Calif. diving program helps anchor ex-inmates - By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Debbie Mukamal, director of the Prisoner Re-entry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, says programs like Chino's that provide advanced training and the potential for high-paying jobs are extremely rare.
Among the few others is a carpentry program launched last year at the California Institution for Women. That program — a partnership with the Northern California Carpenters Union Local 46 — provides graduates with tools and pays union dues for one year to help the former offenders move quickly into union jobs.
Bill Sessa, spokesman for the state's Prison Industry Authority, which manages inmate programs, says the union association and dues payment make that program the first of its kind in the nation.
At Chino, Johnson says, the toughest hurdle for most recruits is not the physical regimen — including the 5-mile swim and occasional decompression sickness from extended periods in the school's underwater training tanks. It's convincing them the opportunity for success is real.