Women's prisons are rife with trauma. Can California set a new course at Chowchilla?

"The program is a part of the California Model, an ambitious effort Gov. Gavin Newsom launched in March 2023 to overhaul a prison system built on fear and retribution and replace it with opportunities for more normalized social interaction."

"At Chowchilla, the peer support specialists have become the backbone of that transformation, serving as something between a therapist and life coach to the roughly 2,100 women incarcerated at the facility."

"As mandated reporters, they can be the difference between someone dying of suicide or accepting mental health services, highlighting the critical role they play in the prison ecosystem."

"I tell them that prison is going to be what you make it," Coleman shared, emphasizing the power of agency and personal choice in the lives of incarcerated women.

Read at Los Angeles Times