CDCR Awards $14.5 Million to Expand Rehabilitative Programs

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has announced the recipients of $14.5 million in grants to boost innovative programs and increase volunteerism in prisons.

The Innovative Grant Program (IGP) began in 2015, when CDCR awarded $2.5 million in one-year grants to fund 38 programs at 17 prisons. Now in its third cycle, IGP will establish 43 programs at 20 adult institutions, with program offerings ranging from communication and de-escalation skills to service dog training, prison gardens, family reunification and computer coding.

“Positive programs help offenders learn important life skills, foster peaceful communication and self-reflection, and contribute to safer prison environments for inmates and staff,” said Jay Virbel, director of CDCR’s Division of Rehabilitative Programs. “Expanding programs to even more prisons, and focusing on our long-term offender population, will enable the state to see even more success in preparing offenders to return home.”

IGP provides $3 million in grants that will be awarded for a three-year period, for a total of $9 million. These grants are targeted to institutions underserved by volunteers and not-for-profit organizations.

For the first time ever, an additional $5.5 million will be awarded for a one-year period to provide programs that have proven successful in serving long-term or life-term inmates. Twenty-six individuals and organizations were awarded grants to establish 63 programs at 29 institutions. With the addition of these grants to IGP offerings, CDCR is proud to now fund 188 programs at institutions where they were not previously offered.

The grants are funded by CDCR’s general fund. The first half will be awarded initially, with the remaining 50 percent awarded at the halfway point of the grant period. For the three-year grants, recipients will receive half the year’s funds at the beginning of the year and the second at the halfway point, with the process repeated each year.

At the end of the grant period, it is expected the programs will have been implemented, additional volunteer resources developed, and the programs able to be sustained in the future through the normal prison budget.

For information, contact Krissi Khokhobashvili at (916) 445-4950.

Round 3 Grant Awards
Innovative Programming Grants and Long-Term Inmate (LTI) Programming Grants
Avenal State Prison
IGP: Insight Garden Program; Project Avary
LTI: Getting Out By Going In (GOG) (In-Cell Anger Management); Guiding Rage Into Power (GRIP)

California City Correctional Center
IGP: Center for Council; GOGI (Peer Mentor)

California Correctional Center
IGP: Root & Rebound; Get On The Bus

California Correctional Institution
IGP: Creating a Healing Society
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management)

California Health Care Facility
IGP: Catalyst Foundation
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management); IMPACT/CARE

California Institution for Men
LTI: Catalyst Foundation; Moving Beyond Violence; The Place4Grace
California Institution for Women
LTI: The Last Mile; Moving Beyond Violence; Freedom to Choose Foundation; The Place4Grace

California Medical Facility
LTI: Self Awareness and Recovery; The Place4Grace; Yardtime Literacy Program
California Men’s Colony
LTI: Center for Council; Prison of Peace

California State Prison-Corcoran
IGP: Anti-Recidivism Coalition; Moving Beyond Violence
LTI: Center for Council; GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management); Prison of Peace
California State Prison-Los Angeles County
IGP: Karma Rescue; Buddhist Pathways Prison Project
LTI: Youth Law Center

California State Prison-Sacramento
IGP: IMPACT/CARE; The Place4Grace; Buddhist Pathways Prison Project
LTI: GOGI (in-cell anger management); The Lionheart Foundation; Insight Prison Project (Apology Project)
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management); Get On The Bus

Calipatria State Prison
LTI: Anti-Recidivism Coalition; The Place4Grace; Giving Life Back to Lifers; Mothers with a Message; Prison Education Project
Centinela State Prison
LTI: The Old Globe-Reflecting Shakespeare; Anti-Recidivism Coalition; Giving Life Back to Lifers; Mothers with a Message

Central California Women’s Facility
LTI: The Actors’ Gang Prison Project; Healing Trauma; IMPACT/CARE; Insight Garden Program; Yardtime Literacy Program
Chuckawalla Valley State Prison
IGP: GOGI (Peer Mentor)
LTI: Prison of Peace; Community-Based Art Program

Correctional Training Facility
IGP: Defy Ventures, Inc.; GRIP; Project Avary; Insight Prison Project (Victim Offender Education Group)
Deuel Vocational Institution
IGP: Insight Prison Project (VOEG)
LTI: Center for Council

Folsom Women’s Facility
IGP: Marin Shakespeare Company; Insight Garden Program; Yardtime Literacy Program
High Desert State Prison
IGP: The Place4Grace (Camp Grace); GOGI (Peer Mentor)
LTI: Center for Council; GOGI (Anger Management)

Ironwood State Prison
LTI: Anti-Recidivism Coalition; Prison of Peace; Community-Based Art Program; Youth Law Center
Kern Valley State Prison
IGP: Anti-Recidivism Coalition; The Actors’ Gang Prison Project
LTI: Catalyst Foundation’ GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management)

Mule Creek State Prison
IGP: Alternatives to Violence; Center for Council; Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs
LTI: IMPACT/CARE; Lionheart Foundation
North Kern State Prison
IGP: Alternatives to Violence; Marley’s Mutts
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management)

Pelican Bay State Prison
IGP: The Place4Grace
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management)
Pleasant Valley State Prison
IGP: Defy Ventures, Inc.; Buddhist Pathways Prison Project
LTI: Prison of Peace

RJ Donovan Correctional Facility
LTI: Anti-Recidivism Coalition; Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs; Insight Prison Project (Spanish VOEG/Next Step); Prison Yoga Project
Salinas Valley State Prison
IGP: Project Avary; The Place4Grace (Camp Grace); The Place4Grace
LTI: GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management); Operation New Hope; Insight Prison Project (VOEG)

Valley State Prison
LTI: Center for Council; GOGI (In-Cell Anger Management); Insight Prison Project (VOEG)
Wasco State Prison
IGP: Alternatives to Violence; Prison of Peace; Marley’s Mutts