Some years ago I was the victim of a home invasion burglary.

I arrived home during the heist. When I stepped into my house from the garage, hot air poured in through my office where the burglar had broken in through the French doors. Papers were strewn and my computer was gone.

I ran out, dialing 911, and stood under an oak until police arrived. Though the temperature was over 100 degrees, I was shivering violently.

This popped into my memory when my husband and I drove up to a Nature Conservancy hike at Ring Mountain Preserve, on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We passed a huge Pentagon-like complex hugging the marshy shore of the San Francisco Bay. The sign identified it as the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

San Quentin itself has been rehabilitated the past few years. The main motives were high rates of suicide, addiction, and other ills among the corrections officers.

Attempting to better deal with their own, the officers’ union sent representatives to Norway in 2023 to witness how they dealt with job stress and violence. They discovered that the officers acted more like social workers.

L.A. Times columnist Anita Chabria had been along for the encounter.

“The American officers were shocked to see Norwegian prisoners access kitchen knives and power tools, but even more shocked that the guards had built relationships with these criminals that allowed them to do their jobs with far less fear,” she wrote.

Much of what they saw they incorporated at San Quentin.

Vetted prisoners now have access to a self-serve kitchen, a library, a cafe and a film studio. They learn job skills, earn degrees, do their own laundry and make their own meals.

They “interact with guards as mentors and colleagues of sorts,” according to Chabria.

You can be for or against prison reform for myriad reasons. Given that 95% of California prisoners eventually are released to society, though, it behooves us to release inmates who are “new and improved.”

Former prisoners walk our streets, shop with us, live as our neighbors, and have kids who play with ours.

The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) tracks the three-year recidivism rate for prisoners. For the cohort of individuals released in 2019-20, 39.1% have committed a new offense.

That metric has been in steady decline and is expected to go much lower under the new “California Model.”

The projected recidivism rate for the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center is targeted to drop to 18% by 2035. Some specific programs, such as The Last Mile and CROP Re-Entry Program, have already shown recidivism rates of 0-5%.


I wondered whether nature healing has a part to play here. One of the features at San Quentin is third-floor classrooms that overlook San Francisco Bay, which Chabria notes is “long a symbol of freedom and possibility.”

Dedicated rehabilitation gardens and new campus landscapes are also among the reforms.
 
Some research has examined whether nature can have a positive impact on prisoners.

A Texas State University study found that individuals who engaged in horticultural programs had the lowest recidivism rate compared to other categories of released inmates.

A UK study demonstrated that prison greenspace reduces prisoner self-harm and violence, conferring benefits also on prison staff.

Santa Barbara County has no state prisons, but access to nature and the outdoors is not well documented in our jails. Concrete or fenced recreation yards allow physical exercise depending on inmate classification.

The newer Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria incorporates natural light into common corridors and multi-purpose spaces. There is no access to nature.

Recidivism rates in Santa Barbara County are between 41% and 49%, depending on the specific supervision program. However, these aren’t comparable to state prisons because of shorter jail terms. Further, 60% of SBCO jail inmates suffer mental health issues.

I don’t know if my burglars were apprehended or whether they got jail time. If they did, they would surely be out by now. Or back in again.

Rehabilitation or recidivism – an inmate’s choice, and society’s as well.