RJD

From Hero Maker Leadership: Hero Makers received the opportunity to host a Hero Maker Leadership training program with incarcerated individuals that participate in Community Freedom Church at RJ Donovan. In effort to teach men to be heroes, they are taught to  recognize leadership in someone, mentor those around them, speaks words of encouragement and life, push them to get out of their comfort zone, watch them fail, see how they respond, and then witness them succeed at a level they possibly never thought was possible.

From Redemption Row: After years  working with  Sirhan on his ability to articulate his half-century of rehabilitation inside the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation he successfully  demonstrated great self-awareness, insight, and empathy to the Board of Parole Hearings and his victims. Governor Newsom's appointed law enforcement officials on the Board of Parole found Sirhan suitable to be released and NOT an unreasonable risk to society. During Sirhan's f ive-hour  long Parole Board Hearing he provided examples of how he's applied his five decades of positive program involvement to his everyday life. Supporting his extenisive rehabilitation record, Executive Director of Redemption Row, Jen Abreu, gave testimony in his Hearing providing mitigation data and a comparative analysis of Sirhan's rehabiliative record against others who have been paroled with less rehabilitation, education, and documented acts of violence while incarcerated. 

From Redemption Row California: Redemption Row California is a nonprofit organization which developed within San Diego's Richard J. Donovan Correctional facility during the 2020 pandemic. The compassion-based curriculums encourage the application of sociological insights towards real-life scenarios/problems, and to examine how socially constructed categories interact with various institutions in order to decrease personal shame, antisocial attitudes, and violent behaviors. Redemption Row California provides more than self-help programming to participants; as a collective, we assist with parole board readiness, preparedness, and advocacy for those who qualify to appear before the Board of Parole. Correspondence courses  include academic-based readings on shame, guilt, and violence, understanding the value and applying emotional vocabulary to better express oneself, questionnaires, surveys, and evaluations.  

The Arts in Corrections program aims to combat recidivism, nurture rehabilitation and foster safe conditions in state prisons, county jails and juvenile detention centers. By introducing inmates to everything from dance to drumming to drama,  the program's supporters believe, Arts-in-Corrections can inspire deep and lasting change. “While art is being used as the tool for teaching, these classroom experiences are encouraging a whole range of experiences,” said Caitlin Fitzwater, communications director for the California Arts Council. “We’re talking about overcoming social barriers, overcoming economic barriers, learning sensitivity, intellectual flexibility, creativity...” Workshops and classes offered by specially trained professional artists, she continued, “help inmates by reducing staff conflict. They relieve stress and encourage self-confidence, motivation [and] reliability, even simple things like time management and taking initiative -- all things that translate into being ...