Amber Bjornsson says she had a “true heart change” while serving a two-year prison sentence for the years of fines and felonies she previously collected. Once her sentence was complete, Bjornsson moved into a recovery home. As Bjornsson returned to life outside of incarceration, she started to see the full picture of the obstacles in front of her. She took a job that paid minimum wage at a restaurant within walking distance of her transitional housing. Then, she faced the substantial court...

For Muslims, community is everything, especially those who find themselves residents of Solano. And during the pandemic, remaining apart together has allowed them to build stronger attachments in Allah and in each other. The mass testing of COVID-19 has caused numerous dorms and residential cohorts at CSP to be either isolated or separated due to one person testing positive. When groups of residents are moved into quarantine buildings, they are only permitted on average 15 minutes per day to...

By Amanda Nguyen, Forbes, May 13, 2021 “I was born in prison, rented to the foster care system, then leased back to prison.” After she was born to an incarcerated mother and faced an unstable childhood, Shawanna Vaughn found herself back behind bars by the age of 17. “Walking into prison at 17 was the most traumatic experience of my life,” she remembers. She shared a cell with convicted murderers, mothers and young women. [ Please click here to read more .]