepts of Restorative Justice and lowering of the barriers between the joint humanity of staff, prisoners and the rest of the world.

It will also give us a chance to better introduce our services to the women at CCWF—on the whole, women’s institutions offer fewer self-help services than the men’s institutions and we’d like to be a big part of that change. We’ll be talking about our in-person presentations, correspondence courses, newsletters and discussing some of the new courses we have in the works, a couple of which are aimed specifically for women lifers. And of course, we’re anxious to hear about any other topics of concern CCWF residents wish to discuss.

This Saturday we’ll be at CSP-SAC, better known as New Folsom, to give a presentation on “Unraveling Parole Hearings,” to the men on A yard at that Level IV location, planning also to return to catch the other 3 yards at a future date. And talks are underway with Mule Creek and RJD for appearances at those locations also.

Stay tuned, we’ll have a report after tomorrow’s event, and thanks to all of you who support us and donate, making our travels to the ends of the earth, or at least the far-flung prisons in California, possible. It does indeed, take a community, and we couldn’t do it without you.