CONTACT: MARY BONDAR (916) 358-1624
Female Offenders Survey Capitol Park Site for Mexican-American Veterans’ Memorial Expansion
SACRAMENTO – Today, an offender work crew from the Folsom Women’s Facility surveyed the existing ‘El Soldado’ (The Soldier) Memorial to provide a labor estimate for the planned renovation and expansion of what is officially designated as the California Mexican American Veterans’ Memorial.
The all-female crew is enrolled in the California Prison Industry Authority’s (CALPIA) Career Technical Education (CTE) Pre-Apprentice Laborers program.
CALPIA will submit a proposal to the Mexican American Veterans Memorial Committee to provide construction labor performed by female CALPIA CTE participants at no cost.
CALPIA’s CTE program utilizes offenders to perform various construction and ironworking activities and provides intensive on-the-job and classroom training. Participants are job-ready upon parole and many become apprentices with the trade unions that provide in-prison training.
The program is the most effective and innovative correctional rehabilitation program in California with a cumulative recidivism rate of 7.13 percent and a three-year recidivism rate of less than 15 percent. T
he CTE program provides a well-trained labor force for State maintenance and construction projects at reduced cost. CTE offender crews have completed projects for the Cal-Expo State Fair Grounds, California State Department of Parks and Recreation, and the County of El Dorado.
In January, 2013, CDCR opened the newly constituted Folsom Women’s Facility (FWF) on the grounds of Folsom State Prison. CALPIA’s CTE program, along with new CALPIA enterprises, will provide vocational training positions for many of the FWF population.
CALPIA is a self-financed state entity that provides training and productive work assignments for approximately 7,000 offenders in 24 CDCR institutions in California. CALPIA receives all of its revenue from the sale of the products it manufactures. CALPIA funds the CTE program from proceeds derived from CALPIA enterprises. The recidivism rate among CALPIA CTE participants is 83 percent lower than the general prison population, a success attributed to the job skills and industry certifications obtained by participating in the program.
