Articles & News

August 21, 2008

Re-entry prison views are aired

MARIA INES ZAMUDIO, The Salinas Californian

Residents aired their views on community safety vs. parolee rehabilitation at a community meeting Thursday night to discuss the proposed building of a state prison re-entry facility in Salinas.

More than 60 Salinas-area residents attended the two-hour meeting at Sherwood Hall, some of them weighing in on the issue before Monterey County and Salinas city leaders vote to decide whether the state can build a prison re-entry facility which would house up to 500 nonviolent inmates serving the last year of their sentences.

"If we want to lower crime (in the county) we need to turn the tide and this is the first step," said Monterey County Sheriff Mike Kanalakis.

The meeting, held by representatives of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was also attended by members of the Salinas City Council.

One resident supports the plan. "All we need is a second chance," said Craig Johnson, released from prison two years ago and now attends Hartnell. "We are human beings, too. We made a mistake and we paid for it."

Johnson said the only thing he learned after 20 years in prison was to how to survive behind bars. Returning to society, "we have nothing to come home to," he said. "We are hopeless, and broke. A program like this would help inmates not to go back to their old ways."

The facility would provide academic and vocational training, family counseling, substance-abuse treatment and anger-management classes with the goal of reducing a 70 percent recidivism rate for inmates.

Last year, the state released 516 inmates in Monterey County. This year 636 inmates are scheduled for parole.

Some residents are worried about the safety of their children.

Satrina Villasenor, who lives a block from the proposed facility site, next to the county jail on Natividad Road, said she is afraid for the safety of her 1-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy. "Salinas already has an image problem," Villasenor said. "It's not safe."

She said migrant workers live in the area and are not aware of the issue. She said many of them would have attended if information in Spanish had been provided.

"The information needs to be available in both languages. Many of them are not aware that they want to build a prison or a re-entry facility, as they call it."

The state awarded $80 million in bond money to the county from Assembly Bill 900. The county plans to use the money to expand its crowded jail. But the money is contingent on approving a site for the facility. If no location is found by Sept. 15, the county will lose the money. The jail expansion will cost $130 million; the county's share of that is $50 million.