California Medical Facility honored as CDCR Distinguished School
The Mountain Oaks Adult Education Center, operating inside California Medical Facility (CMF), has earned distinction as an innovator committed to excellence in correctional education. Mountain Oaks serves students of all academic and physical abilities.
This is the third CDCR Distinguished School. The other two are the Robert E. Burton Adult School at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in 2019 and Vista Del Rio Adult School at California Rehabilitation Center in 2021.
The distinction is intended to be collaborative, rooted in the strong belief that schools inside California prisons deserve recognition and acclaim that will accompany the Distinguished School Award honor.
In this episode of the CDCR Unlocked Podcast, Superintendent Shannon Swain shares the Office of Correctional Education’s vision for education, as well as how CMF’s school stands out as an example of excellence. She also shares her experiences witnessing the transformative power of education and how its benefits ripple across generations.
“Every one of (CDCR’s) institutions has an adult school that is accredited through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges,” said Swain. “(The CMF school does) amazing work there for a wide variety of incarcerated folks with medical needs. (They) have brought in some really innovative programs, things above and beyond the regular academic programs. They have a dynamic coach there who has brought in wheelchair basketball and other kinds of programs to serve their population. Because at the medical facility, there are (people) with disabilities of various kinds.”
Education can be life changing
“Once you have an education, nobody can take it away from you. When people earn that education and spend the time and invest in themselves, they have it forever. And they can draw on that. And it builds confidence and it improves the culture at the institution and the yard,” she said. “So couldn’t be more proud of the schools that we offer in our Office of Correctional Education. We have a very simple goal and our vision is to be the very best correctional education system in the world. And I happen to believe that we’re doing that. We certainly receive a lot of questions and emails and calls from other states and other departments of corrections.”
The podcast is produced by Jeff Baur, TV Director (Specialist), Office of Public and Employee Communications.
Learn more about the California Model on the CDCR website.
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