Staff, families make Thanksgiving visiting special

December 4, 2024

Across California, staff and the families of incarcerated individuals helped make visiting special for the Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, community reentry programs and parole offices also held special events promoting family reunification. This round-up of visiting events will be updated as submissions are received. Send submissions to Don Chaddock (email in Global).

Avenal visiting for Thanksgiving

Avenal State Prison crafts for Thanksgiving visiting with families.

Visiting for Thanksgiving with family posing for a photo.

Over Thanksgiving, families gathered in the Avenal State Prison visiting rooms, faces lit up with excitement.

Laughter filled the room as they dove into crafting activities. Children and their incarcerated family member created stick scarecrows, complete with googly eyes and straw hats. Little hands then carefully cut out autumn-colored feathers for their paper turkeys.

The room buzzed with joy as parents and children bonded over their creations. The simple joy of being together, crafting and laughing, made this Thanksgiving a memorable one.

Submitted by Lt. A. Schuller

San Gabriel Valley Parole gives thanks during reentry meeting

Volunteers serve Thanksgiving meal at a parole meeting. — Volunteers from Chozen Few Internation 116 served Thanksgiving food during the parole peer reentry network meeting.

The San Gabriel Valley Parole District changed up their monthly Lifer Peer Reentry Navigation Network (PRNN) meeting held Nov. 20 and gave thanks through a Thanksgiving meal service.

Lifer PRNN is a program for formerly incarcerated people serving long sentences who were found suitable for release by the Board of Parole Hearings. PRNN meetings assist supervised persons through reintegration and transitional topic discussions, resources for housing, employment opportunities, and reunification with family and friends.

About 30 supervised persons and their loved ones participated in this Thanksgiving feast. The menu included the traditional Thanksgiving cuisine including turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, garden salad and pumpkin pie.

The dinner was sponsored by Chozen Few International 116 from Pomona. This community-based partner also gifted all participants with notebook calendars and sweatshirts. The CEO from Chozen Few, who participants call Mama Bear, enjoys dedicating her time and services to the life-sentence supervised population. She said she will continue to do so.

Participants were able to take part in an activity to state what they were thankful for this year. The San Gabriel Valley Parole District completed the night with a giveaway of two turkeys.

Chozen Few International 116 can be found on Instagram: chozen_fewint116.

Submitted by Ricky Dela Cruz, community partnership manager
Division of Adult Parole Operations, Community Reentry Unit, Southern Region

CHCF Visiting staff makes Thanksgiving special

Thanksgiving visiting at California Health Care Facility in Stockton with two people holding a bingo card and crafts.

An incarcerated person holds a painting he's working on while a woman sits next to him.

This Thanksgiving, the California Health Care Facility (CHCF) Visiting staff hosted a special event for the visitors and the incarcerated population. They were provided with painting supplies and enjoyed their visit showing off their creativity. The day also featured a game of bingo, with prizes given to visitors.

“The visiting room was filled with joy and laughter as friends and families came together to enjoy this special day,” according to visiting staff.

Submitted by Lt. M. Orozco