Cal State LA launches San Quentin’s first bachelor’s program

A bachelor’s degree program has launched at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, where California State University professors from multiple Bay Area campuses have joined to teach the first group of students.

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The inaugural group of students consists of 34 incarcerated people who started classes for a Liberal Studies degree from Cal State Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced in a news release Thursday. Cal State LA trained faculty members from Cal State East Bay and San Francisco State University to teach the students, and classes began in August, Erik Hollins, a spokesperson for Cal State LA, told SFGATE. 

Though San Quentin offers other college programs, such as an associate’s degree through Mount Tamalpais College, the new program is the first bachelor’s degree program at the prison, Terri Hardy, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed to SFGATE.

The 21-month program is being held in San Quentin’s new 80,000 square-foot San Quentin Learning Center, which opened earlier this year. The $239 million campus has three buildings: a technology center with podcast studios and recording spaces, an education hub with classrooms and a library, and a community workspace with a cafe and views of San Francisco Bay.

Those views helped make the facility’s opening “very emotional” for inmates, Josh Henderson, supervisor of correctional education programs, told KTVU-TV.

“A lot of them, it was the first time … in 20 or 30 years they’ve seen the water,” he told the news outlet. 

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Jorge Lopez, who is serving a 50-years-to-life sentence for murder, told KTVU that he is grateful for the educational programs. 

“I’m just truly blessed to be able to be in prison, incarcerated, in San Quentin and getting the privilege to be able to actually pursue a bachelor’s degree,” he said. 

According to Newsom’s office, 432 people incarcerated in San Quentin are enrolled in adult education classes and 495 are enrolled in college classes.

UC Berkeley has also proposed a bachelor’s program at San Quentin; however it is not expected to officially launch until 2028, according to its website.