For Planning Purposes:
August 9, 2007
Contact: Bill Sessa
(916) 445-4590
WHAT: The first-ever in California class of female prison inmates will graduate from a carpenter’s apprenticeship training program that will pave the way for them to work when they are paroled from prison.
WHEN: Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: California Institution for Women, 16756 Chino-Corona Road, 92878, Corona.
FACTS: Administered by the Prison Industry Authority, female inmates are trained in construction skills and are eligible to enter an apprenticeship in collaboration with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa’s South Los Angeles Construction project. The “classroom” for these inmates is a facility under construction on the grounds of California Institution for Women that will be used by female inmate firefighters. Upon parole, each inmate who enters a carpentry apprenticeship will be presented with a tool belt that includes everything they will need for the first day on the job at a construction site.
WHO: Attending will be James Tilton, Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Wendy Still, CDCR Associate Director of Female Offender Programs and Services; Mr. Chuck Pattillo, General Manager of PIA, and JD Garcia, a CDCR parole agent who has motivated many former inmates to turn their lives around.
The female inmate graduates will be available for interviews.
DETAILS: The graduation ceremony will be held inside prison walls. For security reasons, news media who wish to cover the graduation must make arrangements in advance to enter the prison. For each person who will attend, CDCR needs the following information in advance to perform security checks: 1) driver’s license number, 2) date of birth, and 3) social security number. The information should be sent to the Public Information Officer, Lt. Larry Aaron by PHONE: (909) 606-4921; FAX: (909) 393-8061 or EMAIL at:
Larry.Aaron@cdcr.ca.gov
.
