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Inmates with the Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of “The Tempest” receive pre-rehearsal instructions at the Folsom State Prison chapel in January. “Every group is different at every institution. Understanding that, we have to allow them to create their own family,” says Lynn Baker-Nauman, play director and marriage and family therapist. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Lynn Baker-Nauman, a marriage and family therapist by trade, has been directing plays at Folsom and San Quentin State prisons for the Marin Shakespeare Company since 2013. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Lynn Baker-Nauman directs inmates as they rehearse “The Tempest” at Folsom State Prison. “There’s a lot of intense moments for them to learn how to trust someone who, out in the prison yard, might not be able to talk with them,” Baker-Nauman says. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Alejandra Wahl, development associate for the Marin Shakespeare Company, directs inmates during a song rehearsal for “The Tempest” at Folsom State Prison. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Folsom State Prison at dusk, as Sacramento Republic FC players Sam Werner and Hayden Partain look on during a game. “The administration here has been fantastic. They’ve welcomed us with open arms and worked with us to grow this partnership,” says Todd Dunivant, Republic FC’s general manager (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Prison yard game action in February. “The ball believes in you no matter who you are,” inmate Aaron Thomas Lamphere wrote to Sacramento Republic FC after his release last year. “If the world took the time to understand that simple wisdom, from a simple ball, I cannot help but think what a better world it would be.” (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Folsom State Prison’s athletic yard under a supermoon. “We all begged to get out here and play,” says inmate Edwin McMillan. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Sacramento Republic General Manager Todd Dunivant greets an inmate after a game. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

NCCT welding instructor Tyler Wood works on a piece for a barbeque trailer that will be used by the City of West Sacramento and the Sail Inn Grotto & Bar. NCCT students — most are hired for construction jobs — have worked on projects for various businesses, including Sacramento Republic FC, the Sacramento Kings and Raley’s. (Photo by Steve Martarano)

NCCT instructor Chris Pearson (middle) directs students working on garden boxes for a school affected by the Camp Fire. As an instructor who admits to making some bad life choices in the past, Pearson says he shares lessons he learned with his students. “I show them there is another way to live,” he says (Photo by Steve Martarano)

Business and Nonprofits Offer Free Programs to Help California Inmates

Back Photo gallery May 24, 2019 By Steve Martarano

Under a late February supermoon, inmates form a circle in the middle of the Folsom State Prison’s athletic field alongside staff members and players from Sacramento Republic FC as both squads relive the 90-minute soccer game they’ve just finished.

The all-volunteer soccer contingent, led by General Manager Todd Dunivant, competed with inmates as part of the team’s monthly trip behind prison walls. “It’s like we’re not in prison when we’re out here,” says inmate Kelvin Chapman.

The soccer games, along with theater productions and training programs, are examples of post-incarceration programs funded by a wide range of businesses, government entities and nonprofits that are helping prepare inmates for a better post-incarceration life.

One group, the Northern California Construction & Training program, is a nonprofit that prepares transitional students by offering free training that could lead to a career in construction. “We’re giving them an option of changing their lifestyle and showing them that you can make a livable wage,” says lead instructor Jim Cline, who notes that students come from the private sector, are on probation, parole or part of the juvenile detention population.

The Marin Shakespeare Company is part of an “Arts in Corrections” program, coordinated by the California Arts Council, that is available in all 34 state prisons and produces men’s and women’s plays at eight prisons, including Folsom and San Quentin. “There’s a lot of intense moments for them to learn how to trust someone who, out in the prison yard, might not be able to talk with them,” says director Lynn Baker-Nauman.

California has one of the highest recidivism rates at 65 percent. A recent California State Auditor report identified problems with inmates reoffending after going through some of the Department of Corrections’ contracted core behavioral rehab curriculum programs. However, a department spokesperson says the report did not involve the programs mentioned here, which proponents say they’ve seen benefit inmates.

Above are a few snapshots of these programs and the people, like Dunivant, Cline and Baker-Nauman, who help these programs operate inside California’s correctional system. “This is a part of our population that is important,” Dunivant says. “We will ultimately integrate them back into society; they’re going to be our neighbors again.”

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