Program Example

Funded by the California Department of Corrections, the Amity Foundation operates in-prison therapeutic communities (TCs) in four prisons which span a variety of custody levels. 200 inmates are enrolled in the Amity TC at Level IV (California prison security levels range from minimum security Level I up to maximum security Level IV) Lancaster State Prison in Los Angeles; 200 are enrolled in the Level III Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego; 120 in the Level II Ironwood State Prison in Blythe; and 208 in the minimum security California Training Facility in Soledad.

While each of the TCs has unique characteristics based on the security level of the facility in which it operates, they share some common features. Participants take part in workshops, classes, and peer circles that try to help them understand their personal issues and accountability in criminality, violence, gang involvement, drug use, self-esteem, parenting, family dynamics, moral development, and relationship-building. Treatment is built on the peer circle group, which meets regularly and undergoes a 24–26 hour workshop every six weeks in which issues among the men are examined intensively. Amity also sponsors voluntary evening activities, which include classes on anger and violence, parenting, relapse prevention, grief and loss, family dynamics, grief and loss, as well as classes or tutoring for GED, in art, and 12-Step study classes.

Once a participant is paroled or released, he or she can take part in Amity’s aftercare continuance residential facilities, as well as the numerous activities sponsored by the Amity Alumni Association. Prisoners who are not eligible for parole may serve as peer mentors and role models for inmates new to the program.

In the Lancaster facility, Amity participants live together and attend sessions in a separate housing facility, but mix with the prison’s general population for all non–Amity-related activities. Men in the Amity program at R.J. Donovan interact with the general population and take part in programming when they are not working or attending school and/or vocational training. At the Ironwood and California Training Facilities, inmates attend Amity programming on a rotational basis, although services are available throughout the day.