How former inmates are getting a fresh start on life through Stan State program
A series of burglaries landed Henry Romero in prison for three years, at an age when many people are going to college.
Eight years later, the Turlock resident has redirected his life with help from a program at California State University, Stanislaus.
Project Rebound works with current and former inmates seeking to earn degrees. Coordinator Danica Bravo helps them assemble transcripts, apply for financial aid and take other steps toward success.
“I’m trying to learn that because I’ve been incarcerated doesn’t mean I can’t do certain things,” Romero said during a late October interview at the Turlock campus.
The 29-year-old enrolled this fall as a junior majoring in communications with a concentration in mass media, following two years at Modesto Junior College. He is a full-time student and has not decided on a career.
Program dates to 1967 at SF State
Project Rebound operates at 14 of the 23 campuses in the CSU system. It began at San Francisco State University in 1967 and reached Stan State just last year.
The late founder, John Irwin, served five years in state prison for a 1952 armed robbery at a gas station. He took university extension courses while behind bars and later earned a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught sociology and criminology at SF State for 27 years.
Irwin believed that a college education could reduce the number of parolees who commit new crimes and return to prison. This “recidivism” rate has hovered around 50 percent in recent years. Project Rebound reports a rate of zero for its students between 2016 and this year.
Bravo met with 62 prospects for the 2019-20 academic year and enrolled seven. Two were seniors who graduated in the spring, after the shift to online learning due to COVID-19. The program has 13 current students and four ready to start in spring.
Stan State launched its version with a $113,000 grant from the CSU Consortium of Project Rebound. The first year exceeded the typical two to four enrollees, so the money is likely to be renewed, Bravo said.
The application deadline is Dec. 1 for people hoping to be part of Project Rebound in fall 2021.
Jail and prison visits spread word
Bravo has promoted Project Rebound through visits to jails and juvenile halls in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. Stan State has a Stockton branch campus, more convenient to some students than Turlock. The program works with MJC and Delta College, where the students can earn credits before transferring to the university.
Inmates cannot have email inside jail or prison, but they can connect with Bravo by phone and letters. Some of them have already taken community college classes while locked up, but at a slower pace than the typical student.
“Let’s just say they serve three years and were only able to take one class a semester,” Bravo said. “That really doesn’t prepare them to be able to transfer when they’re out.”
The extra help has paid off for Project Rebound statewide. It reports that since 2016, the students have an overall grade point average of about 3.0. Among those who graduated, 87% are working full-time or seeking advanced degrees.
Bravo came to Stan State from Delta, where she was an adviser in the counseling center and helped former inmates though the Phoenix Project.
Help with jobs, mental health and more
Project Rebound connects ex-felons with internships and volunteer work that can help them explore careers. It points them to the Warrior Food Pantry and other help for students short of cash. They also can get help with addiction and other mental health issues.
Romero said he started breaking into homes in Stanislaus County to support a drug addiction. He declined to specify the drug, but he did talk about its effect on his life.
“You get to a point in your addiction where you need it and you’re almost willing to do anything and rationalize in your mind anything you need to get it,” he said.
Bravo said addiction is a common thread for Project Rebound students. “Substance abuse was their coping mechanism, and that’s what led them to commit crimes.”
Studying in an uncertain time
Two other challenges have emerged for college students of all backgrounds: They have to learn remotely until the pandemic eases, and they might graduate into a tough job market.
Meetings on Zoom have replaced the face-to-face meetings that Bravo used to have with prospective students. (The Modesto Bee’s interviews with her and Romero were outdoors and socially distanced.)
Despite all the obstacles, Romero urges people still in prison to give Project Rebound a look.
“If you have ambitions and goals and dreams and aspirations – and you’re still sitting on your (bunk) and going to the chow hall and all those things – you can still make those things happen.”
More information about Project Rebound is at 209-667-3039 or www.csustan.edu/project-rebound.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
