Community Involvement, Inside CDCR Video, Rehabilitation

VSP gets into Special Olympics Polar Plunge

March 17, 2025

Timothy Shriver, grandson of the founder of Special Olympics, said being at VSP was like a full-circle moment of the early days of the organization. When it first started, incarcerated people on work crews helped set up the Special Olympics games each day.

Valley State Prison (VSP) in Chowchilla got into the Polar Plunge to raise funds for Special Olympics.

Timothy Shriver, grandson of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, was even on hand for the event. He is one of the organization’s board members.

“My grandmother founded Special Olympics as a camp in her backyard a little over 60 years ago (because) her sister has an intellectual disability,” Shriver said. “There were no opportunities for her. No schools, no sports, no programs. In those days, people with intellectual disabilities lived in institutions so she would bus in folks of all ages (from those) institutions to be dropped off in the backyard.”

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A link between prisons and Special Olympics goes back to the organization’s founding.

“There was another group of buses that would also come into the backyard every day,” Shriver recalls. “And that bus was actually from the local prison where they would bring in men coming on work leave to help set up every day.”

Full-circle moment of inclusion

“As I sit here at Valley State Prison and watch the incarcerated folks (give) their time and money (to) Special Olympics, it makes me feel this full-circle moment to the early days (and) my grandmother’s vision,” he said. “It all ties into this notion of inclusion.”

H. Betts, a program analyst at Valley State Prison, said these types of events build on established rehabilitation methods.

“It’s bringing awareness and bringing this notion of normalization and integrating the community and our incarcerated population,” she said. “They are going to be going home. That’s what they are working towards with their rehabilitation. The athletes love coming here and the population loves having them here. They interact well together and it’s just enjoyable for all of them.”

Caesar, an incarcerated person at VSP, said these types of events give people a chance to do some good.

“It doesn’t matter where we’re at. We can always give back,” he said. “Just because we’re incarcerated doesn’t mean that we aren’t touched by things like this.”

Video by Christopher Medina, Director, TV Communications (Specialist)
Story by Don Chaddock, Inside CDCR editor