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                  San Quentin Prisoners Learn Computer Skills

   by JoAnn Mar

   Eighteen prisoners sit in front of computer screens, listening intently
   to their instructor via video conference hook-up.

   This is CODE 7370, the new computer coding class that started last year
   at San Quentin.

   While only kilometers separate San Quentin State Prison from the
   affluent San Francisco Bay Area, for most prisoners, the gap between
   them and the city's high tech world seemed insurmountable -- until
   now. That's because some of them are learning computer coding, one of
   the most coveted skills on the job market.

   In fact, San Quentin's coding boot camp is the first of its kind in a
   prison setting.

   One student, Gary Valentino Hollis, is learning to construct a basic
   webpage using Java Script, HTML, and CSS. Having been in prison for the
   past twenty years after being convicted of attempted murder, he'll be
   graduating from the coding class in April, just in time for his
   release.

   "Oh my God, this is truly an honor and a blessing to be in this type of
   setting, especially here in prison," he says. "This is a million-dollar
   dream because it gives a lot of men hope [for] myself. I'm getting out
   in 108 days, but who's counting? Getting out, I know I have a skill now
   I can market to provide for me and my family and to be a more
   productive citizen than I was 20-some years ago. Everyone deserve a new
   chance, so this is my new chance, my new way of life."

   Started by The Last Mile, a San Francisco non-profit founded by tech
   industry veterans Chris Redlitz and Beverly Parenti, the class,
   Redlitz's brainchild, was first proposed as an unlikely enterprise.

   "My first reaction was, `Are you kidding?'" says Parenti, describing
   the first time Redlitz suggested the idea.

   It was shorly after making his first tour of the facility that Redlitz
   came up with the idea of giving prisoners marketable skills to help
   them re-enter society.

   "And then I actually went in and met some of the men and learned some
   of their stories," says Parenti. "I saw their passion and enthusiasm
   and intelligence, and I quickly agreed that I would help Chris launch
   the Last Mile inside San Quentin, which was not an easy task."

   The first problem was lack of Internet access. U.S. prisons do not
   allow inmates to get online, so Redlitz turned to the coding school
   Hack Reactor -- a group that provides volunteer instructors who
   broadcast lessons into the classroom from a remote location --' and
   they developed a program that doesn't require connectivity.

   The second problem, which was encountered when the program finally
   began last year, was that half the prisoners taking the course had no
   computer experience.

   For inmates such as Hollis, coding was like learning a foreign
   language.

   "I mean, I don't even know how to turn on a [smartphone]; I don't even
   have a clue what an app is or how to turn it on," he says. "There's
   times I feel very very frustrated -- but to give up, it's not in the
   blood. There's not one guy in here that has that on their minds. We all
   work as a team.

   "See up here on the wall, it says, `Believe In The Process,'" he says,
   pointing.
   "That's what it's about -- believing in the process. Keep working and
   it eventually clicks."

   The class is an intense six-month course where prisoners spend ten
   hours a day, four days a week learning coding language.

   And the Last Mile has a zero-tolerance policy: if students miss class
   or misbehave, they are immediately terminated.

   But Redlitz says he has high hopes for all of them.

   "You know, the opportunities are huge, especially in this industry," he
   says. "If you can write great code, people really don't care much about
   your background. It really resolves a lot of issues that we've had in
   the past.

   "You know, it's sort of checking the box, right? 'I'm an ex-felon and I
   don't qualify for the job.' In this particular industry, it doesn't
   matter," he adds. "Just write great code and you've got a job."

   When these prisoners graduate from the course and finish their
   sentences, they'll have completed the last mile, and many hope that
   they won't return to prison after securing jobs with good pay.

   Redlitz and Parenti are hoping to expand The Last Mile and bring it to
   other prisons in California and the west coast.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/san-quentin-prisoners-learn-computer-skills/2632057.html