Video by the Division of Rehabilitation Programs
CDCR is committed to assisting incarcerated individuals find success after incarceration, by providing the tools they need to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society. The journey home starts long before someone’s release date, as teams of professionals work with each person to create a transition plan that takes into consideration individualized reentry needs.
For many, that journey includes the Male Community Reentry Program (MCRP). With locations in San Diego, Los Angeles, Kern, and Butte counties, MCRP allows eligible people to serve the end of their sentence, up to one year, in a community facility in lieu of confinement in state prison. Working with each individual participant, MCRP staff provide a range of reentry services to address substance use disorder treatment, mental health care, medical care, employment, education, housing, family reunification, and social support.
In this video, the Division of Rehabilitative Programs takes viewers inside this innovative reentry program that is focused on setting participants up for success.
Learn more at https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/rehabilitation/mcrp/.
The video is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vuec-o_k9Q
Transcript
Mike Hagemann
My name is Mike Hagemann, I’m the Correctional Counselor III, the program manager for the MCRP San Diego.
So the Male Community Reentry Programs are very dynamic and they’re very individually based.
I think that for each participant that arrives, it’s going to be a different experience.
That experience for them is going to be partially based on their personal buy-in, and their participation, and their demonstration of the attitude change and behavioral change that will lead them to successful reintegration into society, but it can be based individually on their needs.
Every person that comes here, each offender, has an individual need, and they need to have an individual case plan, and an individual rehabilitative plan.
And so it’s going to be different. The person will look different for every man here, 120 people with 120 different needs.
And as we address each of those needs as an individual, hopefully we’ll create that better citizen, and create opportunities for them to embrace.
Narrator
The mission of the MCRP is to provide support and resources to eligible inmates who are about to leave prison soon with the necessary tools for successful transition back into the community.
The program offers training and peer support to each participant to focus on positive life choices, which will help them stay out of prison after they leave the program.
Key services the MCRPs provide include substance use disorder treatment, mental health care, medical care, employment, education, housing assistance, family reunification, and social support.
Paul Hail
So we get them treatment, we get them help as early as possible so we can get them as much information as we can to get their job search going, to get their family reunification going.
This program is to help fight their addiction too. So if they have a substance use addiction, these programs are designated to really identify what their criminogenic need is and also their substance use need is, and get them help.
We help them with education, with their high school diploma, their GED, their HiSet, their AA, their BA, some of these guys even have master’s degrees.
That higher education is important for furthering themselves to ultimately not come back to prison.
That’s the ultimate goal: We don’t want these guys to come back to prison, so that’s why we developed these programs to assist these guys in a successful transition from prison to society.
Narrator
Currently there are six MCRP facilities in California, which are located in the following counties: one in San Diego County, three in Los Angeles County, one in Kern County, and one in Butte County, which services the six neighboring counties of Tehama, Nevada, Colusa, Glen, Sutter, and Yuba.
Eligibility for the MCRP program is determined by the inmate’s county of last legal residence prior to entering prison.
Along with the county of last legal residence, interested inmates will be reviewed by a set of exclusionary criteria, which can be found at cdcr.ca.gov/rehabilitation/mcrp, or discussed with a correctional counselor.
While MCRP is completely voluntary, in order to enroll into an MCRP an inmate must first indicate their interest by completing and submitted a voluntary agreement form to their correctional counselor.
Once submitted, the Correctional Counselor I reviews the application by completing an MCRP eligibility screening form, which is then assigned to a Correctional Counselor II to review.
If determined the inmate is potentially eligible, the inmate’s case is brought to an Institutional Classification Committee for review and determination.
If approved by the Institutional Classification Committee, the inmate’s case is reviewed by the classification staff representative.
If approved, the inmate is transferred to the MCRP facility, while subjected to mandatory electronic monitoring, where they can serve no more than 12 months within the program.
Once the inmate arrives at the MCRP, within 14 days an integrated rehabilitative treatment plan is developed for the course of their stay until release.
After completion of the program, they are released back into the community while under parole or probation supervision.
Participant 1
I think this is a great thing that CDCR has done. I think they have invested the right money in the right place and a lot of times society doesn’t know about these things. I didn’t know about it when I was in prison.
Participant 2
All the classes are great because they start making you ask questions about yourself and about your life: What do you want to do? What are you trying to gain out of life? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
Participant 1
We can say hi. We can say hi to each other, hug each other, with no politics lying. We can say, you know what, there’s no guards walking around with guns.
So gradually, gradually, it’s a building block to trust between us, between CDCR, and between the community.
Participant 2
When you come directly out of prison and you don’t have a lot to lose, then you don’t really have a lot to gain and who cares?
Participant 1
There is hope, you know? There is hope. And hope comes with change.
(Music)
I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free.
MCRP, they helped me get free. Helped me get a job, helped me get my GED. Helped me stay on track and not go back. Showed me all the right things, and I thank them for that.
They really helped me out, gave me a map and they showed me the route. Taught me how to live my life without no doubt.
MCRP helps people that’s what they’re about. MCRP helps people that’s what they’re about.
I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free.
When I was down, the counselors lifted me up. Thank you Su Baby and Olivia. They helped me with a lot of things and that’s what’s up. They helped me to conquer it and they told me never give up.
But I also want to thank the guy that makes this happen, his name is Jaime and he’s always caught up in the action.
This program helped me with no distraction, gave me inspiration and motivation.
I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free. I want to thank MCRP for helping me to get free.
Narrator
To learn more about this program, please visit our website at cdcr.ca.gov/rehabilitation/mcrp. Thanks for watching.