Sacramento, California - The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced the list of recipients of $2.5 million in one-time grants meant to boost innovative programs and increase volunteerism in prisons.

The grants provide funds to eligible volunteers and not-for-profit organizations who already operate successful programs in some California prisons and to help extend those programs to prisons that do not have the same levels of volunteer service.

“There are many positive programs in California prisons that focus on offender responsibility and have demonstrated success,” Millicent Tidwell, Director of CDCR’s Division of Rehabilitative Programs, said. “We hope to reach more inmates by expanding those rehabilitative programs to prisons that have been typically underserved.”

Of the $2.5 million in grants, $2 million will come directly from the Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF). The IWF is a trust where all proceeds from inmate canteen and hobby shop sales are deposited and required to be spent on the benefit, education and welfare of state prison inmates. The other portion of the grants is from the Recidivism Reduction Fund created by Senate Bill 105 (Steinberg) in 2014.

The recipients will receive up to 50 percent of the grant funds initially and the remaining 50 percent on or after December 1, 2015, once CDCR has determined sufficient progress has been made in developing the programs.

At the end of the grant period, it is expected the programs will have been implemented, additional volunteer resources developed, and the programs able to be sustained in the future through the normal prison budget.

The prisons receiving new programs are: Avenal State Prison; California Correctional Institution; California Health Care Facility; California Medical Facility; California State Prison, Corcoran; California State Prison, Los Angeles County; California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran; Chuckawalla Valley State Prison; Deuel Vocational Institution; High Desert State Prison; Ironwood State Prison; Kern Valley State Prison; Mule Creek State Prison; North Kern State Prison; Pelican Bay State Prison; Pleasant Valley State Prison and Wasco State Prison.

See the list of grant recipients and which programs are being developed: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/rehabilitation/docs/Grant-Recipients-for-Innovative-Programs.pdf