Will California Prisoners Benefit From Expanding Prison Sports?

By Steve Brooks, especially for CalMatters

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I still remember the first time I ran a marathon while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

After 13 miles of running in a loop, doubt crept into my mind that day in November 2017. But I kept going. The last five miles were like trudging through six feet of snow. Without my training, discipline and focus I would not have crossed that finish line.

Marathon running taught me how to be a responsible person. Not only did it change my body, it changed the way I saw myself. I went from running marathons to finishing college and participating in support groups.

San Quentin has excellent sports programs, but I do not believe that organized sports should be expanded in California prisons.

Assembly Bill 2204composed of members of the assembly Jesse Gabriel and Isaac Bryantwo Democrats from the Los Angeles area, will allow the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to recognize organized sports for rehabilitation. It would allow CDCR to solicit proposals, negotiate and contract with professional sports teams, colleges and private donors to create treasury funds for prison sports. CDCR will also be able to keep 5% of the money raised for administrative costs.

As far as I know, no one consulted the prisoners before creating this proposal. According to Democracy Beyond Bars, a prison group focused on public policy, “this (bill) could quickly and quietly translate into millions more dollars flowing into CDCR already inflated budget.” Currently, CDCR spends only 5% of its annual budget of $14.2 billion of rehabilitation.

CDCR has been before diverted millions of dollars from the prisoner welfare funda self-funded piggy bank for the benefit of inmate recreational activities, to pay for hundreds of staff positions. For nearly two years, night access to the yards has been limited, they are in the way San Quentin Giants from baseball practice.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s OfficeCalifornia’s prison system needs an estimated $11 billion in infrastructure repairs at more than two dozen prisons. Some, like the California Rehabilitation Center and the Soledad Correctional Training Facility, would be cheaper to close. in fact legislative analysts recommended closing the CTFand the CRC in Norco is expected to close this year. Organized sports would be dangerous at Calipatria, Centinela and Ironwood state prisons, which are located in deserts where temperatures regularly reach 120 degrees in the summer.

CDCR not enough cooling systems for conducting summer sports.

AB 2204 would help participating athletes qualify for earlier releases. But roughly 1 in 5 incarcerated people are 55 or older. Thousands are disabled. Neither group is likely to earn credits by playing sports.

More than 5,000 people are serving life sentences without parole, and athletes serving felony sentences are likely to face legal challenges against receiving parole credits. CDCR has already been sued from the Criminal Justice League Foundation to provide Proposition 57 loans to violent offenders serving indeterminate sentences.

Instead of blowing CDCR’s budget to host ball games, we should prioritize returning incarcerated individuals to their communities. This agency demonstrated its priorities by canceling night clubs and baseball practices and diverting welfare money to pay for employee positions. It has a clear incentive to fix aging infrastructure to help maintain prisons and a huge budget.

Californians must oppose this. The state must remain focused on closing old prisons and releasing old prisoners well past their criminal or sporting years.

After spending more than 30 years in prison, I know my sporting days are over. I’m not interested in ball games. I am interested in giving back to my community.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.