Inside CDCR

The desire to accomplish two major goals confronted Lucas Abarca, Special Agent of the CDCR Office of Internal Affairs. He wanted to encourage more people to consider CDCR as a law enforcement career and he wanted to improve his advancement opportunities. He found answers to both his desires in the Command College

Most efforts to address workforce shortages focus on recruitment strategies to solve the crisis. Changes to peace officer retention programs will have the most significant long-term impact to staffing needs. Only when retention challenges are prioritized and addressed will agencies reap the rewards from improved recruitment methods. Effective retention strategies, augmented by Cognitive Computing, may forge a symbiotic relationship between recruitment and retention to resolve long term challenges.

Schools across California faced challenges during the statewide shelter-in-place orders. Those same challenges were also faced by schools inside the state’s prison system. Correctional educators turned to communication, cooperation and innovation to achieve rehabilitative educational goals.

Crafts for Community (CFC) at Pelican Bay State Prison’s Facility D, Level II, has turned to crocheting masks. Volunteers include 10 inmates who are busy crocheting the much-needed items. In a week-and-a-half, they made over 50 masks to be distributed in the community. They hope to make hundreds more.

As CDCR celebrates education staff during National Teachers Week, Office of Correctional Education Superintendent Shannon Swain and her team gathered remotely to share their thanks for the people who make learning happen within state prisons.

Sex-Offender Parole Agent Javier Cosme has a tough beat supervising high-risk sex offenders in the community. Mandated to wear GPS tracking devices on their ankles, these offenders are closely monitored.

With thoughts of a Sergeant interview running through his mind, Correctional Officer Ranato Benitez-Sanchez was heading to Ironwood State Prison when he spotted a woman sitting on an overpass, looking down at traffic. Pulling over to ask if she was OK, he soon realized she was contemplating suicide.

In the early morning hours on Friday, Sept. 6, the lives of two individuals would be drastically changed. While driving to work on Highway 111, Rosalie Cota came upon a huge cloud of dust blowing on the roadway, obscuring her vision, forcing her to slow down to a crawl. As the dust settled, Cota was able to see a vehicle on the opposite side of the road, flipped over and resting on the passenger side. The severely injured driver happened to be a correctional sergeant.

CDCR employees often open their wallets and hearts to those in need. For one family, they also opened their home and welcomed an additional son. Before joining CDCR’s Office of Correctional Education as the Supervisor of Academic Instruction, Marla Clayton Johnson was a vice principal at a Sacramento area high school. That’s where she met student Adrian Albin, a young man struggling with his grades.

A 19th century literary figure serves as inspiration for Northern California native B. Clay Shannon, a CDCR Case Records Analyst. He’s worked for the department since July 2018. Shannon’s interest in Samuel Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, began at an early age. Inside CDCR caught up with Shannon to discuss how he strives to achieve work-life balance.

San Quentin State Prison is the oldest state correctional facility in California and one man has made it his mission to help others remember its history. Associate Warden Richard “Dick” Nelson began his preservation efforts in 1986 while he was still employed at San Quentin. Inside CDCR recently caught up with Nelson in the San Quentin Prison Museum.

CDCR’s photographic archive often leaves staff with more questions than answers. One such photo is that of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt at San Quentin State Prison. No additional information is provided with the image. Warden Clinton Duffy is shown walking alongside the First Lady. Given her status, it didn’t take long for Inside CDCR to uncover the story behind the photo.

Correctional Officer Charles H. Jolly gave up his first career as a grocer after a devastating fire destroyed the Folsom business district. Already in his mid-50s, he went to work at Folsom State Prison in 1893. By the time he passed away in 1926, he held the record as the longest serving employee of the state prison system, logging 33 years.

Tiburcio Vasquez, an outlaw who plundered Central and Southern California for two decades, may owe his capture to a long forgotten military experiment. This latest installment of Unlocking History looks closer at a failed attempt by the U.S. government to settle the west with camels. It’s also a story about the outlaw who served as the inspiration for “Zorro.”