A Community for Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Looks to Homeownership
SF Welcomes ‘Spare Room’ Program to Help Formerly Incarcerated People Find Housing
This UC Berkeley Student Could Be the First to Graduate While Incarcerated
2 FCI Dublin Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Sex Abuse Charges
At This Bay Area Nonprofit, Restorative Justice Starts With Design
Mistrial Declared in FCI Dublin Sex Abuse Case After Jury Deadlocks on All Charges
Sex Abuse Case That Could Put Former FCI Dublin Guard in Prison for Life Goes to Jury
Past Lives Fade at This San Francisco Tattoo Removal Clinic
East Bay Prison Sex Abuse Trial Opens With Account of Guard’s ‘Ultimate Control’
For Years, Abuse Plagued an East Bay Prison Dubbed the ‘Rape Club.’ One Trial Remains
What to Know About Your Voting Rights If You Are Currently or Formerly Incarcerated in California
Alameda County Bans Criminal Background Checks on Tenants in Move to Fight Homelessness
Player sponsored by
window.__IS_SSR__=true
window.__INITIAL_STATE__={
"attachmentsReducer": {
"audio_0": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_0",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background0.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_1": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_1",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background1.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_2": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_2",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background2.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_3": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_3",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background3.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_4": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_4",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background4.jpg"
}
}
},
"placeholder": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "placeholder",
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-lrg": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-med": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-sm": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xxsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"small": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xlarge": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-32": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 32,
"height": 32,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-50": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 50,
"height": 50,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-64": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 64,
"height": 64,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-96": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 96,
"height": 96,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-128": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 128,
"height": 128,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"detail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 160,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
}
},
"news_12087366": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12087366",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12087366",
"found": true
},
"title": "260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1781287031,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1781287074,
"caption": "Eldridge Cruse sits in the backyard before a dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-square": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED-600x600.jpg",
"width": 600,
"height": 600,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-05-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12066210": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12066210",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12066210",
"found": true
},
"title": "251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1764890927,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1764890953,
"caption": "Memi Vaughn (right), a Homecoming Project host, and Marcelino Clemente, a program participant, speak during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. The program pairs people recently released from prison with community members who have a spare room in their homes for a six-month stay.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-19-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12055604": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12055604",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12055604",
"found": true
},
"title": "250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1757613109,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1757613199,
"caption": "Shani Shay (right), director of Incarceration to College, works with Laney College student Bryan Minero at the program’s offices on the UC Berkeley campus on Sept. 9, 2025. The initiative supports system-impacted youth in accessing higher education.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12051266": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12051266",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12051266",
"found": true
},
"title": "250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed",
"publishDate": 1754588531,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 12051263,
"modified": 1754588548,
"caption": "The now-closed Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, on May 30, 2025. The prison was a low-security women’s facility with a history of staff sexual abuse scandals.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250530-DublinEmployees-60-BL_qed.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12049780": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12049780",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12049780",
"found": true
},
"title": "250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED",
"publishDate": 1753468103,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1753741471,
"caption": "Lucia Castello (left), project architect of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, and Adrienne Hogg (right), co-executive director of Community Works, pose for a portrait at Community Works in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. Community Works is a nonprofit organization that will open a new hub, which was designed by architecture firm Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, for formerly incarcerated people and their families to access resources.",
"credit": "Tâm Vũ/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00449_TV-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12031934": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12031934",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031934",
"found": true
},
"title": "250318-FCI DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED",
"publishDate": 1742336684,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 12032044,
"modified": 1742599874,
"caption": "A courtroom sketch of former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith watching as a witness gives testimony against him in federal court in Oakland on March 18, 2025.",
"credit": "Vicki Behringer for KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-800x524.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 524,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-1020x668.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 668,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-160x105.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 105,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-1536x1006.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1006,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED-1920x1258.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1258,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2B-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1310
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12031940": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12031940",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031940",
"found": true
},
"title": "250318-FCI DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1",
"publishDate": 1742337483,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 12057266,
"modified": 1758670737,
"caption": "A courtroom sketch shows former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, right, listening as a witness testifies in federal court in Oakland on March 18, 2025.",
"credit": "Vicki Behringer for KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-800x423.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 423,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-1020x539.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 539,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-160x85.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 85,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-1536x812.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 812,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1-1920x1015.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1015,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-2-KQED-1.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1057
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12030038": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12030038",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12030038",
"found": true
},
"title": "250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1741283755,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1741283875,
"caption": "UCSF Dr. Matt Pantell uses a laser tattoo removal machine during a session with Freddie Gutierrez at the clinic he runs at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. The clinic is a partnership between UCSF and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, providing free tattoo removal services for underserved communities.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-21-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12031587": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12031587",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031587",
"found": true
},
"title": "Dublin Federal Correctional Institution",
"publishDate": 1742230064,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 12031584,
"modified": 1742230109,
"caption": "The Dublin Federal Correctional Institution on Sept. 13, 2019, in Dublin, California.",
"credit": "Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1181905632_qed.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12031369": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12031369",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031369",
"found": true
},
"title": "240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed",
"publishDate": 1741969243,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 12031367,
"modified": 1741969263,
"caption": "A sign for the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin, on April 8, 2024.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed.jpg",
"width": 1999,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_12010850": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_12010850",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12010850",
"found": true
},
"title": "241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1729722879,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1729723038,
"caption": "Margaret Wilson (left) and Aurora Garza Jimenez, Cameo House program manager, review voting material for tabling events at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-14-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
},
"news_11936258": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "news_11936258",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "11936258",
"found": true
},
"parent": 11936245,
"imgSizes": {
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 576
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 107
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 372
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280
},
"large": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 680
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 1024
},
"medium": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 533
}
},
"publishDate": 1671753321,
"modified": 1671758780,
"caption": "Taqwaa Bonner (right), housing advocate for All of Us or None, speaks with his colleagues outside their offices in Oakland on Dec. 16, 2022.",
"description": null,
"title": "RS61718_008_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"status": "inherit",
"altTag": "Two Black men talk on a neighborhood street.",
"isLoading": false,
"fetchFailed": false
}
},
"audioPlayerReducer": {
"postId": "stream_live",
"isPaused": true,
"isPlaying": false,
"pfsActive": false,
"pledgeModalIsOpen": true,
"playerDrawerIsOpen": false,
"liveAudioPlayStartedAt": 0,
"liveAudioPlayContext": ""
},
"authorsReducer": {
"shossaini": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "3214",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "3214",
"found": true
},
"name": "Sara Hossaini",
"firstName": "Sara",
"lastName": "Hossaini",
"slug": "shossaini",
"email": "shossaini@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": true,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news"
],
"title": "KQED Reporter",
"bio": "Sara Hossaini came to general assignment reporting at KQED in 2013 after two winters reporting at Wyoming Public Radio. She holds a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her radio romance began after a bitter breakup with documentary film (Ok, maybe it's still complicated). Her first simultaneous jobs in San Francisco were as Associate Producer on a PBS film series through the Center for Asian American Media and as a butler. She likes to trot, plot and make things with her hands.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/060e9f56b9554e17942e89f413242774?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "mshossaini",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "stateofhealth",
"roles": [
"author"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Sara Hossaini | KQED",
"description": "KQED Reporter",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/060e9f56b9554e17942e89f413242774?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/060e9f56b9554e17942e89f413242774?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/shossaini"
},
"vrancano": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11276",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11276",
"found": true
},
"name": "Vanessa Rancaño",
"firstName": "Vanessa",
"lastName": "Rancaño",
"slug": "vrancano",
"email": "vrancano@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news"
],
"title": "Reporter, Housing",
"bio": "Vanessa Rancaño is a features reporter for KQED. She’s also covered homelessness and education for the station and reported from the Central Valley. Her work has aired across public radio, from flagship national news shows to longform narrative podcasts. Before taking up a mic, she worked as a freelance print journalist. She’s been recognized with a number of national and regional awards. Vanessa grew up in California's Central Valley. She's a former NPR Kroc Fellow, and a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b3a383dfb0e7ee1c17568f2cf067904ab654d6e3de9743fc661f3c788ade1bed?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "vanessarancano",
"bluesky": null,
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"contributor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Vanessa Rancaño | KQED",
"description": "Reporter, Housing",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b3a383dfb0e7ee1c17568f2cf067904ab654d6e3de9743fc661f3c788ade1bed?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b3a383dfb0e7ee1c17568f2cf067904ab654d6e3de9743fc661f3c788ade1bed?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/vrancano"
},
"agonzalez": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11724",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11724",
"found": true
},
"name": "Alexander Gonzalez",
"firstName": "Alexander",
"lastName": "Gonzalez",
"slug": "agonzalez",
"email": "AlexanderGonzalez@KQED.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news"
],
"title": "KQED Contributor",
"bio": null,
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9e291ed34e154df4c662edf858b641d70b4859939bfe40be478408f9dfd057d2?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": null,
"bluesky": null,
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Alexander Gonzalez | KQED",
"description": "KQED Contributor",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9e291ed34e154df4c662edf858b641d70b4859939bfe40be478408f9dfd057d2?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9e291ed34e154df4c662edf858b641d70b4859939bfe40be478408f9dfd057d2?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/agonzalez"
},
"adahlstromeckman": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11785",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11785",
"found": true
},
"name": "Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman",
"firstName": "Azul",
"lastName": "Dahlstrom-Eckman",
"slug": "adahlstromeckman",
"email": "adahlstrom-eckman@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": true,
"staff_mastheads": [],
"title": "Reporter",
"bio": "Azul is a reporter for KQED focusing on transportation and features. He joined KQED in 2021 as an alumna of KALW's Audio Academy radio journalism training program.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9cb750298435add7815a777f55bf1f46845c1386bb8452555c60a7b820b5aba3?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "@zuliemann",
"bluesky": "@azul415.bsky.social",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"author"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman | KQED",
"description": "Reporter",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9cb750298435add7815a777f55bf1f46845c1386bb8452555c60a7b820b5aba3?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9cb750298435add7815a777f55bf1f46845c1386bb8452555c60a7b820b5aba3?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/adahlstromeckman"
},
"sjohnson": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11840",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11840",
"found": true
},
"name": "Sydney Johnson",
"firstName": "Sydney",
"lastName": "Johnson",
"slug": "sjohnson",
"email": "sjohnson@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news"
],
"title": "KQED Reporter",
"bio": "Sydney Johnson is a general assignment reporter at KQED. She previously reported on public health and city government at the San Francisco Examiner, and before that, she covered statewide education policy for EdSource. Her reporting has won multiple local, state and national awards. Sydney is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and lives in San Francisco.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/97855f2719b72ad6190b7c535fe642c8?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "sydneyfjohnson",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Sydney Johnson | KQED",
"description": "KQED Reporter",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/97855f2719b72ad6190b7c535fe642c8?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/97855f2719b72ad6190b7c535fe642c8?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/sjohnson"
},
"nkhan": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11867",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11867",
"found": true
},
"name": "Nisa Khan",
"firstName": "Nisa",
"lastName": "Khan",
"slug": "nkhan",
"email": "nkhan@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [],
"title": "KQED Contributor",
"bio": "Nisa Khan is a reporter for KQED's Audience News Desk. She was formerly a data reporter at Michigan Radio. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Information from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts in Communication from Stanford University.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a3bf1efcfbe7658d13a434cc54d0b2e3?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "mnisakhan",
"bluesky": null,
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor",
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "forum",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"contributor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Nisa Khan | KQED",
"description": "KQED Contributor",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a3bf1efcfbe7658d13a434cc54d0b2e3?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a3bf1efcfbe7658d13a434cc54d0b2e3?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/nkhan"
},
"kdebenedetti": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11913",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11913",
"found": true
},
"name": "Katie DeBenedetti",
"firstName": "Katie",
"lastName": "DeBenedetti",
"slug": "kdebenedetti",
"email": "kdebenedetti@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news",
"science"
],
"title": "KQED Contributor",
"bio": "Katie DeBenedetti is a digital reporter covering daily news for the Express Desk. Prior to joining KQED as a culture reporting intern in January 2024, she covered education and city government for the Napa Valley Register.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6e31073cb8f7e4214ab03f42771d0f45?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": null,
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"author"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Katie DeBenedetti | KQED",
"description": "KQED Contributor",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6e31073cb8f7e4214ab03f42771d0f45?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6e31073cb8f7e4214ab03f42771d0f45?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/kdebenedetti"
}
},
"pagesReducer": {
"news_tag_formerly-incarcerated": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_32212",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "32212",
"score": 10.401017
},
"featImg": null,
"name": "formerly incarcerated",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "formerly incarcerated Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 32229,
"slug": "formerly-incarcerated",
"isLoading": false,
"title": "formerly incarcerated",
"pageMeta": {
"site": "news",
"WpPageTemplate": "page-topic-editorial",
"currentPage": 1
},
"blocks": [
{
"blockName": "kqed/post-list",
"attrs": {
"layout": "cardArticle2",
"query": "posts/news?tag=formerly-incarcerated",
"seeMore": false,
"paginated": true,
"page": 1
}
},
{
"blockName": "kqed/ad"
}
]
}
},
"pfsSessionReducer": {},
"postsReducer": {
"stream_live": {
"type": "live",
"id": "stream_live",
"audioUrl": "https://streams.kqed.org/kqedradio",
"title": "Live Stream",
"excerpt": "Live Stream information currently unavailable.",
"link": "/radio",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "KQED Live",
"link": "/"
}
},
"stream_kqedNewscast": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "stream_kqedNewscast",
"audioUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/newscast.mp3?_=1",
"title": "KQED Newscast",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "88.5 FM",
"link": "/"
}
},
"news_12088096": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12088096",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12088096",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1784113201000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "a-community-for-formerly-incarcerated-san-franciscans-looks-to-homeownership",
"title": "A Community for Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Looks to Homeownership",
"publishDate": 1784113201,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "A Community for Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Looks to Homeownership | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>Buying a house amid San Francisco’s spiraling \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">affordability crisis\u003c/a> can be daunting in even the most traditional of circumstances. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11867110/for-some-parolees-facing-homelessness-communal-houses-fill-the-gap\">group of formerly incarcerated residents\u003c/a> living in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is taking on the challenge by trying to buy their beloved Victorian rental, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/template.house/\">Template House\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their vision is to transition the property to a local land trust, ensuring the unique house can exist in perpetuity and offer a shot at communal living for people with experience in the criminal justice system. But as home prices across the city continue to rise because of the artificial intelligence boom, the deadline for the group to raise the money it needs to complete the deal is looming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that I really want to do is to take this building off the speculative market. I want this house to be returned to this use case, and a land trust locks it in, in a way that’s really powerful,” said Zarinah Agnew, 44, who runs The Second Life Project, part of the nonprofit District Commons, which is helping steward the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District Commons runs several communal homes in San Francisco. Template House was formed in 2019 with the specific goal of offering communal living for people exiting prison. The owners, local couple Jessy Kate and Robbie Schingler, supported the vision behind the abolitionist cooperative and agreed to give residents seven years to buy the four-bedroom house and its shady backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those seven years are now almost up. The five residents are furiously fundraising $1.4 million to purchase the $2 million house. They have secured roughly $63,000 so far through donations, largely from individuals, plus $100,000 in a low-interest loan, with the help of the consulting firm Land and Power, which has helped tenants purchase their buildings in California and New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zarinah Agnew sits inside Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their deadline to close on the house is at the end of this year. While the owners support the vision and have kept the price stable to support the sale even as the housing market explodes, they plan to put it on the market if the current residents can’t meet their goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most, if not all, residents, that would mean moving out of the communal house and likely out of the city to find equivalent rents. Resident Eldridge Cruse, 56, said he pays $1,450 per month for his bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates of the model say the need is more pressing than ever. In addition to the AI boom pushing rents to nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/san-francisco-ca/?bedrooms=1\">$4,000 for a one-bedroom\u003c/a>, a shift toward tougher-on-crime policing and prosecution both locally and nationally is occurring, which can leave people who have been arrested or incarcerated facing more barriers to accessing stable housing.[aside postID=news_12087973 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-13-BL-KQED.jpg']In San Francisco, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/arrests-drug-seizures-and-federal-drug-trafficking-charges-surge-san-francisco-through\">arrests have surged in recent years\u003c/a> even as crime rates overall have \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/PoliceCommission7826_-__Crime_Trends_Notes.pdf\">decreased\u003c/a>. Public safety dominated political discussions and campaigns coming out of the pandemic, and the city has moved to put programs like a \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/08/nonprofit-keeps-95-clients-jail-court-sf-courts-want-kill/\">pretrial diversion program\u003c/a> on the chopping block. That has the potential to increase the jail population and create an even larger number of people with barriers to securing leases and closing housing deals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Template House is currently a permanent home for five residents. But the house often keeps a bed or two open for people in an emergency who are looking for a place to sleep while figuring out their next steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had two young guys come in from ICE detention who just needed a place to be. If they didn’t have an address, they were going to remain incarcerated,” said Agnew, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It’s a way of being able to offer solidarity and pay it forward, so it’s nice to have a couple of empty beds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cruse, one of the original full-time tenants at Template House, the space has been an unexpectedly critical part of his journey reacclimating back into everyday society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruse arrived at Template House after spending 29 years in prison for being involved in a murder. Released without parole after his case was overturned in 2019, he didn’t qualify for transitional housing or other step-down programs. He connected with Agnew after a series of phone calls with lawyers and friends, and she offered him a place to crash at one of the other communal homes part of District Commons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he arrived, he immediately recognized some of the men he knew in prison sitting around a common area, and said he felt waves of relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087365\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087365\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eldridge Cruse carries a pot of soup to the backyard for a dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re trying to keep alive is that spirit of coming home to someplace that brings comfort instead of anxiety. And my success since I’ve been here has been attributed to me having such a soft landing,” said Cruse, who now is an assistant director at a homeless shelter in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Cruse arrived in 2019, District Commons proceeded to add another house to their community of cooperatives at the Haight-Ashbury building that’s now Template House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group landed on a strategy to work with Agnew’s nonprofit to purchase the house. Part of the thinking was that some people exiting incarceration might not have ample savings to put into buying a house and fundraising with the nonprofit could allow them to personally save in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more straightforward to fundraise for a nonprofit than for individuals. And, residents can learn about the process of homeownership and the financial steps to get there, while avoiding some of the financial pressure to manage the dynamics of San Francisco’s unforgiving housing market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087369\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087369\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents and friends gather for a backyard dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can deal with the social aspect of this, but the management aspect, I leave it to the professionals,” Cruse said. “Who knows? Maybe one day I will be able to do it. But as of this time, it is very important for those who do know how to do this correctly that they do take the lead in it. And one day, then we’re able to take on those responsibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone in the house has lived experience in prison, and integrating different life and financial backgrounds is part of the group’s theory of success, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is always some difficulty that can come with living in co-ops. It’s never quite as rosy as some might try to portray,” said Jeremy Mack, who lived at the house for around two years during graduate school and does not have direct personal experience with the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But ultimately, spaces like Template are filling such an important gap that exists in the city and in the Bay Area at large, and are really a beautiful oasis in a landscape right now that is increasingly carceral, that is increasingly difficult to navigate, and expensive for people who are coming out of incarceration,” Mack said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087368\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents and friends gather for a backyard dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Template housemates say their long-term vision is a model of “mutually stewarded autonomy,” where they learn to run and manage the house together and ultimately take it off the market long-term by transferring it to a land trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Community Land Trust is a sort of legal structure that can outlive your lifetime,” Agnew said. “We talked about whether people wanted to do a shared ownership model, but everybody said that that was too stressful and would be a lot of admin… People really wanted to focus on the family and home dynamic more than the operations and logistics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruse said he already knows there’s demand, based on conversations he has with other formerly incarcerated people he knows and meets, whether that’s at backyard barbecues he co-hosts or just through community networks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, residents and their allies are hurrying to recruit potential donors and lenders in the next six months to make the model feasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Template is our step forward to see if we can create this cooperative, self-managing ownership structure as an alternative to halfway houses at scale,” he said. “This is just the beginning of something that is needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The effort comes amid skyrocketing home prices driven by the artificial intelligence boom in San Francisco and a shift toward tougher-on-crime policing and prosecution.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1784138693,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 28,
"wordCount": 1501
},
"headData": {
"title": "A Community for Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Looks to Homeownership | KQED",
"description": "The effort comes amid skyrocketing home prices driven by the artificial intelligence boom in San Francisco and a shift toward tougher-on-crime policing and prosecution.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "A Community for Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Looks to Homeownership",
"datePublished": "2026-07-15T04:00:01-07:00",
"dateModified": "2026-07-15T11:04:53-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 6266,
"slug": "housing",
"name": "Housing"
},
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12088096",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12088096/a-community-for-formerly-incarcerated-san-franciscans-looks-to-homeownership",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Buying a house amid San Francisco’s spiraling \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">affordability crisis\u003c/a> can be daunting in even the most traditional of circumstances. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11867110/for-some-parolees-facing-homelessness-communal-houses-fill-the-gap\">group of formerly incarcerated residents\u003c/a> living in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is taking on the challenge by trying to buy their beloved Victorian rental, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/template.house/\">Template House\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their vision is to transition the property to a local land trust, ensuring the unique house can exist in perpetuity and offer a shot at communal living for people with experience in the criminal justice system. But as home prices across the city continue to rise because of the artificial intelligence boom, the deadline for the group to raise the money it needs to complete the deal is looming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that I really want to do is to take this building off the speculative market. I want this house to be returned to this use case, and a land trust locks it in, in a way that’s really powerful,” said Zarinah Agnew, 44, who runs The Second Life Project, part of the nonprofit District Commons, which is helping steward the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District Commons runs several communal homes in San Francisco. Template House was formed in 2019 with the specific goal of offering communal living for people exiting prison. The owners, local couple Jessy Kate and Robbie Schingler, supported the vision behind the abolitionist cooperative and agreed to give residents seven years to buy the four-bedroom house and its shady backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those seven years are now almost up. The five residents are furiously fundraising $1.4 million to purchase the $2 million house. They have secured roughly $63,000 so far through donations, largely from individuals, plus $100,000 in a low-interest loan, with the help of the consulting firm Land and Power, which has helped tenants purchase their buildings in California and New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zarinah Agnew sits inside Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their deadline to close on the house is at the end of this year. While the owners support the vision and have kept the price stable to support the sale even as the housing market explodes, they plan to put it on the market if the current residents can’t meet their goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most, if not all, residents, that would mean moving out of the communal house and likely out of the city to find equivalent rents. Resident Eldridge Cruse, 56, said he pays $1,450 per month for his bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates of the model say the need is more pressing than ever. In addition to the AI boom pushing rents to nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/san-francisco-ca/?bedrooms=1\">$4,000 for a one-bedroom\u003c/a>, a shift toward tougher-on-crime policing and prosecution both locally and nationally is occurring, which can leave people who have been arrested or incarcerated facing more barriers to accessing stable housing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12087973",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-13-BL-KQED.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In San Francisco, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/arrests-drug-seizures-and-federal-drug-trafficking-charges-surge-san-francisco-through\">arrests have surged in recent years\u003c/a> even as crime rates overall have \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/PoliceCommission7826_-__Crime_Trends_Notes.pdf\">decreased\u003c/a>. Public safety dominated political discussions and campaigns coming out of the pandemic, and the city has moved to put programs like a \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/08/nonprofit-keeps-95-clients-jail-court-sf-courts-want-kill/\">pretrial diversion program\u003c/a> on the chopping block. That has the potential to increase the jail population and create an even larger number of people with barriers to securing leases and closing housing deals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Template House is currently a permanent home for five residents. But the house often keeps a bed or two open for people in an emergency who are looking for a place to sleep while figuring out their next steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had two young guys come in from ICE detention who just needed a place to be. If they didn’t have an address, they were going to remain incarcerated,” said Agnew, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It’s a way of being able to offer solidarity and pay it forward, so it’s nice to have a couple of empty beds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cruse, one of the original full-time tenants at Template House, the space has been an unexpectedly critical part of his journey reacclimating back into everyday society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruse arrived at Template House after spending 29 years in prison for being involved in a murder. Released without parole after his case was overturned in 2019, he didn’t qualify for transitional housing or other step-down programs. He connected with Agnew after a series of phone calls with lawyers and friends, and she offered him a place to crash at one of the other communal homes part of District Commons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he arrived, he immediately recognized some of the men he knew in prison sitting around a common area, and said he felt waves of relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087365\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087365\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eldridge Cruse carries a pot of soup to the backyard for a dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re trying to keep alive is that spirit of coming home to someplace that brings comfort instead of anxiety. And my success since I’ve been here has been attributed to me having such a soft landing,” said Cruse, who now is an assistant director at a homeless shelter in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Cruse arrived in 2019, District Commons proceeded to add another house to their community of cooperatives at the Haight-Ashbury building that’s now Template House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group landed on a strategy to work with Agnew’s nonprofit to purchase the house. Part of the thinking was that some people exiting incarceration might not have ample savings to put into buying a house and fundraising with the nonprofit could allow them to personally save in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more straightforward to fundraise for a nonprofit than for individuals. And, residents can learn about the process of homeownership and the financial steps to get there, while avoiding some of the financial pressure to manage the dynamics of San Francisco’s unforgiving housing market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087369\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087369\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents and friends gather for a backyard dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can deal with the social aspect of this, but the management aspect, I leave it to the professionals,” Cruse said. “Who knows? Maybe one day I will be able to do it. But as of this time, it is very important for those who do know how to do this correctly that they do take the lead in it. And one day, then we’re able to take on those responsibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone in the house has lived experience in prison, and integrating different life and financial backgrounds is part of the group’s theory of success, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is always some difficulty that can come with living in co-ops. It’s never quite as rosy as some might try to portray,” said Jeremy Mack, who lived at the house for around two years during graduate school and does not have direct personal experience with the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But ultimately, spaces like Template are filling such an important gap that exists in the city and in the Bay Area at large, and are really a beautiful oasis in a landscape right now that is increasingly carceral, that is increasingly difficult to navigate, and expensive for people who are coming out of incarceration,” Mack said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087368\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-TEMPLATEHOUSE-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents and friends gather for a backyard dinner party at Template House in San Francisco on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Template housemates say their long-term vision is a model of “mutually stewarded autonomy,” where they learn to run and manage the house together and ultimately take it off the market long-term by transferring it to a land trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Community Land Trust is a sort of legal structure that can outlive your lifetime,” Agnew said. “We talked about whether people wanted to do a shared ownership model, but everybody said that that was too stressful and would be a lot of admin… People really wanted to focus on the family and home dynamic more than the operations and logistics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruse said he already knows there’s demand, based on conversations he has with other formerly incarcerated people he knows and meets, whether that’s at backyard barbecues he co-hosts or just through community networks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, residents and their allies are hurrying to recruit potential donors and lenders in the next six months to make the model feasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Template is our step forward to see if we can create this cooperative, self-managing ownership structure as an alternative to halfway houses at scale,” he said. “This is just the beginning of something that is needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12088096/a-community-for-formerly-incarcerated-san-franciscans-looks-to-homeownership",
"authors": [
"11840"
],
"categories": [
"news_6266",
"news_28250",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_3921",
"news_1386",
"news_27626",
"news_32212",
"news_34388",
"news_1775",
"news_38"
],
"featImg": "news_12087366",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12066539": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12066539",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12066539",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1765378814000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "sf-welcomes-spare-room-program-to-help-formerly-incarcerated-people-find-housing",
"title": "SF Welcomes ‘Spare Room’ Program to Help Formerly Incarcerated People Find Housing",
"publishDate": 1765378814,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "SF Welcomes ‘Spare Room’ Program to Help Formerly Incarcerated People Find Housing | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>Surmiche “Memi” Vaughn had doubts about opening up her home to a stranger who had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/formerly-incarcerated\">formerly incarcerated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I was super skeptical,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Vaughn was a single mother of twins who were headed to college, and wanted her kids to graduate with no student debt. She said her father suggested she sign up for The Homecoming Project, which offers $50 a day to people who are willing to rent out a room to someone who has recently been released from prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago. Since then, Vaughn said she and her husband have hosted 19 formerly incarcerated participants between her two homes in Oakland, and her kids, now in their third year of college, haven’t had to take out any loans. Vaughn said the partnership is a two-way street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s funny because they always say that they learn a lot from me, and I say that I’ve learned a lot from them,” Vaughn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066212\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Memi Vaughn (center), a Homecoming Project host, listens to speakers during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Homecoming Project launched in Alameda County in 2018 and has since expanded into Contra Costa and Los Angeles counties. Its growing footprint now includes San Francisco — thanks to new funding from the state of California, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and the Menorah Park Community Impact Fund, according to Bernadette Butler, director of the Housing Lab at Impact Justice, the nonprofit that runs The Homecoming Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office partnered with The Homecoming Project to find housing for formerly incarcerated people. Until now, this meant they could only place people with hosts in other counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t ever, as San Franciscans want to say, ‘we are looking to other counties for services that our families here in San Francisco need,” said Danielle Harris, an attorney with the city’s Public Defender’s Office.[aside postID=news_12055960 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED.jpg']During the program, participants receive case management to help them find a job and a more permanent place of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is at the heart a way to address homelessness, and homelessness and reentry are overlapping issues,” Butler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cited a grim statistic from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html\">2018 report\u003c/a> by the Prison Policy Initiative: Formerly incarcerated people are nearly ten times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a real way for community members to help solve this issue by opening up their homes, and they’re also able to do something, and that’s transformative and really help someone,” Butler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over 200 people have graduated from the Homecoming Project since its inception, and the program claims that 98% of participants have graduated with either a job or an “education opportunity” and that none have returned to prison while in the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Homecoming Project is now looking for hosts in San Francisco. The organization said no one living in the city has signed up yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066211 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philippe Kelly, a Homecoming Project participant, speaks during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Philippe Kelly, who was incarcerated for six years at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, was placed in transitional housing in Oakland after release. He said he wasn’t happy with that living arrangement, so he’s grateful he was able to find housing through The Homecoming Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly said the first step involved touring potential homes and meeting the hosts. He recalled being pleasantly surprised that he would actually get a say in where he might live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It gives you an opportunity to engage with the host to see if it’s gonna be a good fit or not, versus, we’ll just stick you here without another option, because if it doesn’t work out, what happens then?” Kelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After touring a house that wasn’t a good fit, he met Vaughn and her husband. He told the couple he was an aspiring audio engineer and producer — a craft he hoped to pursue during the homestay — and he found the couple to be supportive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees listen during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ I thought, this is where I want to be, because they understood the needs that I had at the time, and were going to allow me to explore those things and make my situation in their home that much easier,” Kelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly now lives in a separate house owned by Vaughn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, I pay rent now,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly said he has a job, and he’s still pursuing audio engineering on the side. He credits his success to the work he’s done on himself and having a welcoming home to help his transition back into society after incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be able to live in a place where you can walk outside your door and just breathe the fresh air, you can look around, feel safe, comfortable and happy means a lot,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The Homecoming Project, which connects homeowners with formerly incarcerated people in the Bay Area seeking housing, grows its reach in the Bay Area. ",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1765404022,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 24,
"wordCount": 959
},
"headData": {
"title": "SF Welcomes ‘Spare Room’ Program to Help Formerly Incarcerated People Find Housing | KQED",
"description": "The Homecoming Project, which connects homeowners with formerly incarcerated people in the Bay Area seeking housing, grows its reach in the Bay Area. ",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "SF Welcomes ‘Spare Room’ Program to Help Formerly Incarcerated People Find Housing",
"datePublished": "2025-12-10T07:00:14-08:00",
"dateModified": "2025-12-10T14:00:22-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 6266,
"slug": "housing",
"name": "Housing"
},
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/17fe16c4-2905-4928-bab6-b3af011f4669/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12066539",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12066539/sf-welcomes-spare-room-program-to-help-formerly-incarcerated-people-find-housing",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Surmiche “Memi” Vaughn had doubts about opening up her home to a stranger who had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/formerly-incarcerated\">formerly incarcerated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I was super skeptical,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Vaughn was a single mother of twins who were headed to college, and wanted her kids to graduate with no student debt. She said her father suggested she sign up for The Homecoming Project, which offers $50 a day to people who are willing to rent out a room to someone who has recently been released from prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago. Since then, Vaughn said she and her husband have hosted 19 formerly incarcerated participants between her two homes in Oakland, and her kids, now in their third year of college, haven’t had to take out any loans. Vaughn said the partnership is a two-way street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s funny because they always say that they learn a lot from me, and I say that I’ve learned a lot from them,” Vaughn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066212\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-24-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Memi Vaughn (center), a Homecoming Project host, listens to speakers during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Homecoming Project launched in Alameda County in 2018 and has since expanded into Contra Costa and Los Angeles counties. Its growing footprint now includes San Francisco — thanks to new funding from the state of California, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and the Menorah Park Community Impact Fund, according to Bernadette Butler, director of the Housing Lab at Impact Justice, the nonprofit that runs The Homecoming Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office partnered with The Homecoming Project to find housing for formerly incarcerated people. Until now, this meant they could only place people with hosts in other counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t ever, as San Franciscans want to say, ‘we are looking to other counties for services that our families here in San Francisco need,” said Danielle Harris, an attorney with the city’s Public Defender’s Office.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12055960",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-01-BL-KQED.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During the program, participants receive case management to help them find a job and a more permanent place of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is at the heart a way to address homelessness, and homelessness and reentry are overlapping issues,” Butler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cited a grim statistic from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html\">2018 report\u003c/a> by the Prison Policy Initiative: Formerly incarcerated people are nearly ten times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a real way for community members to help solve this issue by opening up their homes, and they’re also able to do something, and that’s transformative and really help someone,” Butler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over 200 people have graduated from the Homecoming Project since its inception, and the program claims that 98% of participants have graduated with either a job or an “education opportunity” and that none have returned to prison while in the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Homecoming Project is now looking for hosts in San Francisco. The organization said no one living in the city has signed up yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066211 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-21-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philippe Kelly, a Homecoming Project participant, speaks during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Philippe Kelly, who was incarcerated for six years at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, was placed in transitional housing in Oakland after release. He said he wasn’t happy with that living arrangement, so he’s grateful he was able to find housing through The Homecoming Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly said the first step involved touring potential homes and meeting the hosts. He recalled being pleasantly surprised that he would actually get a say in where he might live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It gives you an opportunity to engage with the host to see if it’s gonna be a good fit or not, versus, we’ll just stick you here without another option, because if it doesn’t work out, what happens then?” Kelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After touring a house that wasn’t a good fit, he met Vaughn and her husband. He told the couple he was an aspiring audio engineer and producer — a craft he hoped to pursue during the homestay — and he found the couple to be supportive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251113-SFHOMECOMINGPROJECT-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees listen during a press conference about the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ I thought, this is where I want to be, because they understood the needs that I had at the time, and were going to allow me to explore those things and make my situation in their home that much easier,” Kelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly now lives in a separate house owned by Vaughn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, I pay rent now,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly said he has a job, and he’s still pursuing audio engineering on the side. He credits his success to the work he’s done on himself and having a welcoming home to help his transition back into society after incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be able to live in a place where you can walk outside your door and just breathe the fresh air, you can look around, feel safe, comfortable and happy means a lot,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12066539/sf-welcomes-spare-room-program-to-help-formerly-incarcerated-people-find-housing",
"authors": [
"11785"
],
"categories": [
"news_6266",
"news_28250",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_3921",
"news_1386",
"news_27626",
"news_32212",
"news_1775",
"news_35718",
"news_3424",
"news_38"
],
"featImg": "news_12066210",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12055960": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12055960",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12055960",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1758726011000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "this-uc-berkeley-student-could-be-the-first-to-graduate-while-incarcerated",
"title": "This UC Berkeley Student Could Be the First to Graduate While Incarcerated",
"publishDate": 1758726011,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "This UC Berkeley Student Could Be the First to Graduate While Incarcerated | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>The pinnacle experience for many \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a> undergraduate students is the spring commencement ceremony. Wearing their cap and gowns, thousands crowd California Memorial Stadium, the Golden Bears’ historic home, to mark the beginning of a new chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Cal senior, Javier, knows he may miss this rite of passage and has prepared for a quieter triumph as the new fall semester gets underway this month. The 22-year-old sociology major, who plans to attend law school, is enrolled at UC Berkeley from Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has never set foot on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although my body is physically confined, I keep my mind free by learning and educating myself and continuing to grow,” said Javier, who asked to be identified by his middle name on his lawyer’s advice, citing potential educational and legal repercussions, under KQED’s anonymous sources policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Javier, who awaits trial for an alleged violent crime, is expected to become California’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/incarcerated\">incarcerated\u003c/a> young person to graduate from a UC school after transferring from community college. His achievement is possible through a partnership between the Alameda County Office of Education and Incarceration to College, an outreach program for in-custody and out-of-custody youth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12057183\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2000x1500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incarceration to College, launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, has served more than 1,000 students across three Bay Area counties, giving them access to college readiness courses, tutoring and coaching. \u003ccite>(Illustration by Anna Vignet)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The program, founded by a formerly incarcerated scholar and UC Berkeley graduate, provides college readiness courses, tutoring and coaching to incarcerated students in juvenile halls in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. Participants can be up to 25, the maximum age for a youth life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Incarceration to College, launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and grounded in cultural affirmation, has served more than 1,000 students across three counties. Last year, the program had 65 students enrolled in college while living at Bay Area juvenile halls, including eight at UC schools. This year, another incarcerated youth became the first to gain direct admission to a four-year California State University program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t see them as people who are felons or have a record and now automatically need to go into the trades,” founder Shani Shay said. “Or now automatically should be looking at a job that doesn’t even align with some of the risks that they are willing to take to get out of poverty.”[aside postID=news_12001595 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/IMG_0745-1020x765.jpg']That struggle marked Javier’s own childhood. He grew up in a Mexican immigrant household in Hayward with nearly a dozen family members, including his mother, siblings and other relatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was heavily influenced by the gang culture of his uncles and his neighborhood. By 13, he landed in juvenile hall for assault and armed robbery, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People knew what school I went to and who I involved myself with. So I didn’t really want to go to school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 15, he said, he and his friends survived a shooting. Shortly after, in ninth grade, he dropped out. He said he felt dismissed by teachers who routinely sent him to the principal’s office for what he described as small infractions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 17, Javier returned to juvenile hall. There, older friends from the neighborhood who were also incarcerated encouraged him to finish high school. At first, he was discouraged because he had only about a year’s worth of credits, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, damn…I am pretty much nowhere. So that kind of made me feel ashamed,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But surrounded by peers with similar experiences, classes began to feel different, Javier said. He began to feel a sense of belonging and support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055603\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro on Sept. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I went from being quiet to being the main person answering all the questions on the whiteboard, being the first one to raise his hand,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, Javier graduated from high school and enrolled in online classes at Laney College in Oakland, with support from Incarceration to College. He excelled, lobbied to take a full-time course load and even cross-enrolled in a UC Berkeley class. As a junior, he transferred to Cal full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He shone. He was an A+ student,” said Victoria Robinson, a senior lecturer in ethnic studies at UC Berkeley. “He’s thirsty for education. You can’t give him enough material…to the point where the syllabus wasn’t enough. He just wants to keep learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a transformative move, Robinson flipped the classroom dynamic. Instead of Javier joining remotely, she brought the classroom to him — teaching from inside the juvenile hall while students tuned in via Zoom. Some students also went to Javier’s facility to attend class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shani Shay (right), director of Incarceration to College, works with Laney College student Bryan Minero at the program’s offices on the UC Berkeley campus on Sept. 9, 2025. The initiative supports system-impacted youth in accessing higher education. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It had a profound impact on UC Berkeley students,” Robinson said. At first, they had questions, but ultimately, they fully supported the arrangement. It also buoyed Jaiver, who said he sometimes faced pushback from juvenile hall staff questioning whether he was really receiving a UC Berkeley education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Javier’s trajectory is uncommon, especially given the disparity in college achievement for formerly incarcerated adults. A 2018 study by the Prison Policy Initiative found 4% of formerly incarcerated people held a college degree, compared to 29% of the U.S. population. The report cited barriers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11962706/program-offering-pell-grants-to-incarcerated-people-in-heavy-demand-in-california\">financial aid eligibility\u003c/a> and discriminatory admissions practices. Those who complete a degree beyond high school may face licensing restrictions for certain careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success of students like Javier has already made a cultural shift in Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall, with more students eager to pursue higher education, said Lucia Moritz, executive director of student programs at the Alameda County Office of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Javier] mentors other students,” Moritz said. “There’s been a lot of youth who will say, like, he’s the one who motivated me to step up my work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As graduation nears, Javier wants to attend law school because of his familiarity with the juvenile justice system. He has faced legal limbo for years over whether he should be tried as an adult for a violent crime he is accused of committing when he was a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that uncertainty and the challenges of incarceration, he said education has given him a sanctuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t let these walls trap me in,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "A Bay Area program helping incarcerated youth earn college degrees is reshaping access to higher education across California.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1759428778,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 27,
"wordCount": 1183
},
"headData": {
"title": "This UC Berkeley Student Could Be the First to Graduate While Incarcerated | KQED",
"description": "A Bay Area program helping incarcerated youth earn college degrees is reshaping access to higher education across California.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "This UC Berkeley Student Could Be the First to Graduate While Incarcerated",
"datePublished": "2025-09-24T08:00:11-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-10-02T11:12:58-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 18540,
"slug": "education",
"name": "Education"
},
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/6dc992a2-7d53-455d-b465-b363010d072c/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12055960",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12055960/this-uc-berkeley-student-could-be-the-first-to-graduate-while-incarcerated",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The pinnacle experience for many \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a> undergraduate students is the spring commencement ceremony. Wearing their cap and gowns, thousands crowd California Memorial Stadium, the Golden Bears’ historic home, to mark the beginning of a new chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Cal senior, Javier, knows he may miss this rite of passage and has prepared for a quieter triumph as the new fall semester gets underway this month. The 22-year-old sociology major, who plans to attend law school, is enrolled at UC Berkeley from Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has never set foot on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although my body is physically confined, I keep my mind free by learning and educating myself and continuing to grow,” said Javier, who asked to be identified by his middle name on his lawyer’s advice, citing potential educational and legal repercussions, under KQED’s anonymous sources policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Javier, who awaits trial for an alleged violent crime, is expected to become California’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/incarcerated\">incarcerated\u003c/a> young person to graduate from a UC school after transferring from community college. His achievement is possible through a partnership between the Alameda County Office of Education and Incarceration to College, an outreach program for in-custody and out-of-custody youth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12057183\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2000x1500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/IMG_1144-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incarceration to College, launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, has served more than 1,000 students across three Bay Area counties, giving them access to college readiness courses, tutoring and coaching. \u003ccite>(Illustration by Anna Vignet)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The program, founded by a formerly incarcerated scholar and UC Berkeley graduate, provides college readiness courses, tutoring and coaching to incarcerated students in juvenile halls in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. Participants can be up to 25, the maximum age for a youth life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Incarceration to College, launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and grounded in cultural affirmation, has served more than 1,000 students across three counties. Last year, the program had 65 students enrolled in college while living at Bay Area juvenile halls, including eight at UC schools. This year, another incarcerated youth became the first to gain direct admission to a four-year California State University program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t see them as people who are felons or have a record and now automatically need to go into the trades,” founder Shani Shay said. “Or now automatically should be looking at a job that doesn’t even align with some of the risks that they are willing to take to get out of poverty.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12001595",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/IMG_0745-1020x765.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That struggle marked Javier’s own childhood. He grew up in a Mexican immigrant household in Hayward with nearly a dozen family members, including his mother, siblings and other relatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was heavily influenced by the gang culture of his uncles and his neighborhood. By 13, he landed in juvenile hall for assault and armed robbery, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People knew what school I went to and who I involved myself with. So I didn’t really want to go to school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 15, he said, he and his friends survived a shooting. Shortly after, in ninth grade, he dropped out. He said he felt dismissed by teachers who routinely sent him to the principal’s office for what he described as small infractions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 17, Javier returned to juvenile hall. There, older friends from the neighborhood who were also incarcerated encouraged him to finish high school. At first, he was discouraged because he had only about a year’s worth of credits, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, damn…I am pretty much nowhere. So that kind of made me feel ashamed,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But surrounded by peers with similar experiences, classes began to feel different, Javier said. He began to feel a sense of belonging and support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055603\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBINCARCERATED-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro on Sept. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I went from being quiet to being the main person answering all the questions on the whiteboard, being the first one to raise his hand,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, Javier graduated from high school and enrolled in online classes at Laney College in Oakland, with support from Incarceration to College. He excelled, lobbied to take a full-time course load and even cross-enrolled in a UC Berkeley class. As a junior, he transferred to Cal full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He shone. He was an A+ student,” said Victoria Robinson, a senior lecturer in ethnic studies at UC Berkeley. “He’s thirsty for education. You can’t give him enough material…to the point where the syllabus wasn’t enough. He just wants to keep learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a transformative move, Robinson flipped the classroom dynamic. Instead of Javier joining remotely, she brought the classroom to him — teaching from inside the juvenile hall while students tuned in via Zoom. Some students also went to Javier’s facility to attend class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-UCBIncarcerated-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shani Shay (right), director of Incarceration to College, works with Laney College student Bryan Minero at the program’s offices on the UC Berkeley campus on Sept. 9, 2025. The initiative supports system-impacted youth in accessing higher education. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It had a profound impact on UC Berkeley students,” Robinson said. At first, they had questions, but ultimately, they fully supported the arrangement. It also buoyed Jaiver, who said he sometimes faced pushback from juvenile hall staff questioning whether he was really receiving a UC Berkeley education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Javier’s trajectory is uncommon, especially given the disparity in college achievement for formerly incarcerated adults. A 2018 study by the Prison Policy Initiative found 4% of formerly incarcerated people held a college degree, compared to 29% of the U.S. population. The report cited barriers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11962706/program-offering-pell-grants-to-incarcerated-people-in-heavy-demand-in-california\">financial aid eligibility\u003c/a> and discriminatory admissions practices. Those who complete a degree beyond high school may face licensing restrictions for certain careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success of students like Javier has already made a cultural shift in Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall, with more students eager to pursue higher education, said Lucia Moritz, executive director of student programs at the Alameda County Office of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Javier] mentors other students,” Moritz said. “There’s been a lot of youth who will say, like, he’s the one who motivated me to step up my work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As graduation nears, Javier wants to attend law school because of his familiarity with the juvenile justice system. He has faced legal limbo for years over whether he should be tried as an adult for a violent crime he is accused of committing when he was a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that uncertainty and the challenges of incarceration, he said education has given him a sanctuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t let these walls trap me in,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12055960/this-uc-berkeley-student-could-be-the-first-to-graduate-while-incarcerated",
"authors": [
"3214"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_18540",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_260",
"news_129",
"news_18538",
"news_20013",
"news_32212",
"news_35130",
"news_17597"
],
"featImg": "news_12055604",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12051263": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12051263",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12051263",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1754604806000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "two-fci-dublin-officers-plead-guilty-to-federal-sex-abuse-charges",
"title": "2 FCI Dublin Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Sex Abuse Charges",
"publishDate": 1754604806,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "2 FCI Dublin Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Sex Abuse Charges | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>Two former correctional officers at a now-shuttered \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12047086/just-a-few-of-the-many-east-bay-prison-abuse-victims-speak-out-after-more-charges\">East Bay women’s prison\u003c/a> pleaded guilty to federal sexual misconduct charges on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are the eighth and ninth employees to be convicted of related crimes at the scandal-plagued \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin\u003c/a>, dubbed the “Rape Club” for the prevalence of abuse, cover-up and retaliation by employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former FCI Dublin employees Jeffrey Wilson and Lawrence Gacad told the court that in 2022, they committed acts of abuse alleged by federal prosecutors earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are among ten former officials — including the former warden — who have been charged with related crimes. Nine have been convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson, 34, who said he worked as a health technician and paramedic, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse and one count of supplying a false statement to federal agents. Shortly after leaving Dublin in August of 2022, he said he told federal officials that he had no sexual conduct with the victim in the complaint and had never given her contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987297 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin, on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wilson admitted to flirting with a woman incarcerated at FCI Dublin and watching her family visits. With his encouragement, he said, she transferred from one wing of the prison to the other, the lower security “camp,” where he said there would be less oversight and “they could have a little fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told the court that in March 2022, when she transferred, he provided her with a cell phone, which he used to communicate with her, and which she used to send him naked photos of herself. Over the next six months, he would bring her into a medical room in the prison, where he touched and kissed her, and where, on multiple occasions, she performed oral sex on him, Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On another occasion, he said, he penetrated her with his fingers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Thursday, Wilson pleaded not guilty to the charges and waived his right to a grand jury indictment.[aside postID=news_12047086 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250530-DublinEmployees-62-BL_qed.jpg']Gacad, 33, a correctional officer, also previously pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual abuse against a woman at the prison during 2022. He changed his plea to guilty on Thursday afternoon as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told the court that beginning in February 2022, he exchanged sexually explicit notes and emails with a woman incarcerated at FCI Dublin and, on multiple occasions, kissed her and touched her buttocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Yvonne Rogers, who has presided over nine of the ten criminal FCI Dublin cases, will sentence Wilson and Gacad in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the culture of abuse at Dublin came to light in 2021, more than 100 women have come forward, including multiple who claim Wilson assaulted them, though their allegations were not included in the complaint filed against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">class action suit\u003c/a> settled with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons awarded those women a total of $116 million, and a second such suit set special protections for the roughly 300 women formerly incarcerated at Dublin who remained in custody at other facilities after it closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A courtroom sketch of former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, right, watching as a witness cries while giving testimony against him on March 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With Wilson and Gacad’s convictions, the fate of just one former FCI Dublin official accused of abuse remains outstanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, who was indicted on charges alleging he assaulted at least five women between 2017 and 2021, will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041857/after-mistrial-in-fci-dublin-abuse-case-new-charges-leave-out-one-of-the-accusers\">begin a new trial in September\u003c/a> after his first ended in a mistrial this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the jury in that case appeared swayed by his attorneys’ argument that he was falsely accused amid the scandal in an effort for the women to receive early release and other incentives, like legal status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s new trial, which will be based on a new superseding indictment that excludes the allegation of one of the five women he was originally tried for abusing, is currently set to begin September 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The former federal corrections officers at the now-shuttered East Bay women's prison accepted plea deals for sexually abusing inmates.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1754605982,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 19,
"wordCount": 714
},
"headData": {
"title": "2 FCI Dublin Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Sex Abuse Charges | KQED",
"description": "The former federal corrections officers at the now-shuttered East Bay women's prison accepted plea deals for sexually abusing inmates.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "2 FCI Dublin Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Sex Abuse Charges",
"datePublished": "2025-08-07T15:13:26-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-08-07T15:33:02-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 8,
"slug": "news",
"name": "News"
},
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12051263",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12051263/two-fci-dublin-officers-plead-guilty-to-federal-sex-abuse-charges",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Two former correctional officers at a now-shuttered \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12047086/just-a-few-of-the-many-east-bay-prison-abuse-victims-speak-out-after-more-charges\">East Bay women’s prison\u003c/a> pleaded guilty to federal sexual misconduct charges on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are the eighth and ninth employees to be convicted of related crimes at the scandal-plagued \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin\u003c/a>, dubbed the “Rape Club” for the prevalence of abuse, cover-up and retaliation by employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former FCI Dublin employees Jeffrey Wilson and Lawrence Gacad told the court that in 2022, they committed acts of abuse alleged by federal prosecutors earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are among ten former officials — including the former warden — who have been charged with related crimes. Nine have been convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson, 34, who said he worked as a health technician and paramedic, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse and one count of supplying a false statement to federal agents. Shortly after leaving Dublin in August of 2022, he said he told federal officials that he had no sexual conduct with the victim in the complaint and had never given her contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987297 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin, on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wilson admitted to flirting with a woman incarcerated at FCI Dublin and watching her family visits. With his encouragement, he said, she transferred from one wing of the prison to the other, the lower security “camp,” where he said there would be less oversight and “they could have a little fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told the court that in March 2022, when she transferred, he provided her with a cell phone, which he used to communicate with her, and which she used to send him naked photos of herself. Over the next six months, he would bring her into a medical room in the prison, where he touched and kissed her, and where, on multiple occasions, she performed oral sex on him, Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On another occasion, he said, he penetrated her with his fingers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Thursday, Wilson pleaded not guilty to the charges and waived his right to a grand jury indictment.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12047086",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250530-DublinEmployees-62-BL_qed.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Gacad, 33, a correctional officer, also previously pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual abuse against a woman at the prison during 2022. He changed his plea to guilty on Thursday afternoon as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told the court that beginning in February 2022, he exchanged sexually explicit notes and emails with a woman incarcerated at FCI Dublin and, on multiple occasions, kissed her and touched her buttocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Yvonne Rogers, who has presided over nine of the ten criminal FCI Dublin cases, will sentence Wilson and Gacad in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the culture of abuse at Dublin came to light in 2021, more than 100 women have come forward, including multiple who claim Wilson assaulted them, though their allegations were not included in the complaint filed against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">class action suit\u003c/a> settled with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons awarded those women a total of $116 million, and a second such suit set special protections for the roughly 300 women formerly incarcerated at Dublin who remained in custody at other facilities after it closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1B-KQED-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A courtroom sketch of former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, right, watching as a witness cries while giving testimony against him on March 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With Wilson and Gacad’s convictions, the fate of just one former FCI Dublin official accused of abuse remains outstanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, who was indicted on charges alleging he assaulted at least five women between 2017 and 2021, will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041857/after-mistrial-in-fci-dublin-abuse-case-new-charges-leave-out-one-of-the-accusers\">begin a new trial in September\u003c/a> after his first ended in a mistrial this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the jury in that case appeared swayed by his attorneys’ argument that he was falsely accused amid the scandal in an effort for the women to receive early release and other incentives, like legal status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s new trial, which will be based on a new superseding indictment that excludes the allegation of one of the five women he was originally tried for abusing, is currently set to begin September 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12051263/two-fci-dublin-officers-plead-guilty-to-federal-sex-abuse-charges",
"authors": [
"11913"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_34167",
"news_6188",
"news_28250",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_17725",
"news_33723",
"news_27626",
"news_33888",
"news_32212",
"news_28654",
"news_1305",
"news_4435",
"news_1527",
"news_2838",
"news_32043"
],
"featImg": "news_12051266",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12049979": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12049979",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12049979",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1753797634000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "at-this-bay-area-nonprofit-restorative-justice-starts-with-design",
"title": "At This Bay Area Nonprofit, Restorative Justice Starts With Design",
"publishDate": 1753797634,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "At This Bay Area Nonprofit, Restorative Justice Starts With Design | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>Inside a new space completely designed for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/restorative-justice\">restorative justice\u003c/a>, no detail is too small. Even the chairs matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The contrast of furniture in incarceration settings is that it’s bolted down. The environment itself speaks to we don’t trust you,” said Garrett Jacobs, director of research and evaluation for Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, the architecture firm that designed the new home for Community Works, a nonprofit that provides alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This space, which officially opened Tuesday in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, is bright and airy, with walls covered in wood paneling, soothing colors, and art, and yes, the furniture is movable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It immediately has undertones of trust and empowerment,” Jacobs said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrienne Hogg, co-executive director of Community Works, said after nearly 30 years of working almost exclusively out of county jail facilities, the organization secured a 10-year lease on the 6,000-square-foot site, where it plans to house programs, including support for survivors of domestic violence, diversion programs for youth and young adults, and reentry programs for people exiting incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a mezzanine level in the new space, past colorfully decorated kites, a group of teenagers took a break, playing a round of guess-the-celebrity. They’re part of a Community Works’ Project WHAT!, a youth leadership program for 12 to 18-year-olds who have a parent who is or was incarcerated or deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">JC Foster, youth advocate and active member of Project W.H.A.T., poses for a portrait at Community Works in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>JC Foster, a 20-year-old peer mentor with the program, said the kids are blowing off steam after a particularly “grueling” writing activity, where they wrote a letter to their incarcerated or deported parent, or a letter they wish they had gotten from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s really opened my eyes to the problems that a lot of people face in our communities, especially how certain people are targeted for incarceration,” said Foster, who joined the program when he was 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Foster said he’s been able to draw on his experience in Project WHAT! to advise other programs that work with children with incarcerated parents on best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel as though it’s changing the world a bit by bit at a time,” he added.[aside postID=news_12049605 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/240202-FixitClinic-KSM-07_qed.jpg']Community Works’ practice of restorative justice — which focuses on addressing the root causes of crimes, healing those affected by crimes, and making those who commit crimes understand the impacts and root causes of their actions — has had success in reducing recidivism rates among its participants. A 2022 study found that a program run by Community Works and another restorative justice nonprofit for youth ages 13 to 17 facing serious felony charges resulted in a 44% reduction in recidivism — compared to a control group who were prosecuted in the traditional juvenile justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s not kumbaya, it’s not ‘Let’s hold hands and hand you a get out of jail free card.’ It’s really difficult work that most people spend their whole lives trying to avoid having to do,” said Lara Bazelon, a professor of law at the University of San Francisco and director of its racial justice clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the nonprofit is excited about the potential of its new brick-and-mortar, Hogg acknowledges that it faces political headwinds at the local and federal levels. She said the recall of both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916212/chesa-boudin-recall-sf-voters-on-track-to-oust-district-attorney\">San Francisco’s\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013442/alameda-county-voters-recall-district-attorney-pamela-price\">Alameda County’s\u003c/a> progressive district attorneys in recent years has meant the nonprofit is getting fewer referrals for its programs, and less funding due to cuts to federal grants by the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An art installation titled “Under the Same Sky” decorates a wall at Community Works in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That means we start to pull back on services that are supporting the very people that now we want to police against,” Hogg said. “Because what we’re doing is making kids accountable for themselves, their families and their community. So the narrative that is now out there about ‘tough on crime’ is actually doing the opposite of what folks say they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, California has put more effort into rehabilitating incarcerated people. In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943855/were-turning-a-new-page-infamous-san-quentin-prison-to-be-transformed-into-rehabilitation-center\"> redesignated San Quentin\u003c/a>, the state’s oldest prison, as a rehabilitation facility, and later that year, the state closed its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942669/as-california-shutters-last-remaining-juvenile-lockups-counties-raise-concerns-about-preparedness-and-funding\">juvenile justice detention centers\u003c/a>, opting for more local control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bazelon said Community Works’ new space is a hopeful sign that there is still interest and funding in alternatives to traditional criminal justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s very important to not just consider, but really embrace and build up and study these alternatives, if for no other reason than we know that the current system that we have doesn’t work the way that it is designed,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "After decades of work in the Bay Area, the nonprofit Community Works opens its first brick-and-mortar space in San Francisco focused on restorative justice work. ",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1753811606,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 18,
"wordCount": 893
},
"headData": {
"title": "At This Bay Area Nonprofit, Restorative Justice Starts With Design | KQED",
"description": "After decades of work in the Bay Area, the nonprofit Community Works opens its first brick-and-mortar space in San Francisco focused on restorative justice work. ",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "At This Bay Area Nonprofit, Restorative Justice Starts With Design",
"datePublished": "2025-07-29T07:00:34-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-07-29T10:53:26-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 8,
"slug": "news",
"name": "News"
},
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/970329e8-bb89-4a2d-855f-b3290118ec86/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12049979",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12049979/at-this-bay-area-nonprofit-restorative-justice-starts-with-design",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Inside a new space completely designed for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/restorative-justice\">restorative justice\u003c/a>, no detail is too small. Even the chairs matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The contrast of furniture in incarceration settings is that it’s bolted down. The environment itself speaks to we don’t trust you,” said Garrett Jacobs, director of research and evaluation for Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, the architecture firm that designed the new home for Community Works, a nonprofit that provides alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This space, which officially opened Tuesday in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, is bright and airy, with walls covered in wood paneling, soothing colors, and art, and yes, the furniture is movable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It immediately has undertones of trust and empowerment,” Jacobs said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrienne Hogg, co-executive director of Community Works, said after nearly 30 years of working almost exclusively out of county jail facilities, the organization secured a 10-year lease on the 6,000-square-foot site, where it plans to house programs, including support for survivors of domestic violence, diversion programs for youth and young adults, and reentry programs for people exiting incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a mezzanine level in the new space, past colorfully decorated kites, a group of teenagers took a break, playing a round of guess-the-celebrity. They’re part of a Community Works’ Project WHAT!, a youth leadership program for 12 to 18-year-olds who have a parent who is or was incarcerated or deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00310_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">JC Foster, youth advocate and active member of Project W.H.A.T., poses for a portrait at Community Works in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>JC Foster, a 20-year-old peer mentor with the program, said the kids are blowing off steam after a particularly “grueling” writing activity, where they wrote a letter to their incarcerated or deported parent, or a letter they wish they had gotten from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s really opened my eyes to the problems that a lot of people face in our communities, especially how certain people are targeted for incarceration,” said Foster, who joined the program when he was 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Foster said he’s been able to draw on his experience in Project WHAT! to advise other programs that work with children with incarcerated parents on best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel as though it’s changing the world a bit by bit at a time,” he added.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12049605",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/240202-FixitClinic-KSM-07_qed.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Community Works’ practice of restorative justice — which focuses on addressing the root causes of crimes, healing those affected by crimes, and making those who commit crimes understand the impacts and root causes of their actions — has had success in reducing recidivism rates among its participants. A 2022 study found that a program run by Community Works and another restorative justice nonprofit for youth ages 13 to 17 facing serious felony charges resulted in a 44% reduction in recidivism — compared to a control group who were prosecuted in the traditional juvenile justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s not kumbaya, it’s not ‘Let’s hold hands and hand you a get out of jail free card.’ It’s really difficult work that most people spend their whole lives trying to avoid having to do,” said Lara Bazelon, a professor of law at the University of San Francisco and director of its racial justice clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the nonprofit is excited about the potential of its new brick-and-mortar, Hogg acknowledges that it faces political headwinds at the local and federal levels. She said the recall of both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916212/chesa-boudin-recall-sf-voters-on-track-to-oust-district-attorney\">San Francisco’s\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013442/alameda-county-voters-recall-district-attorney-pamela-price\">Alameda County’s\u003c/a> progressive district attorneys in recent years has meant the nonprofit is getting fewer referrals for its programs, and less funding due to cuts to federal grants by the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250722-COMMUNITYWORKS_00131_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An art installation titled “Under the Same Sky” decorates a wall at Community Works in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That means we start to pull back on services that are supporting the very people that now we want to police against,” Hogg said. “Because what we’re doing is making kids accountable for themselves, their families and their community. So the narrative that is now out there about ‘tough on crime’ is actually doing the opposite of what folks say they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, California has put more effort into rehabilitating incarcerated people. In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943855/were-turning-a-new-page-infamous-san-quentin-prison-to-be-transformed-into-rehabilitation-center\"> redesignated San Quentin\u003c/a>, the state’s oldest prison, as a rehabilitation facility, and later that year, the state closed its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942669/as-california-shutters-last-remaining-juvenile-lockups-counties-raise-concerns-about-preparedness-and-funding\">juvenile justice detention centers\u003c/a>, opting for more local control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bazelon said Community Works’ new space is a hopeful sign that there is still interest and funding in alternatives to traditional criminal justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s very important to not just consider, but really embrace and build up and study these alternatives, if for no other reason than we know that the current system that we have doesn’t work the way that it is designed,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12049979/at-this-bay-area-nonprofit-restorative-justice-starts-with-design",
"authors": [
"11785"
],
"categories": [
"news_28250",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_22960",
"news_17759",
"news_27626",
"news_32212",
"news_3424",
"news_18365",
"news_38",
"news_30212"
],
"featImg": "news_12049780",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12035958": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12035958",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12035958",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1744676342000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "mistrial-declared-fci-dublin-sex-abuse-case-jury-deadlocks-all-charges",
"title": "Mistrial Declared in FCI Dublin Sex Abuse Case After Jury Deadlocks on All Charges",
"publishDate": 1744676342,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Mistrial Declared in FCI Dublin Sex Abuse Case After Jury Deadlocks on All Charges | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>The jury deciding the fate of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, the final former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> official \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">charged with sexual misconduct\u003c/a> at the East Bay federal women’s prison, was unable to reach a unanimous decision on Monday, leading the judge to declare a mistrial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith, who was a counselor and later correctional officer at FCI Dublin, was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032044/in-court-women-detail-abuse-east-bay-federal-prison-officer\">charged with 15 counts of sexual misconduct\u003c/a> against five incarcerated women who were under his watch between 2017 and 2021. The most serious charge, aggravated sexual assault, carried up to a life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After nearly six days of deliberation at a federal courthouse in Oakland, the jury returned deadlocked Monday afternoon, unable to reach a decision on any of the counts against Smith. A new trial date has been set for Sept. 15, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was among eight officials charged after a sprawling FBI probe into a culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-up at the prison, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">shuttered last year\u003c/a>. The other seven, including former warden Ray Garcia and staff chaplain James Theodore Highhouse, have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women who accused Smith of abuse began to come forward with stories of being threatened, groped and even ordered to have sex with him in 2022, after Garcia was walked off the grounds and reports against other officers began to come to light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979627\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">FCI Dublin Women’s Prison in Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During his weekslong trial, Smith’s accusers and another half-dozen women who were formerly incarcerated at Dublin recounted to the jury the abuse they say he perpetrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant’s abuse broke me, it finished me,” testified one of the women, who said Smith abused her in the laundry room and supply closet of the housing unit she lived in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The damage he cost me is more painful than anything, and I don’t think I can recover from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the defense made a case for Smith’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033203/defense-casts-victims-as-manipulative-in-east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-with-more-ahead\">own victimization\u003c/a> by FCI Dublin — painting him as a low-level guard who was taken advantage of by women who spun rumors that hurt his reputation and later capitalized on them to frame him as an abuser.[aside postID=news_12032044 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1A-KQED-1020x574.jpg']“Inmates had the ability to report him … and when it suited them, they did,” defense attorney Naomi Chung said during her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034726/sex-abuse-case-could-put-former-fci-dublin-guard-prison-life-goes-jury\">closing argument\u003c/a> last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that he was falsely accused of an inappropriate relationship with a woman when he was a correctional counselor — which the woman testified to during trial — and given the nickname “Dirty Dick” over a “petty comment” he made about another woman’s hair. The prosecution had painted the nickname as a testament to his flirty and unprofessional nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reports came after Warden Garcia was walked off the compound, and it became clear that benefits were on the table,” Chung said, referring to the fact that some of his accusers were granted compassionate release because of the allegations of abuse. “That’s when one by one the accusations against ‘Dirty Dick’ started coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This wasn’t a case of ultimate control, it was ultimate convenience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four of Smith’s accusers have already received payouts as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">civil suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons\u003c/a> that was settled in December. The $116 million agreement, divided among more than 100 victims of officials at Dublin, was the largest ever awarded to sexual assault survivors in U.S. prison history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A class-action suit, filed on behalf of hundreds of incarcerated women, was also settled in February when a judge awarded additional protections and a formal acknowledgment of the damage caused by the Bureau of Prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Jurors could not reach a verdict in the federal trial against Darrell Wayne Smith, a former FCI Dublin officer accused of sexually abusing five incarcerated women.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1744679643,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 16,
"wordCount": 668
},
"headData": {
"title": "Mistrial Declared in FCI Dublin Sex Abuse Case After Jury Deadlocks on All Charges | KQED",
"description": "Jurors could not reach a verdict in the federal trial against Darrell Wayne Smith, a former FCI Dublin officer accused of sexually abusing five incarcerated women.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "Mistrial Declared in FCI Dublin Sex Abuse Case After Jury Deadlocks on All Charges",
"datePublished": "2025-04-14T17:19:02-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-04-14T18:14:03-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"WpOldSlug": "mistrial-declared-fci-dubin-sex-abuse-case-jury-deadlocks-all-charges",
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12035958",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12035958/mistrial-declared-fci-dublin-sex-abuse-case-jury-deadlocks-all-charges",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The jury deciding the fate of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, the final former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> official \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">charged with sexual misconduct\u003c/a> at the East Bay federal women’s prison, was unable to reach a unanimous decision on Monday, leading the judge to declare a mistrial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith, who was a counselor and later correctional officer at FCI Dublin, was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032044/in-court-women-detail-abuse-east-bay-federal-prison-officer\">charged with 15 counts of sexual misconduct\u003c/a> against five incarcerated women who were under his watch between 2017 and 2021. The most serious charge, aggravated sexual assault, carried up to a life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After nearly six days of deliberation at a federal courthouse in Oakland, the jury returned deadlocked Monday afternoon, unable to reach a decision on any of the counts against Smith. A new trial date has been set for Sept. 15, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was among eight officials charged after a sprawling FBI probe into a culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-up at the prison, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">shuttered last year\u003c/a>. The other seven, including former warden Ray Garcia and staff chaplain James Theodore Highhouse, have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women who accused Smith of abuse began to come forward with stories of being threatened, groped and even ordered to have sex with him in 2022, after Garcia was walked off the grounds and reports against other officers began to come to light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979627\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/230816-FCI-DUBLIN-WOMENS-PRISON-MD-02_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">FCI Dublin Women’s Prison in Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During his weekslong trial, Smith’s accusers and another half-dozen women who were formerly incarcerated at Dublin recounted to the jury the abuse they say he perpetrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant’s abuse broke me, it finished me,” testified one of the women, who said Smith abused her in the laundry room and supply closet of the housing unit she lived in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The damage he cost me is more painful than anything, and I don’t think I can recover from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the defense made a case for Smith’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033203/defense-casts-victims-as-manipulative-in-east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-with-more-ahead\">own victimization\u003c/a> by FCI Dublin — painting him as a low-level guard who was taken advantage of by women who spun rumors that hurt his reputation and later capitalized on them to frame him as an abuser.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12032044",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1A-KQED-1020x574.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Inmates had the ability to report him … and when it suited them, they did,” defense attorney Naomi Chung said during her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034726/sex-abuse-case-could-put-former-fci-dublin-guard-prison-life-goes-jury\">closing argument\u003c/a> last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that he was falsely accused of an inappropriate relationship with a woman when he was a correctional counselor — which the woman testified to during trial — and given the nickname “Dirty Dick” over a “petty comment” he made about another woman’s hair. The prosecution had painted the nickname as a testament to his flirty and unprofessional nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reports came after Warden Garcia was walked off the compound, and it became clear that benefits were on the table,” Chung said, referring to the fact that some of his accusers were granted compassionate release because of the allegations of abuse. “That’s when one by one the accusations against ‘Dirty Dick’ started coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This wasn’t a case of ultimate control, it was ultimate convenience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four of Smith’s accusers have already received payouts as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">civil suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons\u003c/a> that was settled in December. The $116 million agreement, divided among more than 100 victims of officials at Dublin, was the largest ever awarded to sexual assault survivors in U.S. prison history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A class-action suit, filed on behalf of hundreds of incarcerated women, was also settled in February when a judge awarded additional protections and a formal acknowledgment of the damage caused by the Bureau of Prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12035958/mistrial-declared-fci-dublin-sex-abuse-case-jury-deadlocks-all-charges",
"authors": [
"11913"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_34167",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_18538",
"news_17725",
"news_33723",
"news_27626",
"news_33888",
"news_32212",
"news_19954",
"news_1305",
"news_4435",
"news_1527",
"news_2838",
"news_32043"
],
"featImg": "news_12031934",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12034726": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12034726",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12034726",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1744068500000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "sex-abuse-case-could-put-former-fci-dublin-guard-prison-life-goes-jury",
"title": "Sex Abuse Case That Could Put Former FCI Dublin Guard in Prison for Life Goes to Jury",
"publishDate": 1744068500,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Sex Abuse Case That Could Put Former FCI Dublin Guard in Prison for Life Goes to Jury | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>The fate of former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith is now in the hands of a jury, who will have to decide whether he is guilty of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control\">sexual abuse\u003c/a> or another “victim” of the prison, as suggested by his defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His case will bring to a close the criminal proceedings stemming from a sprawling investigation into a culture of sexual abuse, cover-up and retaliation at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">now-shuttered East Bay federal prison\u003c/a>, as he is the final former official to face trial. Seven others, including the warden, have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is charged with 15 counts related to the sexual abuse of five women formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin between 2017 and 2021. During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutors described him as “untouchable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant abused all of these women with impunity,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Paulson said. “He thought that his power, threats and intimidation would insulate him — his buddies would insulate him. Indeed, that’s what the defense is hoping will insulate him today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant wants you to view these women like he did: as objects … as felons … especially because some of them have immigration issues and have filed lawsuits [against him and the prison].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is accused of touching the women’s buttocks and vaginas, forcing them to show their breasts and ordering one woman to have sex with him — allegations uncovered by the FBI probe that ensnared several other prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031941\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1404\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-800x562.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1020x716.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1920x1348.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A courtroom sketch shows former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, right, listening as a witness testifies in federal court in Oakland on March 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, Smith’s defense argued that his case is different, calling him an outlier among those who were charged. Defense attorney Naomi Chung told the jury that the trial lacked context of Smith’s own mistreatment at Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung said that Smith’s time working at Dublin became a “nightmare” after rumors began swirling about an alleged inappropriate relationship between him and a woman incarcerated at the prison in 2016. At the time, he was a correctional counselor, but amid an investigation into the alleged relationship — which the woman testified was untrue — he was demoted from a counselor to a guard, bringing a downgrade in pay and status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung alleged that Smith was hated by then-Warden Ray Garcia and other management staff since he was a “thorn in their side,” picketing for FCI Dublin’s union and standing up for workers’ rights. The investigation into Smith spanned six years, and he was ultimately given a six-day suspension in May 2021 for the “appearance of an inappropriate relationship.”[aside postID=news_12032044 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1A-KQED-1020x574.jpg']She said that the prosecution’s argument that Smith was powerful had “cracks” in it that “are not small. They’re big enough to drive reasonable doubt right through this entire case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung said it “goes against common sense” to assume Smith would be “brazenly” assaulting women during periods of intense scrutiny — especially when management had access to real-time camera feeds in the housing units. It makes more sense, she argued, that after Garcia was walked off the prison grounds over the abuse allegations — and a special task force came to Dublin as more officials faced similar allegations — “Smith became a scapegoat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rumors [about Smith’s demotion] had spread like wildfire throughout the whole prison … and his nickname [“Dirty Dick,” according to testimony] … became a weapon,” she told jurors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assistant U.S. Attorney Sailaja Paidipaty pushed back, asking: “What was [Smith] so paranoid after that big six-year investigation? A six-day suspension?” That was not the punishment of a management that hated Smith and was set on retaliating against him, she told the jury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The defense also sought to cast doubt on the women who testified that they had been abused by Smith, citing discrepancies in the indictment and their testimony and pointing to the fact that many women had the same lawyers and brought forward allegations around the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The timing matters,” Chung said. “None of the accusers came forward until Dublin was in scandal. Because what happens when you put a group of people in a desperate situation and then show them a golden ticket? A ticket that gets you closer to home, a payout, even released. The answer is obvious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, Paidipaty countered that in the years between interviews with lawyers and re-telling their stories, it is not uncommon for victims to forget or become more blurry on some details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That doesn’t mean they’re liars,” she said. “That means they are trying as hard as they can to remember and give accurate information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberations, both the defense and the prosecution asked them to consider the context surrounding this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Context does matter, and the context here is a prison,” Paidipaty said. “They want you to believe that the inmates had the power. The people in the cells. Who had the keys?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury is set to begin deliberations on Tuesday and could return a verdict this week. If convicted, Smith could face up to a life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Darrell Wayne Smith is charged with 15 counts related to the sexual abuse of five women at the former East Bay federal prison. The jury will begin deliberating Tuesday.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1744071759,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 21,
"wordCount": 964
},
"headData": {
"title": "Sex Abuse Case That Could Put Former FCI Dublin Guard in Prison for Life Goes to Jury | KQED",
"description": "Darrell Wayne Smith is charged with 15 counts related to the sexual abuse of five women at the former East Bay federal prison. The jury will begin deliberating Tuesday.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "Sex Abuse Case That Could Put Former FCI Dublin Guard in Prison for Life Goes to Jury",
"datePublished": "2025-04-07T16:28:20-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-04-07T17:22:39-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12034726",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12034726/sex-abuse-case-could-put-former-fci-dublin-guard-prison-life-goes-jury",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The fate of former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith is now in the hands of a jury, who will have to decide whether he is guilty of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control\">sexual abuse\u003c/a> or another “victim” of the prison, as suggested by his defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His case will bring to a close the criminal proceedings stemming from a sprawling investigation into a culture of sexual abuse, cover-up and retaliation at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">now-shuttered East Bay federal prison\u003c/a>, as he is the final former official to face trial. Seven others, including the warden, have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is charged with 15 counts related to the sexual abuse of five women formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin between 2017 and 2021. During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutors described him as “untouchable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant abused all of these women with impunity,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Paulson said. “He thought that his power, threats and intimidation would insulate him — his buddies would insulate him. Indeed, that’s what the defense is hoping will insulate him today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendant wants you to view these women like he did: as objects … as felons … especially because some of them have immigration issues and have filed lawsuits [against him and the prison].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is accused of touching the women’s buttocks and vaginas, forcing them to show their breasts and ordering one woman to have sex with him — allegations uncovered by the FBI probe that ensnared several other prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031941\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1404\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-800x562.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1020x716.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-3-KQED-1-1920x1348.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A courtroom sketch shows former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, right, listening as a witness testifies in federal court in Oakland on March 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, Smith’s defense argued that his case is different, calling him an outlier among those who were charged. Defense attorney Naomi Chung told the jury that the trial lacked context of Smith’s own mistreatment at Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung said that Smith’s time working at Dublin became a “nightmare” after rumors began swirling about an alleged inappropriate relationship between him and a woman incarcerated at the prison in 2016. At the time, he was a correctional counselor, but amid an investigation into the alleged relationship — which the woman testified was untrue — he was demoted from a counselor to a guard, bringing a downgrade in pay and status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung alleged that Smith was hated by then-Warden Ray Garcia and other management staff since he was a “thorn in their side,” picketing for FCI Dublin’s union and standing up for workers’ rights. The investigation into Smith spanned six years, and he was ultimately given a six-day suspension in May 2021 for the “appearance of an inappropriate relationship.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12032044",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250318-FCI-DUBLIN-VB-1A-KQED-1020x574.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She said that the prosecution’s argument that Smith was powerful had “cracks” in it that “are not small. They’re big enough to drive reasonable doubt right through this entire case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung said it “goes against common sense” to assume Smith would be “brazenly” assaulting women during periods of intense scrutiny — especially when management had access to real-time camera feeds in the housing units. It makes more sense, she argued, that after Garcia was walked off the prison grounds over the abuse allegations — and a special task force came to Dublin as more officials faced similar allegations — “Smith became a scapegoat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rumors [about Smith’s demotion] had spread like wildfire throughout the whole prison … and his nickname [“Dirty Dick,” according to testimony] … became a weapon,” she told jurors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assistant U.S. Attorney Sailaja Paidipaty pushed back, asking: “What was [Smith] so paranoid after that big six-year investigation? A six-day suspension?” That was not the punishment of a management that hated Smith and was set on retaliating against him, she told the jury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The defense also sought to cast doubt on the women who testified that they had been abused by Smith, citing discrepancies in the indictment and their testimony and pointing to the fact that many women had the same lawyers and brought forward allegations around the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The timing matters,” Chung said. “None of the accusers came forward until Dublin was in scandal. Because what happens when you put a group of people in a desperate situation and then show them a golden ticket? A ticket that gets you closer to home, a payout, even released. The answer is obvious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, Paidipaty countered that in the years between interviews with lawyers and re-telling their stories, it is not uncommon for victims to forget or become more blurry on some details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That doesn’t mean they’re liars,” she said. “That means they are trying as hard as they can to remember and give accurate information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberations, both the defense and the prosecution asked them to consider the context surrounding this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Context does matter, and the context here is a prison,” Paidipaty said. “They want you to believe that the inmates had the power. The people in the cells. Who had the keys?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury is set to begin deliberations on Tuesday and could return a verdict this week. If convicted, Smith could face up to a life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12034726/sex-abuse-case-could-put-former-fci-dublin-guard-prison-life-goes-jury",
"authors": [
"11913"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_34167",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_616",
"news_17725",
"news_3543",
"news_18352",
"news_33723",
"news_33888",
"news_32212",
"news_19954",
"news_4435",
"news_2700",
"news_1527",
"news_2838",
"news_32043"
],
"featImg": "news_12031940",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12034513": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12034513",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12034513",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1744034454000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "past-lives-fade-san-francisco-tattoo-removal-clinic",
"title": "Past Lives Fade at This San Francisco Tattoo Removal Clinic",
"publishDate": 1744034454,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Past Lives Fade at This San Francisco Tattoo Removal Clinic | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>The fluorescent lighting inside a hospital can be unforgiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freddie Gutierrez settles into a waiting room at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-general-hospital\">Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital\u003c/a>, wearing sleek, designer shades like the kind celebrities wear to avoid the public eye. Soon, he’ll swap his sunglasses for protective, medical-grade eyewear — still cool, but with more of a sci-fi edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiterrez, 33, has kind, dark eyes. They could inspire pop songs. Etched between his ear and right eye is a small tattoo of an upside-down pitchfork. Above his left eye, he has a second tattoo of a crown, about an inch long. The designs refer to his past gang life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How’s school?” asked nurse Judy Wong as she prepared him for the exam room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a while since I’ve done a timed math test,” said Guiterrez, who is studying computer science at City College of San Francisco. “Sometimes, it’s eating up my life. When I’m done getting my bachelor’s, I’m gonna have gray hairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiterrez braces for a painful procedure. Since September, he’s been undergoing laser treatment to remove his tattoos. The face is an especially sensitive area. He described the pain as similar to a rubber band snapping against the skin repeatedly, but he thinks the sessions, which last a few minutes, are worth the discomfort — a decision he made to start fresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030039\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030039\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freddie Gutierrez says goodbye to clinicians after a session at the tattoo removal clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>April is Second Chance Month, which highlights the experiences of millions of Americans who are formerly incarcerated and the stigma they face for having a criminal record. As spring kicks off, patients like Gutierrez are grateful for SF General’s tattoo removal clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opened in 2009, the clinic, a partnership with UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, serves low-income people who have tattoos linked to incarceration, trafficking or gang affiliations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only the physical removal of tattoos is rewarding, but also just seeing people as they are in their journey of recovery — being a part of that and being a consistent face in that is really special,” said Dr. Matthew Pantell, who runs the clinic and is a researcher at UCSF on the social factors of health care.[aside postID=news_12034006 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250327_SoberHousing_GC-9-1020x680.jpg']Pantell took over the clinic from its founder, Dr. Pierre Joseph Marie-Rose. In 1998, he launched a similar effort, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/location--carecen-2nd-chance-tattoo-removal-clinic\">Second Chance,\u003c/a> for gang-affiliated youth in San Francisco (it’s still located at the Central American Resource Center on Mission and Cesar Chavez streets). While working at SF General Hospital, he applied for a grant to start a tattoo removal program at the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a thermal injury. I was humbled that [patients] would come back and ask me to do it again,” Marie-Rose said. “I’ve never taken that for granted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When patients enter the laser room, lo-fi hip-hop music plays. Wearing a baseball cap, jeans and fresh kicks, Pantell arms a long glass cylinder, which resembles a thin highball cocktail glass, at the tattoos. Over the music, it’s hard to hear anything noticeable as patients brace for the pain. The procedure can last anywhere from a few minutes to a half-hour, depending on the tattoo size, complexity and location on the body, according to Pantell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other factors, such as ink color — red and green can be stubborn — and quality, can play a role, Pantell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t want to do two lasers in the same day, so we’ll do the black ink first and then come back every six weeks till it’s gone,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030036 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF Dr. Matthew Pantell uses a laser tattoo removal machine during a session with Nikki at the clinic he runs at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since patients are required to return every six to eight weeks for treatment, the hospital setting helps connect patients with other health care services, according to Pantell. He pointed out that patients are linked to their primary care physician and other social needs, like housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For patients like Guiterrez, the tattoo removal visits are often the most consistent contact with the medical system that they have had. He said he has been “in and out of the [criminal justice] system” since he was a kid growing up in Santa Barbara. Last July, he was released from state prison after serving a nearly 13-year sentence for charges related to carjacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought about what I want to do for myself and being a two striker, meaning that if I catch another strike that will give me a 25-to-life sentence. So that makes me really think about every decision I make,” said Gutierrez, who said he sought self-help groups in prison and got support from Criminals & Gang Members Anonymous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said a contact affiliated with Jails to Jobs, a Bay Area-based nonprofit that supports re-entry to the workforce for formerly incarcerated people, referred him to the clinic. Jails to Jobs estimates there are around 300 similar tattoo removal clinics in the U.S. Just under half of them are located in California which, in recent years, has seen an increase in access to these services — inside prisons through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, at university health systems like UC San Diego and in cities, like Santa Rosa, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.srcity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2829\">launched\u003c/a> a similar effort this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People typically seek tattoo removal to improve job prospects, but there’s also the societal stigma that can be as difficult to shed, said Mark Drevno, founder and executive director of Jails to Jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030034\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030034\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Navarro ices her tattoo to ease the pain before a session at the tattoo removal clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Simple things like traveling on the bus. I’ve had people tell me how they hide their hands on the bus because they don’t want anybody to see their hands,” he said. “Besides the practical stuff, there is inner work going on. They’re touching their soul when they’re removing these tattoos.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the wider acceptance of tattoos in modern American society, their associations with prison life, gangs and violence persist. Recently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5341544/ice-el-salvador-jerce-reyes-barrios\">reportedly\u003c/a> cited a tattoo of a Spanish soccer team as evidence for one of the 238 Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. to El Salvador over their alleged allegiance to the Tren de Aragua gang, which has become a target of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers with UC San Diego, where a free removal clinic was established in 2016, have studied motivations for tattoo removal among “justice-involved adults.” Their \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306624X221102807\">2023 study\u003c/a>, published in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, found that over half of the participants cited reasons associated with “public or interpersonal stigma,” which included better perceptions among friends and family. The study also found that more than 80% of participants said they felt they had been discriminated against because of their tattoos.[aside postID=news_12026600 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250214-Dream-Keeper-Returns-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Part of the appeal of clinics like the one at SF General is that there’s no cost to patients. The UC San Diego research cites cost as a significant barrier. Treatments at private establishments can cost thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pantell estimates around a dozen patients visit the weekly clinic at SF General. Ana Navarro has a rose design on her right ankle. It’s hard to see it as the treatment appears to be working. She said she has had it since she was a teenager and has been trying to get it removed for almost a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was young, not in the right relationships,” Navarro, 32, said. “So, being able to remove them, it feels like I’ve been an opportunity to clear the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a while, Shannon Whiley, 53, has been trying to get two tattooed dots removed — marks that were placed as part of her breast cancer treatment. The dots, about the size of a freckle, help doctors accurately position patients during radiation therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nikki, a sexual violence survivor, has an arm sleeve filled with interwoven hearts and flowers. She described it as a “bad cover-up” in an effort to hide associations to her past life trafficked as a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of it was from some backyard tattoo artist who had no business really doing tattoos on a minor,” recalled Nikki, whose request to go by a nickname because of the stigma of sexual violence was granted under KQED’s anonymous sources policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been coming to the clinic since September and has started to notice her tattoos begin to fade. She has a long way to go until they’re erased, but she’s used to hard work paying off. She said she’s in nursing school, following in her mom’s footsteps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I leave the clinic, I’m like, ‘God bless this doctor,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The tattoo removal clinic, run by a UCSF doctor at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, forges deep bonds with patients who are trying to mend old wounds.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1744042111,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 30,
"wordCount": 1642
},
"headData": {
"title": "Past Lives Fade at This San Francisco Tattoo Removal Clinic | KQED",
"description": "The tattoo removal clinic, run by a UCSF doctor at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, forges deep bonds with patients who are trying to mend old wounds.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "Past Lives Fade at This San Francisco Tattoo Removal Clinic",
"datePublished": "2025-04-07T07:00:54-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-04-07T09:08:31-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-4[…]f-aaef00f5a073/febc24ce-6670-41f7-bc8d-b2b80106616a/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12034513",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12034513/past-lives-fade-san-francisco-tattoo-removal-clinic",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The fluorescent lighting inside a hospital can be unforgiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freddie Gutierrez settles into a waiting room at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-general-hospital\">Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital\u003c/a>, wearing sleek, designer shades like the kind celebrities wear to avoid the public eye. Soon, he’ll swap his sunglasses for protective, medical-grade eyewear — still cool, but with more of a sci-fi edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiterrez, 33, has kind, dark eyes. They could inspire pop songs. Etched between his ear and right eye is a small tattoo of an upside-down pitchfork. Above his left eye, he has a second tattoo of a crown, about an inch long. The designs refer to his past gang life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How’s school?” asked nurse Judy Wong as she prepared him for the exam room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a while since I’ve done a timed math test,” said Guiterrez, who is studying computer science at City College of San Francisco. “Sometimes, it’s eating up my life. When I’m done getting my bachelor’s, I’m gonna have gray hairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guiterrez braces for a painful procedure. Since September, he’s been undergoing laser treatment to remove his tattoos. The face is an especially sensitive area. He described the pain as similar to a rubber band snapping against the skin repeatedly, but he thinks the sessions, which last a few minutes, are worth the discomfort — a decision he made to start fresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030039\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030039\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freddie Gutierrez says goodbye to clinicians after a session at the tattoo removal clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>April is Second Chance Month, which highlights the experiences of millions of Americans who are formerly incarcerated and the stigma they face for having a criminal record. As spring kicks off, patients like Gutierrez are grateful for SF General’s tattoo removal clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opened in 2009, the clinic, a partnership with UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, serves low-income people who have tattoos linked to incarceration, trafficking or gang affiliations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only the physical removal of tattoos is rewarding, but also just seeing people as they are in their journey of recovery — being a part of that and being a consistent face in that is really special,” said Dr. Matthew Pantell, who runs the clinic and is a researcher at UCSF on the social factors of health care.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12034006",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250327_SoberHousing_GC-9-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Pantell took over the clinic from its founder, Dr. Pierre Joseph Marie-Rose. In 1998, he launched a similar effort, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/location--carecen-2nd-chance-tattoo-removal-clinic\">Second Chance,\u003c/a> for gang-affiliated youth in San Francisco (it’s still located at the Central American Resource Center on Mission and Cesar Chavez streets). While working at SF General Hospital, he applied for a grant to start a tattoo removal program at the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a thermal injury. I was humbled that [patients] would come back and ask me to do it again,” Marie-Rose said. “I’ve never taken that for granted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When patients enter the laser room, lo-fi hip-hop music plays. Wearing a baseball cap, jeans and fresh kicks, Pantell arms a long glass cylinder, which resembles a thin highball cocktail glass, at the tattoos. Over the music, it’s hard to hear anything noticeable as patients brace for the pain. The procedure can last anywhere from a few minutes to a half-hour, depending on the tattoo size, complexity and location on the body, according to Pantell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other factors, such as ink color — red and green can be stubborn — and quality, can play a role, Pantell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t want to do two lasers in the same day, so we’ll do the black ink first and then come back every six weeks till it’s gone,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030036 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-12-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF Dr. Matthew Pantell uses a laser tattoo removal machine during a session with Nikki at the clinic he runs at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since patients are required to return every six to eight weeks for treatment, the hospital setting helps connect patients with other health care services, according to Pantell. He pointed out that patients are linked to their primary care physician and other social needs, like housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For patients like Guiterrez, the tattoo removal visits are often the most consistent contact with the medical system that they have had. He said he has been “in and out of the [criminal justice] system” since he was a kid growing up in Santa Barbara. Last July, he was released from state prison after serving a nearly 13-year sentence for charges related to carjacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought about what I want to do for myself and being a two striker, meaning that if I catch another strike that will give me a 25-to-life sentence. So that makes me really think about every decision I make,” said Gutierrez, who said he sought self-help groups in prison and got support from Criminals & Gang Members Anonymous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said a contact affiliated with Jails to Jobs, a Bay Area-based nonprofit that supports re-entry to the workforce for formerly incarcerated people, referred him to the clinic. Jails to Jobs estimates there are around 300 similar tattoo removal clinics in the U.S. Just under half of them are located in California which, in recent years, has seen an increase in access to these services — inside prisons through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, at university health systems like UC San Diego and in cities, like Santa Rosa, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.srcity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2829\">launched\u003c/a> a similar effort this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People typically seek tattoo removal to improve job prospects, but there’s also the societal stigma that can be as difficult to shed, said Mark Drevno, founder and executive director of Jails to Jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030034\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030034\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250227-UCSFTATTOOS-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Navarro ices her tattoo to ease the pain before a session at the tattoo removal clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Simple things like traveling on the bus. I’ve had people tell me how they hide their hands on the bus because they don’t want anybody to see their hands,” he said. “Besides the practical stuff, there is inner work going on. They’re touching their soul when they’re removing these tattoos.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the wider acceptance of tattoos in modern American society, their associations with prison life, gangs and violence persist. Recently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5341544/ice-el-salvador-jerce-reyes-barrios\">reportedly\u003c/a> cited a tattoo of a Spanish soccer team as evidence for one of the 238 Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. to El Salvador over their alleged allegiance to the Tren de Aragua gang, which has become a target of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers with UC San Diego, where a free removal clinic was established in 2016, have studied motivations for tattoo removal among “justice-involved adults.” Their \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306624X221102807\">2023 study\u003c/a>, published in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, found that over half of the participants cited reasons associated with “public or interpersonal stigma,” which included better perceptions among friends and family. The study also found that more than 80% of participants said they felt they had been discriminated against because of their tattoos.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12026600",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250214-Dream-Keeper-Returns-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Part of the appeal of clinics like the one at SF General is that there’s no cost to patients. The UC San Diego research cites cost as a significant barrier. Treatments at private establishments can cost thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pantell estimates around a dozen patients visit the weekly clinic at SF General. Ana Navarro has a rose design on her right ankle. It’s hard to see it as the treatment appears to be working. She said she has had it since she was a teenager and has been trying to get it removed for almost a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was young, not in the right relationships,” Navarro, 32, said. “So, being able to remove them, it feels like I’ve been an opportunity to clear the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a while, Shannon Whiley, 53, has been trying to get two tattooed dots removed — marks that were placed as part of her breast cancer treatment. The dots, about the size of a freckle, help doctors accurately position patients during radiation therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nikki, a sexual violence survivor, has an arm sleeve filled with interwoven hearts and flowers. She described it as a “bad cover-up” in an effort to hide associations to her past life trafficked as a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of it was from some backyard tattoo artist who had no business really doing tattoos on a minor,” recalled Nikki, whose request to go by a nickname because of the stigma of sexual violence was granted under KQED’s anonymous sources policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been coming to the clinic since September and has started to notice her tattoos begin to fade. She has a long way to go until they’re erased, but she’s used to hard work paying off. She said she’s in nursing school, following in her mom’s footsteps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I leave the clinic, I’m like, ‘God bless this doctor,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12034513/past-lives-fade-san-francisco-tattoo-removal-clinic",
"authors": [
"11724"
],
"categories": [
"news_457",
"news_28250",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_1386",
"news_27626",
"news_32212",
"news_86",
"news_18543",
"news_2109",
"news_38",
"news_922"
],
"featImg": "news_12030038",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12031584": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12031584",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031584",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1742242965000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control",
"title": "East Bay Prison Sex Abuse Trial Opens With Account of Guard’s ‘Ultimate Control’",
"publishDate": 1742242965,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "East Bay Prison Sex Abuse Trial Opens With Account of Guard’s ‘Ultimate Control’ | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">final criminal trial\u003c/a> against a former official at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> began Monday, prosecutors described a culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-up that they said allowed him to sexually abuse women incarcerated at the now-shuttered East Bay prison for six years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a> — whose case stemmed from a larger investigation into the prison known by former workers and incarcerated women as\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\"> the “rape club”\u003c/a> — threatened, bribed and held power over the heads of five women he is accused of sexually abusing while working as a correctional officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Defendant Darrell Smith liked power, and he abused that power,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sailaja Paidipaty said during her opening statement. “He abused his power when he fondled [one victim’s] breasts. He abused his power when he pinned her against a wall and shoved his fingers into her anus. … He used his power for many years to sexually abuse many women.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is one of eight former correctional officers and high-ranking officials who were criminally charged in the sprawling probe into FCI Dublin. The other seven, including the prison’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">former warden\u003c/a>, have all been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as “Dirty Dick Smith” in court documents, he faces six counts of sexual abuse of a ward, seven counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of aggravated sexual abuse, and one count of deprivation of rights by bestowing cruel and unusual punishment. If convicted, he could face a lifetime sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11972312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11972312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"FCI Dublin Women's Prison in Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, a women’s prison in the East Bay, on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Women who were formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin plan to testify that Smith made sexual comments toward them, forced them to lift up their tops in front of him, penetrated them with his fingers as they slept, and even forced them to have sex with him, Paidipaty said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of Smith’s abuse happened in the housing units on that property,” where he was often the only guard, she told the jury. “This is where the women lived, where they slept at night, where they showered, where they did their laundry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For these units, Smith had ultimate control.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His defense said that the picture of Smith’s time as a correctional officer would be incomplete, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12031367 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will not see DNA evidence, you will not see any other forensic evidence, physical evidence of a sexual assault,” attorney Joanna Sheridan said in opening statements. “You will not see any surveillance video of Mr. Smith touching an inmate. You might want to pause and think about that, considering that this is a prison, a highly secured facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheridan foreshadowed a strategy of attempting to discredit witness testimony — “These are women who … were there because they committed felony offenses,” she said — and pushed back against the prosecution’s depiction of the power hierarchy of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Inmates figure out how to get what they want,” she told jurors. “They learn how to manipulate the system. They learn how to manipulate staff and [Bureau of Prison] management to benefit their interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">more than 100 women\u003c/a> have come forward alleging sexual misconduct by officials at FCI Dublin. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons acknowledged the damage done at the facility with a $116 million settlement split among 103 women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sixty-three civil suits have been filed against the prison and its officials since 2021, and FCI Dublin was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly closed last April\u003c/a>, a month after an FBI raid and just weeks after a judge appointed the first-ever special master to the Bureau of Prisons to oversee changes at Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special master Wendy Still’s report on the institution, unsealed in August, said that women could not easily obtain forms used to lodge complaints and that to “obtain any of the forms necessary to file a remedy at any level, the [woman] had to request the form from staff and justify the need for the form which had a chilling effect” and made women “fearful of retaliation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reporting an officer in prison is risky,” Paidipaty said during her opening statement for the prosecution. “You can face retaliation, and in fact, you’ll hear from some women about the consequences that they’ve faced when they tried to speak up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that in the coming days of the trial, more than a dozen women will likely take the stand to testify about the abuse they faced from Smith or to corroborate the reports of those who were harmed around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within the walls of that prison, those women felt powerless,” she said. “Smith did what he wanted, and when he wanted, for years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">Sara Hossaini\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Darrell Wayne Smith is the final former FCI Dublin official to face trial after a sprawling abuse investigation into the now-shuttered federal prison.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1742245021,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 22,
"wordCount": 873
},
"headData": {
"title": "East Bay Prison Sex Abuse Trial Opens With Account of Guard’s ‘Ultimate Control’ | KQED",
"description": "Darrell Wayne Smith is the final former FCI Dublin official to face trial after a sprawling abuse investigation into the now-shuttered federal prison.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "East Bay Prison Sex Abuse Trial Opens With Account of Guard’s ‘Ultimate Control’",
"datePublished": "2025-03-17T13:22:45-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-03-17T13:57:01-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12031584",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains\">final criminal trial\u003c/a> against a former official at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> began Monday, prosecutors described a culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-up that they said allowed him to sexually abuse women incarcerated at the now-shuttered East Bay prison for six years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a> — whose case stemmed from a larger investigation into the prison known by former workers and incarcerated women as\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\"> the “rape club”\u003c/a> — threatened, bribed and held power over the heads of five women he is accused of sexually abusing while working as a correctional officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Defendant Darrell Smith liked power, and he abused that power,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sailaja Paidipaty said during her opening statement. “He abused his power when he fondled [one victim’s] breasts. He abused his power when he pinned her against a wall and shoved his fingers into her anus. … He used his power for many years to sexually abuse many women.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is one of eight former correctional officers and high-ranking officials who were criminally charged in the sprawling probe into FCI Dublin. The other seven, including the prison’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">former warden\u003c/a>, have all been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as “Dirty Dick Smith” in court documents, he faces six counts of sexual abuse of a ward, seven counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of aggravated sexual abuse, and one count of deprivation of rights by bestowing cruel and unusual punishment. If convicted, he could face a lifetime sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11972312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11972312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"FCI Dublin Women's Prison in Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240111-FCI-DUBLIN-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, a women’s prison in the East Bay, on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Women who were formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin plan to testify that Smith made sexual comments toward them, forced them to lift up their tops in front of him, penetrated them with his fingers as they slept, and even forced them to have sex with him, Paidipaty said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of Smith’s abuse happened in the housing units on that property,” where he was often the only guard, she told the jury. “This is where the women lived, where they slept at night, where they showered, where they did their laundry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For these units, Smith had ultimate control.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His defense said that the picture of Smith’s time as a correctional officer would be incomplete, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12031367",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240408-FCIDublin-016-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will not see DNA evidence, you will not see any other forensic evidence, physical evidence of a sexual assault,” attorney Joanna Sheridan said in opening statements. “You will not see any surveillance video of Mr. Smith touching an inmate. You might want to pause and think about that, considering that this is a prison, a highly secured facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheridan foreshadowed a strategy of attempting to discredit witness testimony — “These are women who … were there because they committed felony offenses,” she said — and pushed back against the prosecution’s depiction of the power hierarchy of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Inmates figure out how to get what they want,” she told jurors. “They learn how to manipulate the system. They learn how to manipulate staff and [Bureau of Prison] management to benefit their interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">more than 100 women\u003c/a> have come forward alleging sexual misconduct by officials at FCI Dublin. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons acknowledged the damage done at the facility with a $116 million settlement split among 103 women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240408-FCIDublin-008-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sixty-three civil suits have been filed against the prison and its officials since 2021, and FCI Dublin was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly closed last April\u003c/a>, a month after an FBI raid and just weeks after a judge appointed the first-ever special master to the Bureau of Prisons to oversee changes at Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special master Wendy Still’s report on the institution, unsealed in August, said that women could not easily obtain forms used to lodge complaints and that to “obtain any of the forms necessary to file a remedy at any level, the [woman] had to request the form from staff and justify the need for the form which had a chilling effect” and made women “fearful of retaliation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reporting an officer in prison is risky,” Paidipaty said during her opening statement for the prosecution. “You can face retaliation, and in fact, you’ll hear from some women about the consequences that they’ve faced when they tried to speak up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that in the coming days of the trial, more than a dozen women will likely take the stand to testify about the abuse they faced from Smith or to corroborate the reports of those who were harmed around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within the walls of that prison, those women felt powerless,” she said. “Smith did what he wanted, and when he wanted, for years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">Sara Hossaini\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12031584/east-bay-prison-sex-abuse-trial-opens-account-guards-ultimate-control",
"authors": [
"11913"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_34167",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_18538",
"news_616",
"news_17626",
"news_17725",
"news_3543",
"news_33723",
"news_27626",
"news_33888",
"news_32212",
"news_28654",
"news_19954",
"news_1305",
"news_4435",
"news_2700",
"news_1527",
"news_2838",
"news_1917"
],
"featImg": "news_12031587",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12031367": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12031367",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12031367",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1742135416000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains",
"title": "For Years, Abuse Plagued an East Bay Prison Dubbed the ‘Rape Club.’ One Trial Remains",
"publishDate": 1742135416,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "For Years, Abuse Plagued an East Bay Prison Dubbed the ‘Rape Club.’ One Trial Remains | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>While she was incarcerated at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a>, one woman says in court documents, her father died. Her mail from her husband was withheld, her calls to him were cut off, and she fell into a depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a correctional officer at the East Bay federal prison seemed to offer her a lifeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a> told her that if she met him in the prison’s laundry room, he would give her a cellphone so she could have a video visit with her children, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she arrived, she said, he put his hands on her breasts and buttocks. According to court documents, she alleges that when she asked about calling her kids, Smith “told her she had to cooperate with him first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith had blocked her communication, she said, and would come to her cell, force her to walk around and spank her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between September 2020 and January 2021, the woman said, Smith got her alone and subjected her to unwanted sexual acts — first by promising contact with her family, and later by threatening trouble if she didn’t comply or by grabbing her physically. She alleges that he made her “model” lingerie, penetrated her with his fingers and ordered her to have sex with him.[aside postID=news_11983422 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/240408-FCIDublin-002-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']After Smith had assaulted her multiple times, the woman told him that she wanted “what was going on between them” to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Smith responded that she had no choice, and it would not stop until he wanted it to stop,” according to court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the eight former FCI Dublin officers charged in a sprawling investigation into the prison’s widespread culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-ups, Smith is the last whose fate is uncertain. His trial on 15 counts of abuse and deprivation of civil rights is set to begin Monday in federal court in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">More than 100 women\u003c/a> have come forward alleging sexual misconduct by correctional officers and high-ranking officials at the low-security women’s prison, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">shuttered last April\u003c/a> after the yearslong investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This trial is something a lot of women have been looking forward to … and are going to be paying attention to and hoping for a just outcome in,” said Jae Oh, who represented three women who made claims against Smith in civil cases, including the one who said she was isolated and abused by him in 2020 and 2021. KQED does not identify victims of sexual violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “will be sort of the last bookend step in this very long process where we’ve been repeatedly trying to get the truth and accountability for everything that these women have gone through,” Oh told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as “Dirty Dick Clark,” Smith, 55, faces six counts of sexual abuse of a ward, seven counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of aggravated sexual abuse, and one count of deprivation of rights by bestowing cruel and unusual punishment. If convicted, he could face a lifetime sentence.[aside postID=news_12018828 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240408-FCIDublin-009-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']“The defendant’s alleged actions are some of the most disturbing charges we’ve seen for a former federal corrections officer,” Michael Nordwall, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement when Smith’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997595/former-east-bay-prison-officer-charged-with-more-sex-crimes-against-women-in-his-custody\">indictment was expanded to add new charges\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is accused of digitally penetrating five women as far back as 2016, some on multiple occasions, and forcing one to have intercourse with him while one of the other victims “stood outside to serve as a lookout.” He often bribed them to get them alone and threatened retaliation if they didn’t comply, according to court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That fear of retaliation loomed over many women who were “very scared about participating in this process” by filing complaints against FCI Dublin officers, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some who did were sent to the solitary housing unit, she said, where they lost contact with their families, recreation time and credit for good behavior that could have shortened their time in prison. Another \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">told KQED she lost visitation privileges\u003c/a>, phone and commissary access, and was barred from speaking with lawyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women who are still incarcerated after being transferred to other facilities have not come forward with their stories of abuse at FCI Dublin because of the power imbalance they face, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correctional officers “know where the security cameras are; they know who the women will talk to; they get access to their emails, their phone calls, their mails,” she told KQED. “That great power differential and the fact that these women are reliant on the officers day in and day out for food, for recreation time, for mail, for phone calls to family — I think they just feel powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the sentences against the seven other FCI Dublin officers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">former warden Ray Garcia\u003c/a>, have shown the power of women coming forward, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Validating their stories and their concerns has been very meaningful because time and time again with the other criminal cases up until now, we’ve seen that there is power in the victims’ voices when they speak up,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The years of staff violence at FCI Dublin, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\">dubbed the “rape club”\u003c/a> by workers and women incarcerated there, was first reported in a 2021 Associated Press investigation. The prison is facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">more than 60 lawsuits\u003c/a> alleging sexual assault and retaliation by prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Bureau of Prisons also faces a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">class-action lawsuit\u003c/a> brought on behalf of women who were formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, including some who were transferred to other federal facilities after its closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is unconscionable that any correctional agency could allow incarcerated individuals under their control and responsibility to be subject to the conditions that existed at FCI-Dublin for such an extended period of time without correction,” read a report by court-appointed special master Wendy Still, who was tasked with overseeing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">changes at the site\u003c/a> — the first time such an appointment was made in the history of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still’s report, unsealed by a judge in August, also says she worried about “the mistreatment, neglect and abuse” that women suffered at Dublin being repeated after they were transferred, “as many of the conditions that existed at this facility appear to be longstanding and systemic in nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The federal trial of former FCI Dublin officer Darrell Wayne Smith is set to begin in Oakland. Seven others have been sentenced after a sprawling sexual abuse investigation.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1742069525,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 25,
"wordCount": 1142
},
"headData": {
"title": "For Years, Abuse Plagued an East Bay Prison Dubbed the ‘Rape Club.’ One Trial Remains | KQED",
"description": "The federal trial of former FCI Dublin officer Darrell Wayne Smith is set to begin in Oakland. Seven others have been sentenced after a sprawling sexual abuse investigation.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "For Years, Abuse Plagued an East Bay Prison Dubbed the ‘Rape Club.’ One Trial Remains",
"datePublished": "2025-03-16T07:30:16-07:00",
"dateModified": "2025-03-15T13:12:05-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While she was incarcerated at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a>, one woman says in court documents, her father died. Her mail from her husband was withheld, her calls to him were cut off, and she fell into a depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a correctional officer at the East Bay federal prison seemed to offer her a lifeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a> told her that if she met him in the prison’s laundry room, he would give her a cellphone so she could have a video visit with her children, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she arrived, she said, he put his hands on her breasts and buttocks. According to court documents, she alleges that when she asked about calling her kids, Smith “told her she had to cooperate with him first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith had blocked her communication, she said, and would come to her cell, force her to walk around and spank her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between September 2020 and January 2021, the woman said, Smith got her alone and subjected her to unwanted sexual acts — first by promising contact with her family, and later by threatening trouble if she didn’t comply or by grabbing her physically. She alleges that he made her “model” lingerie, penetrated her with his fingers and ordered her to have sex with him.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_11983422",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/240408-FCIDublin-002-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After Smith had assaulted her multiple times, the woman told him that she wanted “what was going on between them” to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Smith responded that she had no choice, and it would not stop until he wanted it to stop,” according to court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the eight former FCI Dublin officers charged in a sprawling investigation into the prison’s widespread culture of abuse, retaliation and cover-ups, Smith is the last whose fate is uncertain. His trial on 15 counts of abuse and deprivation of civil rights is set to begin Monday in federal court in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">More than 100 women\u003c/a> have come forward alleging sexual misconduct by correctional officers and high-ranking officials at the low-security women’s prison, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">shuttered last April\u003c/a> after the yearslong investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This trial is something a lot of women have been looking forward to … and are going to be paying attention to and hoping for a just outcome in,” said Jae Oh, who represented three women who made claims against Smith in civil cases, including the one who said she was isolated and abused by him in 2020 and 2021. KQED does not identify victims of sexual violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “will be sort of the last bookend step in this very long process where we’ve been repeatedly trying to get the truth and accountability for everything that these women have gone through,” Oh told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as “Dirty Dick Clark,” Smith, 55, faces six counts of sexual abuse of a ward, seven counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of aggravated sexual abuse, and one count of deprivation of rights by bestowing cruel and unusual punishment. If convicted, he could face a lifetime sentence.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12018828",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240408-FCIDublin-009-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The defendant’s alleged actions are some of the most disturbing charges we’ve seen for a former federal corrections officer,” Michael Nordwall, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement when Smith’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997595/former-east-bay-prison-officer-charged-with-more-sex-crimes-against-women-in-his-custody\">indictment was expanded to add new charges\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is accused of digitally penetrating five women as far back as 2016, some on multiple occasions, and forcing one to have intercourse with him while one of the other victims “stood outside to serve as a lookout.” He often bribed them to get them alone and threatened retaliation if they didn’t comply, according to court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That fear of retaliation loomed over many women who were “very scared about participating in this process” by filing complaints against FCI Dublin officers, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some who did were sent to the solitary housing unit, she said, where they lost contact with their families, recreation time and credit for good behavior that could have shortened their time in prison. Another \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018828/prison-sex-abuse-survivor-speaks-on-fci-dublins-cultural-rot-after-record-settlement\">told KQED she lost visitation privileges\u003c/a>, phone and commissary access, and was barred from speaking with lawyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women who are still incarcerated after being transferred to other facilities have not come forward with their stories of abuse at FCI Dublin because of the power imbalance they face, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correctional officers “know where the security cameras are; they know who the women will talk to; they get access to their emails, their phone calls, their mails,” she told KQED. “That great power differential and the fact that these women are reliant on the officers day in and day out for food, for recreation time, for mail, for phone calls to family — I think they just feel powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the sentences against the seven other FCI Dublin officers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">former warden Ray Garcia\u003c/a>, have shown the power of women coming forward, Oh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Validating their stories and their concerns has been very meaningful because time and time again with the other criminal cases up until now, we’ve seen that there is power in the victims’ voices when they speak up,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The years of staff violence at FCI Dublin, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\">dubbed the “rape club”\u003c/a> by workers and women incarcerated there, was first reported in a 2021 Associated Press investigation. The prison is facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">more than 60 lawsuits\u003c/a> alleging sexual assault and retaliation by prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Bureau of Prisons also faces a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">class-action lawsuit\u003c/a> brought on behalf of women who were formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, including some who were transferred to other federal facilities after its closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is unconscionable that any correctional agency could allow incarcerated individuals under their control and responsibility to be subject to the conditions that existed at FCI-Dublin for such an extended period of time without correction,” read a report by court-appointed special master Wendy Still, who was tasked with overseeing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">changes at the site\u003c/a> — the first time such an appointment was made in the history of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still’s report, unsealed by a judge in August, also says she worried about “the mistreatment, neglect and abuse” that women suffered at Dublin being repeated after they were transferred, “as many of the conditions that existed at this facility appear to be longstanding and systemic in nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12031367/for-years-abuse-plagued-an-east-bay-prison-dubbed-the-rape-club-one-trial-remains",
"authors": [
"11913"
],
"categories": [
"news_31795",
"news_34167",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_18538",
"news_616",
"news_17725",
"news_3543",
"news_33723",
"news_27626",
"news_33888",
"news_32212",
"news_28654",
"news_19954",
"news_34054",
"news_1305",
"news_2700",
"news_1527",
"news_2838",
"news_1917"
],
"featImg": "news_12031369",
"label": "news"
},
"news_12009162": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_12009162",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "12009162",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1729803313000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "election-2024-what-are-the-voting-rights-of-current-and-formerly-incarcerated-californians",
"title": "What to Know About Your Voting Rights If You Are Currently or Formerly Incarcerated in California",
"publishDate": 1729803313,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "What to Know About Your Voting Rights If You Are Currently or Formerly Incarcerated in California | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>When Margaret Wilson was in a California jail in 2022, county officials came in to talk about the midterm election. The women in her housing unit — known as a pod — didn’t want to attend the talk however, telling Wilson that if they couldn’t vote themselves, it wasn’t of relevance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many of them, that was not actually accurate. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">Since 2016\u003c/a>, with some exceptions, Californians like Wilson \u003cem>can \u003c/em>vote while they are in jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the people just didn’t have awareness,” Wilson recalled. Discovering this disconnect prompted her to reach out to family members, asking them to print news articles and resources for her and the people in her pod. “Little by little, they just started to surround me and ask questions,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#who\">Who can vote if they’re currently or formerly incarcerated?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#felony\">How can people previously convicted of a felony vote?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#assist\">How can family and friends on the outside assist someone in being able to vote?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The experience left its mark on Wilson after she left jail, and she now works with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">Voter Restoration Project\u003c/a>, which is run by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cameo-house\">Cameo House\u003c/a>. With Cameo House, Wilson attends events for formerly incarcerated individuals, setting up voter registration booths and trying to get the word out about people’s right to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010849\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Margaret Wilson, a formerly incarcerated person, works on her computer in her room at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. Cameo House, run by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ), provides a residential alternative to incarceration, offering a supportive environment where participants can live with their children while receiving comprehensive support services. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the people she spoke with at a recent reentry conference in the Bay Area were hesitant about the idea of voting, Wilson said — but opened up once they realized she had been “in our shoes” as a person also newly out of the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab544?slug=CA_202320240AB544\">Many advocates\u003c/a> are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-voting-prison-inmates/\">trying\u003c/a> to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\"> streamline and expand accessibility for people in jail\u003c/a>, but the details of voter eligibility for those involved with the justice system can be confusing for many. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">a CalMatters report\u003c/a>, many people in the system won’t be given sufficient time \u003cem>to\u003c/em> vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for what people who have interacted with the justice system need to know about voting — and how friends and family members outside can be of assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010854\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aurora Garza Jimenez (left), Cameo House program manager, and resident Margaret Wilson pose for a photo at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"who\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Can someone vote if they were involved with the justice system?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Short answer: Yes, with some exceptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aurora Jimenez — Cameo House’s program manager who runs the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">Voter Restoration Project\u003c/a> and worked with Wilson at the reentry conference — said she spent a lot of time combatting people’s assumptions about voting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people have the misconception of thinking, ‘I can’t do it because I have a record. I can’t do it because I’m on parole or probation or I was in prison,’” Jimenez said. “‘Can I register [to vote] even if I have a misdemeanor, or even if I was in jail?’” is a particular question she “kept hearing.”[aside postID=news_11841345 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45273_002_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_JoshYule_10062020-qut-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, there are some factors that could prevent someone from voting. In general, someone can vote as long as they are not currently incarcerated with a felony for a state or federal prison sentence. If a person is \u003ca href=\"https://sfelections.org/tools/criminalhistory/\">serving a felony jail sentence in a county jail\u003c/a> and it’s not a state prison sentence, they can still vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Department of Elections even has \u003ca href=\"https://sfelections.org/tools/criminalhistory/\">a quick quiz\u003c/a> where you can look up specific scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/voters-involved-justice-system\">The following circumstances\u003c/a> will \u003cem>not\u003c/em> impact someone’s access to voting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Being in a \u003cem>local\u003c/em> detention facility (jail) and:\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Serving a misdemeanor sentence\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Serving jail time as a condition of probation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Awaiting trial\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on parole or probation (California voters helped this happen with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11841345/proposition-17-and-the-history-of-voting-rights-for-formerly-incarcerated-californians\">Prop 17, which was on the 2020 ballot\u003c/a>.)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on mandatory supervision\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on post-release community supervision\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on federal supervised release\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Having a \u003ca href=\"https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/juvenile-justice/court-process\">juvenile wardship adjudication\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The state of California has this information in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/voting-california/who-can-vote-california/voting-rights-californians\">several other languages\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-sp.pdf\">Spanish\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-zht.pdf\">Chinese\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-hi.pdf\">Hindi\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-ja.pdf\">Japanese\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010851\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010851\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aurora Garza Jimenez (left), Cameo House program manager, and Margaret Wilson review voting material for tabling events at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"felony\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>What if someone in California has previously served a felony?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If a person has completed their felony sentence, they can register to vote after they are released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A person’s right to vote is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">restored immediately\u003c/a> after they leave prison. If a person is released before Election Day (Nov. 5), they can register at their new address. The deadline to register to vote online is Oct. 21, but a person can still register to vote in person up until the polls close on Election Day (called “conditional registration” or “provisional registration”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12003124/how-do-i-know-if-im-registered-to-vote-heres-how-to-check\">KQED’s guide to making sure you are registered in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Someone I know is in jail. How can they vote?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some jails partner with local organizations — or have the county’s election department — \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">go into facilities\u003c/a> to explain voting rights to incarcerated people, as well as provide voting registration and materials. And some — but not all — justice systems have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/prisoner-legal-services\">a dedicated office\u003c/a> to which you can reach out about the electoral process.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" tag=\"election-explainers\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An example of how this works in Santa Cruz County, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">American Civil Liberties Union Nor Cal’s Community Toolkit\u003c/a>: The County Election Office partners with the sheriff’s office to conduct several trips for voter information and registration before the election. Election officials track registration among these voters, creating a list to hand to the sheriff’s office, which in turn is responsible for distributing election material. \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">Election outreach staff then work with vote-by-mail program staff at the jail “to arrange for the hand delivery of voter information guides and ballots and time return of ballots.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco jails also have a similar program, said Melinda Benson from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/prisoner-legal-services\">Prisoner Legal Services in San Francisco\u003c/a>. Program staff go cell to cell to help with voter registration, handing out ballots and collecting them to return to the city’s elections department. A sealed ballot drop-off box in each house is open until 8 p.m. on Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this work is not a seamless process across all jails. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">CalMatters investigation\u003c/a> found that some incarcerated people don’t get their voter guides in time — or can’t get their guides at all because their mail may have a page limit. And while some advocates and representatives are trying to make casting one’s ballot easier, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab544?slug=CA_202320240AB544\">recently vetoed a bill\u003c/a> that would have allowed a pilot program to try in-person voting at county jails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">ACLU guide\u003c/a> also suggested that ahead of time, family members or friends should make a plan to communicate clearly with their loved ones inside about all of their voter information so they can fully prepare to cast their ballot. This includes making sure the person has information like their driver’s license or state ID number if it’s their first time voting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010853\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educational voting materials sit on a desk at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Which address should an eligible voter in jail use?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a person’s voter registration, the ACLU suggests people \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">use their most permanent home address\u003c/a> — or note their cross streets if they were unhoused before entering jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They should then work with family outside and representatives in the jail ahead of time to make sure they get a ballot from their home county to vote on issues and for candidates in their local community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">For receiving voting materials like their voter guide\u003c/a>, however, a person should use the address of the jail as their mailing address. They \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">should include their booking number\u003c/a> to make things easier to track, in case they are transferred to a different jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"assist\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Can I mail voter information to people in jail?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>People held in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/2021/03/01/tablet-project-enhances-communications-for-incarcerated-population/\">prison and jails\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/family-resources/tablets/\">have access to tablets\u003c/a> (although costs for \u003ca href=\"https://www.gettingout.com/mobile/\">messaging and calls\u003c/a> can add up over time, making access prohibitive for many.) People would also have to pay for \u003ca href=\"https://web.connectnetwork.com/inmate-devices-content/newsfeed/\">access to a newsfeed\u003c/a> while inside, and there is \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2023/07/19/almost-all-people-incarcerated-in-california-now-have-free-tablets/\">no permitted way to get on social media or an Internet browser\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said during her time in jail in 2022, she and the women in her pod were able to see limited news content using jail-issued tablets. However, Wilson also asked her family and kids to print out more thorough articles about criminal justice and advocacy and mail them to her inside — so she could then show the women around her that “people are fighting for us on the outside.”[aside postID=news_12004883 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/091124_InmateVoting_FM_CM-08-1020x680.jpeg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mailing voting information directly to people was also the ACLU of Southern California’s strategy when \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">the Orange County sheriff’s\u003c/a> office denied their entry into jails for voter registration and providing voter information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s worth emphasizing that \u003ca href=\"https://www.venturasheriff.org/inmate-information/inmate-mail/\">mail going into jails is screened\u003c/a>. If you’re hoping to send mail to a facility, you should first check with your specific local county jail on what is or is not allowed to be mailed and how to address said mail. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/send-mail-or-order-commissary-items-person-jail\">in San Francisco\u003c/a>, a person cannot mail in an entire magazine or newspaper or anything larger than 8 1/2 inches by 14 inches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You should also not send anything with \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">paper clips or staples\u003c/a> since this could be considered contraband. You should also not forward \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/send-mail-or-order-commissary-items-person-jail\">stationery items or postage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California — \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/10/25/jail_voting/\">like the rest of the United States\u003c/a> — still has a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2024/09/california-voters-jails-barriers/\">ways to go\u003c/a> in expanding voter accessibility, Jimenez said. However, she emphasized the importance of people being able to contribute their opinions on local and national issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people have the misconception of thinking, ‘My voice doesn’t count.’ And it really does,” Jimenez said. “They add up. It really does make a difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on October 13.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "In general, a person can vote in California as long as they are not currently incarcerated with a felony for a state or federal prison sentence.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1729803929,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 36,
"wordCount": 1835
},
"headData": {
"title": "What to Know About Your Voting Rights If You Are Currently or Formerly Incarcerated in California | KQED",
"description": "In general, a person can vote in California as long as they are not currently incarcerated with a felony for a state or federal prison sentence.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "What to Know About Your Voting Rights If You Are Currently or Formerly Incarcerated in California",
"datePublished": "2024-10-24T13:55:13-07:00",
"dateModified": "2024-10-24T14:05:29-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-12009162",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/12009162/election-2024-what-are-the-voting-rights-of-current-and-formerly-incarcerated-californians",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Margaret Wilson was in a California jail in 2022, county officials came in to talk about the midterm election. The women in her housing unit — known as a pod — didn’t want to attend the talk however, telling Wilson that if they couldn’t vote themselves, it wasn’t of relevance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many of them, that was not actually accurate. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">Since 2016\u003c/a>, with some exceptions, Californians like Wilson \u003cem>can \u003c/em>vote while they are in jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the people just didn’t have awareness,” Wilson recalled. Discovering this disconnect prompted her to reach out to family members, asking them to print news articles and resources for her and the people in her pod. “Little by little, they just started to surround me and ask questions,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#who\">Who can vote if they’re currently or formerly incarcerated?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#felony\">How can people previously convicted of a felony vote?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#assist\">How can family and friends on the outside assist someone in being able to vote?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The experience left its mark on Wilson after she left jail, and she now works with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">Voter Restoration Project\u003c/a>, which is run by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cameo-house\">Cameo House\u003c/a>. With Cameo House, Wilson attends events for formerly incarcerated individuals, setting up voter registration booths and trying to get the word out about people’s right to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010849\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-02-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Margaret Wilson, a formerly incarcerated person, works on her computer in her room at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. Cameo House, run by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ), provides a residential alternative to incarceration, offering a supportive environment where participants can live with their children while receiving comprehensive support services. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the people she spoke with at a recent reentry conference in the Bay Area were hesitant about the idea of voting, Wilson said — but opened up once they realized she had been “in our shoes” as a person also newly out of the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab544?slug=CA_202320240AB544\">Many advocates\u003c/a> are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-voting-prison-inmates/\">trying\u003c/a> to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\"> streamline and expand accessibility for people in jail\u003c/a>, but the details of voter eligibility for those involved with the justice system can be confusing for many. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">a CalMatters report\u003c/a>, many people in the system won’t be given sufficient time \u003cem>to\u003c/em> vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for what people who have interacted with the justice system need to know about voting — and how friends and family members outside can be of assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010854\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-28-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aurora Garza Jimenez (left), Cameo House program manager, and resident Margaret Wilson pose for a photo at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"who\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Can someone vote if they were involved with the justice system?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Short answer: Yes, with some exceptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aurora Jimenez — Cameo House’s program manager who runs the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">Voter Restoration Project\u003c/a> and worked with Wilson at the reentry conference — said she spent a lot of time combatting people’s assumptions about voting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people have the misconception of thinking, ‘I can’t do it because I have a record. I can’t do it because I’m on parole or probation or I was in prison,’” Jimenez said. “‘Can I register [to vote] even if I have a misdemeanor, or even if I was in jail?’” is a particular question she “kept hearing.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_11841345",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45273_002_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_JoshYule_10062020-qut-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, there are some factors that could prevent someone from voting. In general, someone can vote as long as they are not currently incarcerated with a felony for a state or federal prison sentence. If a person is \u003ca href=\"https://sfelections.org/tools/criminalhistory/\">serving a felony jail sentence in a county jail\u003c/a> and it’s not a state prison sentence, they can still vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Department of Elections even has \u003ca href=\"https://sfelections.org/tools/criminalhistory/\">a quick quiz\u003c/a> where you can look up specific scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/voters-involved-justice-system\">The following circumstances\u003c/a> will \u003cem>not\u003c/em> impact someone’s access to voting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Being in a \u003cem>local\u003c/em> detention facility (jail) and:\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Serving a misdemeanor sentence\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Serving jail time as a condition of probation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Awaiting trial\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on parole or probation (California voters helped this happen with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11841345/proposition-17-and-the-history-of-voting-rights-for-formerly-incarcerated-californians\">Prop 17, which was on the 2020 ballot\u003c/a>.)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on mandatory supervision\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on post-release community supervision\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Being on federal supervised release\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Having a \u003ca href=\"https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/juvenile-justice/court-process\">juvenile wardship adjudication\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The state of California has this information in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/voting-california/who-can-vote-california/voting-rights-californians\">several other languages\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-sp.pdf\">Spanish\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-zht.pdf\">Chinese\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-hi.pdf\">Hindi\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//pdfs/voting-rights-persons-with-prior-felony-flyer-ja.pdf\">Japanese\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010851\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010851\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aurora Garza Jimenez (left), Cameo House program manager, and Margaret Wilson review voting material for tabling events at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"felony\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>What if someone in California has previously served a felony?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If a person has completed their felony sentence, they can register to vote after they are released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A person’s right to vote is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cjcj.org/our-programs/cjcj-voter-restoration-outreach-project\">restored immediately\u003c/a> after they leave prison. If a person is released before Election Day (Nov. 5), they can register at their new address. The deadline to register to vote online is Oct. 21, but a person can still register to vote in person up until the polls close on Election Day (called “conditional registration” or “provisional registration”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12003124/how-do-i-know-if-im-registered-to-vote-heres-how-to-check\">KQED’s guide to making sure you are registered in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Someone I know is in jail. How can they vote?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some jails partner with local organizations — or have the county’s election department — \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">go into facilities\u003c/a> to explain voting rights to incarcerated people, as well as provide voting registration and materials. And some — but not all — justice systems have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/prisoner-legal-services\">a dedicated office\u003c/a> to which you can reach out about the electoral process.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "Related Stories ",
"tag": "election-explainers"
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An example of how this works in Santa Cruz County, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">American Civil Liberties Union Nor Cal’s Community Toolkit\u003c/a>: The County Election Office partners with the sheriff’s office to conduct several trips for voter information and registration before the election. Election officials track registration among these voters, creating a list to hand to the sheriff’s office, which in turn is responsible for distributing election material. \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">Election outreach staff then work with vote-by-mail program staff at the jail “to arrange for the hand delivery of voter information guides and ballots and time return of ballots.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco jails also have a similar program, said Melinda Benson from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/prisoner-legal-services\">Prisoner Legal Services in San Francisco\u003c/a>. Program staff go cell to cell to help with voter registration, handing out ballots and collecting them to return to the city’s elections department. A sealed ballot drop-off box in each house is open until 8 p.m. on Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this work is not a seamless process across all jails. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004883/thousands-in-california-jails-have-the-right-to-vote-heres-why-many-wont\">CalMatters investigation\u003c/a> found that some incarcerated people don’t get their voter guides in time — or can’t get their guides at all because their mail may have a page limit. And while some advocates and representatives are trying to make casting one’s ballot easier, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab544?slug=CA_202320240AB544\">recently vetoed a bill\u003c/a> that would have allowed a pilot program to try in-person voting at county jails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">ACLU guide\u003c/a> also suggested that ahead of time, family members or friends should make a plan to communicate clearly with their loved ones inside about all of their voter information so they can fully prepare to cast their ballot. This includes making sure the person has information like their driver’s license or state ID number if it’s their first time voting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010853\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241022-JAILVOTING-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educational voting materials sit on a desk at Cameo House in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Which address should an eligible voter in jail use?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a person’s voter registration, the ACLU suggests people \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">use their most permanent home address\u003c/a> — or note their cross streets if they were unhoused before entering jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They should then work with family outside and representatives in the jail ahead of time to make sure they get a ballot from their home county to vote on issues and for candidates in their local community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">For receiving voting materials like their voter guide\u003c/a>, however, a person should use the address of the jail as their mailing address. They \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">should include their booking number\u003c/a> to make things easier to track, in case they are transferred to a different jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"assist\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Can I mail voter information to people in jail?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>People held in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/2021/03/01/tablet-project-enhances-communications-for-incarcerated-population/\">prison and jails\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/family-resources/tablets/\">have access to tablets\u003c/a> (although costs for \u003ca href=\"https://www.gettingout.com/mobile/\">messaging and calls\u003c/a> can add up over time, making access prohibitive for many.) People would also have to pay for \u003ca href=\"https://web.connectnetwork.com/inmate-devices-content/newsfeed/\">access to a newsfeed\u003c/a> while inside, and there is \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2023/07/19/almost-all-people-incarcerated-in-california-now-have-free-tablets/\">no permitted way to get on social media or an Internet browser\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said during her time in jail in 2022, she and the women in her pod were able to see limited news content using jail-issued tablets. However, Wilson also asked her family and kids to print out more thorough articles about criminal justice and advocacy and mail them to her inside — so she could then show the women around her that “people are fighting for us on the outside.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12004883",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/091124_InmateVoting_FM_CM-08-1020x680.jpeg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mailing voting information directly to people was also the ACLU of Southern California’s strategy when \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">the Orange County sheriff’s\u003c/a> office denied their entry into jails for voter registration and providing voter information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s worth emphasizing that \u003ca href=\"https://www.venturasheriff.org/inmate-information/inmate-mail/\">mail going into jails is screened\u003c/a>. If you’re hoping to send mail to a facility, you should first check with your specific local county jail on what is or is not allowed to be mailed and how to address said mail. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/send-mail-or-order-commissary-items-person-jail\">in San Francisco\u003c/a>, a person cannot mail in an entire magazine or newspaper or anything larger than 8 1/2 inches by 14 inches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You should also not send anything with \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/2021%20Update_ACLU%20Jail%20Voting%20Toolkit_English.pdf\">paper clips or staples\u003c/a> since this could be considered contraband. You should also not forward \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsheriff.com/services/jail-services/send-mail-or-order-commissary-items-person-jail\">stationery items or postage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California — \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/10/25/jail_voting/\">like the rest of the United States\u003c/a> — still has a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2024/09/california-voters-jails-barriers/\">ways to go\u003c/a> in expanding voter accessibility, Jimenez said. However, she emphasized the importance of people being able to contribute their opinions on local and national issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people have the misconception of thinking, ‘My voice doesn’t count.’ And it really does,” Jimenez said. “They add up. It really does make a difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on October 13.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/12009162/election-2024-what-are-the-voting-rights-of-current-and-formerly-incarcerated-californians",
"authors": [
"11867"
],
"categories": [
"news_34168",
"news_8",
"news_13"
],
"tags": [
"news_32707",
"news_18538",
"news_32839",
"news_28639",
"news_32212",
"news_28654",
"news_17968",
"news_2027"
],
"featImg": "news_12010850",
"label": "news"
},
"news_11936245": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "news_11936245",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "11936245",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1671811255000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "alameda-county-bans-criminal-background-checks-on-tenants-in-move-to-fight-homelessness",
"title": "Alameda County Bans Criminal Background Checks on Tenants in Move to Fight Homelessness",
"publishDate": 1671811255,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Alameda County Bans Criminal Background Checks on Tenants in Move to Fight Homelessness | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, March 20:\u003c/strong> The Alameda County Board of Supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943467/landlord-backlash-prompts-return-to-pre-pandemic-rules-in-alameda-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reversed course and rejected the Fair Chance ordinance\u003c/a> on its second reading on Feb. 28, 2023. Second readings are normally considered a formality, but in this case the makeup of the board changed significantly between the first and second readings because of the deaths of two pro-tenant supervisors: Wilma Chan (replaced by Lena Tam) and Richard Valle. The board voted 2-0-2, with two supervisors voting in favor, none opposed, and Supervisors Tam and David Haubert abstaining, effectively killing the proposal for now. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Nate Wiley told KQED there is a possibility the proposal could come back to the board, though there is no estimation of when that might happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, Dec. 23, 2022:\u003c/strong> Taqwaa Bonner didn’t have a hard time getting a job when he got out of prison in 2016, after serving 30 years. Getting a car and a girlfriend wasn’t a problem either. The challenge was finding a place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He applied for apartment after apartment around the East Bay without success. Property owners asked about his criminal history, and Bonner, 56, suspects that revealing his felony conviction landed his applications in the trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He had family in the area, but couldn’t live with any of them because they all had rules in their leases that prohibited someone with a felony from moving in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That forced me to be homeless,” he says. For months Bonner slept in his car, sneaking into his girlfriend’s apartment when he could.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Margaretta Lin, executive director, Just Cities\"]‘All we’re asking for is to judge people based on the merits of who they are today. Period.’[/pullquote]“There is a direct pipeline from prison into homelessness,” says Margaretta Lin, executive director of Just Cities, a policy group focused on social justice, and a researcher with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. She worked on a survey of more than 100 people living in Oakland’s homeless encampments and found that 73% had criminal records. National research has found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html\">formerly incarcerated people are almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness\u003c/a> than the general public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Formerly incarcerated people face barriers to living in all forms of housing, including private rental housing, nonprofit housing and the Section 8 voucher program, Lin says: “So where can people live?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to reduce those barriers, Alameda County has become the first in the country to ban landlords from doing criminal background checks for potential tenants. Lin championed the plan after helping to pass similar \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhlp.org/nhlp-publications/fair-chance-ordinances-an-advocates-toolkit/\">“fair chance” housing policies\u003c/a> two years ago in \u003ca href=\"https://berkeley.municipal.codes/BMC/13.106.030\">Berkeley\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/news/2020/oakland-now-has-the-states-strongest-fair-chance-housing-law\">Oakland\u003c/a>. The three are among the strongest rules in the country because they allow for few exceptions. Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Cook County in Illinois and other localities also place some limits on the use of criminal background checks, as does the state of New Jersey. Locally, Richmond and San Francisco also have laws in place, though they’re far more narrow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_12_06_22/GENERAL%20ADMINISTRATION/Set%20Matter%20Calendar/CDA_341608.pdf\">Alameda County’s plan (PDF)\u003c/a> only applies to unincorporated parts of the county. It doesn’t cover properties of four units or fewer if the landlord lives on site, or tenants who are subletting their space. Landlords will still be able to check sex offender registries and comply with federal laws that bar people convicted of certain drug and sex offenses from publicly funded properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936260\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936260\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man and a Latino man talk as they study a document in an office.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taqwaa Bonner (right) speaks with Legal Services for Prisoners With Children program manager Errol Veron at their offices in Oakland on Dec. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“All we’re asking for is to judge people based on the merits of who they are today. Period,” Lin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonner says that’s what it took for him to finally secure an apartment. As a housing advocate for \u003ca href=\"https://prisonerswithchildren.org/all-of-us-or-none/\">All of Us or None\u003c/a>, a project of Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, he became an outspoken champion of these policies locally and says a landlord offered him a spot after recognizing him from the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took on the moral courage and said, ‘It’s OK.’ And so for the first time in my life, 50 years old, I had a lease of my own,” says Bonner, who now lives in Dublin with his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all property owners have been as receptive. Many landlords have voiced fears about endangering other tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have such a responsibility to maintain the safety, peace and tranquility for the living enjoyment of the people that are paying rents in the Bay Area,” says Elizabeth Moreno, who owns apartment buildings in unincorporated areas of San Leandro and Hayward. She says landlords need every tool at their disposal to ensure a sound community for tenants, including background checks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, where a fair chance ordinance is already in place, property owners have raised concerns about the confluence of the rule with other local laws that make it tough to oust tenants, like the city and county eviction moratoriums and recently strengthened just cause protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do make a mistake, we can’t just say, OK, we made a mistake, this didn’t work out. You can’t really get rid of them,” says Carmen Madden, who owns a 30-unit building down the street from where she grew up in East Oakland, near Mills College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, she says, the stakes feel especially high, with six tenants who she says haven’t been paying rent under the moratorium and owe around $100,000. Property owners around the county raised similar concerns. That led supervisors to amend the plan, delaying implementation until the county moratorium expires, which could come at the end of April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Madden and others have also raised concerns about the law’s unintended consequences. In the absence of background checks, Madden says landlords find other ways to screen tenants, some of which she worries could worsen discrimination. Since Oakland increased protections for renters, she’s stopped looking at criminal records, but now she pays more attention to employment history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researcher Lin is currently studying the effects of Oakland and Berkeley’s fair chance policies in what she calls the nation’s first impact evaluation of such a law. Lin says preliminary results from a survey of 41 formerly incarcerated people found that about a third said they’d benefited directly from the ordinances. Final study findings won’t be out for a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936259\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936259\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut.jpg\" alt='A Black woman with a white shirt that reads \"All of Us or None\" and sunglasses with her house reflected in the lenses, wearing a blue cap and smiling.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The reflection of Katie Dixon’s apartment building can be seen in her sunglasses in the backyard of her home in Oakland on Dec. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Among those eagerly awaiting them is the Alameda County Probation Department, which is helping to fund the work, says Shauna Conner, the department’s community reentry and outreach director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says stable housing is essential for the clients she works with. “It’s difficult to get people to participate in other services if they’re not housed,” she says. “You’re dealing with not only potential recidivism due to homelessness, but also interruption to their ability to adjust to the reentry process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Katie Dixon, finding an apartment after years of homelessness changed everything. “In the two years that I’ve had stable housing, the whole quality of my life has improved,” says Dixon, who spent more than a decade going in and out of juvenile detention facilities, jails and prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies have shown that stable housing reduces the likelihood of recidivism. One of the best regarded among the studies \u003ca href=\"https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/25716/412632-Supportive-Housing-for-Returning-Prisoners-Outcomes-and-Impacts-of-the-Returning-Home-Ohio-Pilot-Project.PDF\">examined the Returning Home–Ohio Pilot Program (PDF)\u003c/a>, which provided permanent supportive housing to formerly incarcerated people with a history or risk of homelessness. Researchers found that participants were 40% less likely to be rearrested and 61% less likely to be reincarcerated than a comparison group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Dixon the reasons are obvious: Without a stable place to live, someone on probation might be forced into destructive choices, like crashing with friends who are involved in criminal activities, which could lead to a probation violation, or staying in an abusive relationship that exacerbates mental health issues just to keep a roof over their head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Dixon got her own place, she’s been able to exercise, eat healthier food and meditate. Having a private space and reliable internet connection also allowed her to complete a virtual policy training program she credits for her current job as an organizer with the ACLU of Northern California.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11935806,news_11927968,news_11932895\"]Oakland property owner Madden has one vacancy to fill at the moment. One potential applicant recently got out of jail, a fact she learned from a local pastor who referred the man. Over the years she’s rented to a few people with criminal records. What the experience has shown her, more than anything, is that people reentering the community don’t get the support they need. If landlords are going to do their part, she says, the government should do its part, too, and make sure people leaving prisons and jails can succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I found from those programs is that after they get them in, they leave them. So all their counseling stops, everything stops. And once it all stops, they stop,” she says. “So I get very nervous about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Avoiding this “cliff” is something the probation department’s Conner thinks a lot about. She says the agency has been expanding its transition services, in part by doubling down on case management, life skills training and discharge planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of that solves the biggest problem she sees when it comes to housing: affording it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conner sees fair chance ordinances as an important step, but, she says, “Even once we get people access, there’s still a limited pool of things that they can actually rent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a study set to be released early next year, the Council of State Governments Justice Center asked state departments of correction across the country to identify \u003ca href=\"https://csgjusticecenter.org/people/charles-francis/\">the biggest barriers to reentry housing success\u003c/a>. According to the Center’s Charles Francis, 84% named discrimination and stigma as a top concern, while 74% named restrictive policies on the part of housing providers. The top barrier, identified by 95% of respondents, was a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "With research showing formerly incarcerated people almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public, Alameda County has become the first in the country to ban landlords from doing criminal background checks for potential tenants.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1725925207,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 32,
"wordCount": 1785
},
"headData": {
"title": "Alameda County Bans Criminal Background Checks on Tenants in Move to Fight Homelessness | KQED",
"description": "With research showing formerly incarcerated people almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public, Alameda County has become the first in the country to ban landlords from doing criminal background checks for potential tenants.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"headline": "Alameda County Bans Criminal Background Checks on Tenants in Move to Fight Homelessness",
"datePublished": "2022-12-23T08:00:55-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-09-09T16:40:07-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
"publisher": {
"@type": "NewsMediaOrganization",
"@id": "https://www.kqed.org/#organization",
"name": "KQED",
"logo": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"url": "https://www.kqed.org",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/KQED",
"https://twitter.com/KQED",
"https://www.instagram.com/kqed/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/kqed",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeC0IOo7i1P_61zVUWbJ4nw"
]
}
}
},
"sticky": false,
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/news/11936245/alameda-county-bans-criminal-background-checks-on-tenants-in-move-to-fight-homelessness",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, March 20:\u003c/strong> The Alameda County Board of Supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943467/landlord-backlash-prompts-return-to-pre-pandemic-rules-in-alameda-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reversed course and rejected the Fair Chance ordinance\u003c/a> on its second reading on Feb. 28, 2023. Second readings are normally considered a formality, but in this case the makeup of the board changed significantly between the first and second readings because of the deaths of two pro-tenant supervisors: Wilma Chan (replaced by Lena Tam) and Richard Valle. The board voted 2-0-2, with two supervisors voting in favor, none opposed, and Supervisors Tam and David Haubert abstaining, effectively killing the proposal for now. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Nate Wiley told KQED there is a possibility the proposal could come back to the board, though there is no estimation of when that might happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, Dec. 23, 2022:\u003c/strong> Taqwaa Bonner didn’t have a hard time getting a job when he got out of prison in 2016, after serving 30 years. Getting a car and a girlfriend wasn’t a problem either. The challenge was finding a place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He applied for apartment after apartment around the East Bay without success. Property owners asked about his criminal history, and Bonner, 56, suspects that revealing his felony conviction landed his applications in the trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He had family in the area, but couldn’t live with any of them because they all had rules in their leases that prohibited someone with a felony from moving in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That forced me to be homeless,” he says. For months Bonner slept in his car, sneaking into his girlfriend’s apartment when he could.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "‘All we’re asking for is to judge people based on the merits of who they are today. Period.’",
"name": "pullquote",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"align": "right",
"size": "medium",
"citation": "Margaretta Lin, executive director, Just Cities",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There is a direct pipeline from prison into homelessness,” says Margaretta Lin, executive director of Just Cities, a policy group focused on social justice, and a researcher with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. She worked on a survey of more than 100 people living in Oakland’s homeless encampments and found that 73% had criminal records. National research has found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html\">formerly incarcerated people are almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness\u003c/a> than the general public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Formerly incarcerated people face barriers to living in all forms of housing, including private rental housing, nonprofit housing and the Section 8 voucher program, Lin says: “So where can people live?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to reduce those barriers, Alameda County has become the first in the country to ban landlords from doing criminal background checks for potential tenants. Lin championed the plan after helping to pass similar \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhlp.org/nhlp-publications/fair-chance-ordinances-an-advocates-toolkit/\">“fair chance” housing policies\u003c/a> two years ago in \u003ca href=\"https://berkeley.municipal.codes/BMC/13.106.030\">Berkeley\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/news/2020/oakland-now-has-the-states-strongest-fair-chance-housing-law\">Oakland\u003c/a>. The three are among the strongest rules in the country because they allow for few exceptions. Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Cook County in Illinois and other localities also place some limits on the use of criminal background checks, as does the state of New Jersey. Locally, Richmond and San Francisco also have laws in place, though they’re far more narrow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_12_06_22/GENERAL%20ADMINISTRATION/Set%20Matter%20Calendar/CDA_341608.pdf\">Alameda County’s plan (PDF)\u003c/a> only applies to unincorporated parts of the county. It doesn’t cover properties of four units or fewer if the landlord lives on site, or tenants who are subletting their space. Landlords will still be able to check sex offender registries and comply with federal laws that bar people convicted of certain drug and sex offenses from publicly funded properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936260\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936260\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man and a Latino man talk as they study a document in an office.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61712_002_KQED_TaqwaaBonner_12162022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taqwaa Bonner (right) speaks with Legal Services for Prisoners With Children program manager Errol Veron at their offices in Oakland on Dec. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“All we’re asking for is to judge people based on the merits of who they are today. Period,” Lin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonner says that’s what it took for him to finally secure an apartment. As a housing advocate for \u003ca href=\"https://prisonerswithchildren.org/all-of-us-or-none/\">All of Us or None\u003c/a>, a project of Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, he became an outspoken champion of these policies locally and says a landlord offered him a spot after recognizing him from the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took on the moral courage and said, ‘It’s OK.’ And so for the first time in my life, 50 years old, I had a lease of my own,” says Bonner, who now lives in Dublin with his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all property owners have been as receptive. Many landlords have voiced fears about endangering other tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have such a responsibility to maintain the safety, peace and tranquility for the living enjoyment of the people that are paying rents in the Bay Area,” says Elizabeth Moreno, who owns apartment buildings in unincorporated areas of San Leandro and Hayward. She says landlords need every tool at their disposal to ensure a sound community for tenants, including background checks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, where a fair chance ordinance is already in place, property owners have raised concerns about the confluence of the rule with other local laws that make it tough to oust tenants, like the city and county eviction moratoriums and recently strengthened just cause protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do make a mistake, we can’t just say, OK, we made a mistake, this didn’t work out. You can’t really get rid of them,” says Carmen Madden, who owns a 30-unit building down the street from where she grew up in East Oakland, near Mills College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, she says, the stakes feel especially high, with six tenants who she says haven’t been paying rent under the moratorium and owe around $100,000. Property owners around the county raised similar concerns. That led supervisors to amend the plan, delaying implementation until the county moratorium expires, which could come at the end of April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Madden and others have also raised concerns about the law’s unintended consequences. In the absence of background checks, Madden says landlords find other ways to screen tenants, some of which she worries could worsen discrimination. Since Oakland increased protections for renters, she’s stopped looking at criminal records, but now she pays more attention to employment history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researcher Lin is currently studying the effects of Oakland and Berkeley’s fair chance policies in what she calls the nation’s first impact evaluation of such a law. Lin says preliminary results from a survey of 41 formerly incarcerated people found that about a third said they’d benefited directly from the ordinances. Final study findings won’t be out for a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936259\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936259\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut.jpg\" alt='A Black woman with a white shirt that reads \"All of Us or None\" and sunglasses with her house reflected in the lenses, wearing a blue cap and smiling.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/RS61754_025_KQED_KatieDixon_12162022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The reflection of Katie Dixon’s apartment building can be seen in her sunglasses in the backyard of her home in Oakland on Dec. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Among those eagerly awaiting them is the Alameda County Probation Department, which is helping to fund the work, says Shauna Conner, the department’s community reentry and outreach director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says stable housing is essential for the clients she works with. “It’s difficult to get people to participate in other services if they’re not housed,” she says. “You’re dealing with not only potential recidivism due to homelessness, but also interruption to their ability to adjust to the reentry process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Katie Dixon, finding an apartment after years of homelessness changed everything. “In the two years that I’ve had stable housing, the whole quality of my life has improved,” says Dixon, who spent more than a decade going in and out of juvenile detention facilities, jails and prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies have shown that stable housing reduces the likelihood of recidivism. One of the best regarded among the studies \u003ca href=\"https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/25716/412632-Supportive-Housing-for-Returning-Prisoners-Outcomes-and-Impacts-of-the-Returning-Home-Ohio-Pilot-Project.PDF\">examined the Returning Home–Ohio Pilot Program (PDF)\u003c/a>, which provided permanent supportive housing to formerly incarcerated people with a history or risk of homelessness. Researchers found that participants were 40% less likely to be rearrested and 61% less likely to be reincarcerated than a comparison group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Dixon the reasons are obvious: Without a stable place to live, someone on probation might be forced into destructive choices, like crashing with friends who are involved in criminal activities, which could lead to a probation violation, or staying in an abusive relationship that exacerbates mental health issues just to keep a roof over their head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Dixon got her own place, she’s been able to exercise, eat healthier food and meditate. Having a private space and reliable internet connection also allowed her to complete a virtual policy training program she credits for her current job as an organizer with the ACLU of Northern California.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "Related Stories ",
"postid": "news_11935806,news_11927968,news_11932895"
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Oakland property owner Madden has one vacancy to fill at the moment. One potential applicant recently got out of jail, a fact she learned from a local pastor who referred the man. Over the years she’s rented to a few people with criminal records. What the experience has shown her, more than anything, is that people reentering the community don’t get the support they need. If landlords are going to do their part, she says, the government should do its part, too, and make sure people leaving prisons and jails can succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I found from those programs is that after they get them in, they leave them. So all their counseling stops, everything stops. And once it all stops, they stop,” she says. “So I get very nervous about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Avoiding this “cliff” is something the probation department’s Conner thinks a lot about. She says the agency has been expanding its transition services, in part by doubling down on case management, life skills training and discharge planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of that solves the biggest problem she sees when it comes to housing: affording it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conner sees fair chance ordinances as an important step, but, she says, “Even once we get people access, there’s still a limited pool of things that they can actually rent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a study set to be released early next year, the Council of State Governments Justice Center asked state departments of correction across the country to identify \u003ca href=\"https://csgjusticecenter.org/people/charles-francis/\">the biggest barriers to reentry housing success\u003c/a>. According to the Center’s Charles Francis, 84% named discrimination and stigma as a top concern, while 74% named restrictive policies on the part of housing providers. The top barrier, identified by 95% of respondents, was a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/news/11936245/alameda-county-bans-criminal-background-checks-on-tenants-in-move-to-fight-homelessness",
"authors": [
"11276"
],
"categories": [
"news_6266",
"news_6188",
"news_8"
],
"tags": [
"news_260",
"news_32212",
"news_4020"
],
"featImg": "news_11936258",
"label": "news"
}
},
"podcastsReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"podcasts": {}
},
"radioProgramsReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"radioPrograms": {}
},
"programsReducer": {
"all-things-considered": {
"id": "all-things-considered",
"title": "All Things Considered",
"info": "Every weekday, \u003cem>All Things Considered\u003c/em> hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features. Michel Martin hosts on the weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 1pm-2pm, 4:30pm-6:30pm\u003cbr />SAT-SUN 5pm-6pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/All-Things-Considered-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/all-things-considered"
},
"american-suburb-podcast": {
"id": "american-suburb-podcast",
"title": "American Suburb: The Podcast",
"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/American-Suburb-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 19
},
"link": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=1287748328",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/American-Suburb-p1086805/",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/feed/podcast",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMzMDExODgxNjA5"
}
},
"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Bay Curious",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
"link": "/podcasts/baycurious",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9a90d476-aa04-455d-9a4c-0871ed6216d4/bay-curious",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"
}
},
"bbc-world-service": {
"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-the-california-report/id79681292",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432285393/the-california-report",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-the-california-report-podcast-8838",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcram/feed/podcast"
}
},
"californiareportmagazine": {
"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report Magazine",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 10
},
"link": "/californiareportmagazine",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/564733126/the-california-report-magazine",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-california-report-magazine",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrmag/feed/podcast"
}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
"tagline": "Your irreverent guide to the trends redefining our world",
"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAT_2_Tile-scaled.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Close All Tabs",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/close-all-tabs/id214663465",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC6993880386",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/92d9d4ac-67a3-4eed-b10a-fb45d45b1ef2/close-all-tabs",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6LAJFHnGK1pYXYzv6SIol6?si=deb0cae19813417c"
}
},
"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
}
},
"commonwealth-club": {
"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
"forum": {
"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/forum",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-forum/id73329719",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432307980/forum",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-forum-podcast",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9557381633"
}
},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fresh-Air-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Fresh-Air-p17/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
}
},
"here-and-now": {
"id": "here-and-now",
"title": "Here & Now",
"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
"airtime": "MON-THU 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/here-and-now",
"subsdcribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=426698661",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Here--Now-p211/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/How-I-Built-This-p910896/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hyphenaci%C3%B3n/id1191591838",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
"youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/c/kqedarts",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/790253322/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/jerrybrown/feed/podcast/",
"tuneIn": "http://tun.in/pjGcK",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/54C1dmuyFyKMFttY6X2j6r?si=K8SgRCoISNK6ZbjpXrX5-w",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/44420f75-3b0e-4301-ab3b-16da6b09e543/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown"
}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Latino-USA-p621/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201853034&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/APM-Marketplace-p88/",
"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/onourwatch",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-Our-Watch-p1436229/",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/political-breakdown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/07RVyIjIdk2WDuVehvBMoN",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/political-breakdown/feed/podcast"
}
},
"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
}
},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pri.org/programs/the-world",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "PRI"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pri-the-world",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pris-the-world-latest-edition/id278196007?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/PRIs-The-World-p24/",
"rss": "http://feeds.feedburner.com/pri/theworld"
}
},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
"airtime": "SUN 12am-1am, SAT 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/radiolab1400.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolab/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/radiolab",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/radiolab/id152249110?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/RadioLab-p68032/",
"rss": "https://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab"
}
},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/reveal/id886009669",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Reveal-p679597/",
"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
}
},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rightnowish-Podcast-Tile-500x500-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Rightnowish with Pendarvis Harshaw",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/programs/rightnowish/feed/podcast",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMxMjU5MTY3NDc4",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I"
}
},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
"airtime": "FRI 11am-1pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Science-Friday-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/science-friday",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/science-friday",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=73329284&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Science-Friday-p394/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/science-friday"
}
},
"snap-judgment": {
"id": "snap-judgment",
"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
"airtime": "SAT 1pm-2pm, 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Snap-Judgment-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Snap Judgment",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 4
},
"link": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snap-judgment/id283657561",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/449018144/snap-judgment",
"stitcher": "https://www.pandora.com/podcast/snap-judgment/PC:241?source=stitcher-sunset",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cct7ZWmxHNAtLgBTqjC5v",
"rss": "https://snap.feed.snapjudgment.org/"
}
},
"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sold-Out-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/soldout",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 13
},
"link": "/podcasts/soldout",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/911586047/s-o-l-d-o-u-t-a-new-future-for-housing",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america/id1531354937",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/soldout",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/38dTBSk2ISFoPiyYNoKn1X",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america",
"tunein": "https://tunein.com/radio/SOLD-OUT-Rethinking-Housing-in-America-p1365871/"
}
},
"spooked": {
"id": "spooked",
"title": "Spooked",
"tagline": "True-life supernatural stories",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Spooked-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Spooked",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 7
},
"link": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spooked/id1279361017",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/549547848/snap-judgment-presents-spooked",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/76571Rfl3m7PLJQZKQIGCT",
"rss": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/TBotaapn"
}
},
"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
"airtime": "FRI 10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tech-Nation-Radio-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://technation.podomatic.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "Tech Nation Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tech-nation",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://technation.podomatic.com/rss2.xml"
}
},
"ted-radio-hour": {
"id": "ted-radio-hour",
"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm, SAT 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/tedRadioHour.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2018-06-22",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/ted-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/8vsS",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=523121474&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/TED-Radio-Hour-p418021/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510298/podcast.xml"
}
},
"thebay": {
"id": "thebay",
"title": "The Bay",
"tagline": "Local news to keep you rooted",
"info": "Host Devin Katayama walks you through the biggest story of the day with reporters and newsmakers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Bay-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Bay",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/thebay",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 2
},
"link": "/podcasts/thebay",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bay/id1350043452",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d800ea4c-7a2c-42f2-b861-edaf78a5db0b/the-bay",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/586725995/the-bay",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-bay",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/4BIKBKIujizLHlIlBNaAqQ",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC8259786327"
}
},
"thelatest": {
"id": "thelatest",
"title": "The Latest",
"tagline": "Trusted local news in real time",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-Latest-2025-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Latest",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/thelatest",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 6
},
"link": "/thelatest",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-latest-from-kqed/id1197721799",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1257949365/the-latest-from-k-q-e-d",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/5KIIXMgM9GTi5AepwOYvIZ?si=bd3053fec7244dba",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9137121918"
}
},
"theleap": {
"id": "theleap",
"title": "The Leap",
"tagline": "What if you closed your eyes, and jumped?",
"info": "Stories about people making dramatic, risky changes, told by award-winning public radio reporter Judy Campbell.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Leap-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Leap",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/theleap",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 17
},
"link": "/podcasts/theleap",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-leap/id1046668171",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/447248267/the-leap",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-leap",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3sSlVHHzU0ytLwuGs1SD1U",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/the-leap/feed/podcast"
}
},
"the-moth-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-moth-radio-hour",
"title": "The Moth Radio Hour",
"info": "Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Since 2008, The Moth podcast has featured many of our favorite stories told live on Moth stages around the country. For information on all of our programs and live events, visit themoth.org.",
"airtime": "SAT 8pm-9pm and SUN 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/theMoth.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://themoth.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "prx"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-moth-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-moth-podcast/id275699983?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/The-Moth-p273888/",
"rss": "http://feeds.themoth.org/themothpodcast"
}
},
"the-new-yorker-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"title": "The New Yorker Radio Hour",
"info": "The New Yorker Radio Hour is a weekly program presented by the magazine's editor, David Remnick, and produced by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Each episode features a diverse mix of interviews, profiles, storytelling, and an occasional burst of humor inspired by the magazine, and shaped by its writers, artists, and editors. This isn't a radio version of a magazine, but something all its own, reflecting the rich possibilities of audio storytelling and conversation. Theme music for the show was composed and performed by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YArDs.",
"airtime": "SAT 10am-11am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-New-Yorker-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/tnyradiohour",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1050430296",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/New-Yorker-Radio-Hour-p803804/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/newyorkerradiohour"
}
},
"the-sam-sanders-show": {
"id": "the-sam-sanders-show",
"title": "The Sam Sanders Show",
"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
"airtime": "FRI 12-1pm AND SAT 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Sam-Sanders-Show-Podcast-Tile-400x400-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "KCRW"
},
"link": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feed.cdnstream1.com/zjb/feed/download/ac/28/59/ac28594c-e1d0-4231-8728-61865cdc80e8.xml"
}
},
"the-splendid-table": {
"id": "the-splendid-table",
"title": "The Splendid Table",
"info": "\u003cem>The Splendid Table\u003c/em> hosts our nation's conversations about cooking, sustainability and food culture.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Splendid-Table-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.splendidtable.org/",
"airtime": "SUN 10-11 pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-splendid-table"
},
"this-american-life": {
"id": "this-american-life",
"title": "This American Life",
"info": "This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.",
"airtime": "SAT 12pm-1pm, 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/thisAmericanLife.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wbez"
},
"link": "/radio/program/this-american-life",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201671138&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"rss": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/rss.xml"
}
},
"tinydeskradio": {
"id": "tinydeskradio",
"title": "Tiny Desk Radio",
"info": "We're bringing the best of Tiny Desk to the airwaves, only on public radio.",
"airtime": "SUN 8pm and SAT 9pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/300x300-For-Member-Station-Logo-Tiny-Desk-Radio-@2x.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-52030/tiny-desk-radio",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tinydeskradio",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/g-s1-52030/rss.xml"
}
},
"wait-wait-dont-tell-me": {
"id": "wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"title": "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!",
"info": "Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis host the weekly NPR News quiz show alongside some of the best and brightest news and entertainment personalities.",
"airtime": "SUN 10am-11am, SAT 11am-12pm, SAT 6pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Wait-Wait-Podcast-Tile-300x300-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/Xogv",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=121493804&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Wait-Wait-Dont-Tell-Me-p46/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/344098539/podcast.xml"
}
},
"weekend-edition-saturday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-saturday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Saturday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Saturday wraps up the week's news and offers a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics, including arts, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories. The two-hour program is hosted by NPR's Peabody Award-winning Scott Simon.",
"airtime": "SAT 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-saturday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-saturday"
},
"weekend-edition-sunday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-sunday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Sunday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.",
"airtime": "SUN 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-sunday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-sunday"
}
},
"racesReducer": {},
"racesGenElectionReducer": {},
"racesGenElection2026Reducer": {},
"radioSchedulesReducer": {},
"listsReducer": {
"posts/news?tag=formerly-incarcerated": {
"isFetching": false,
"latestQuery": {
"from": 0,
"size": 12
},
"vitalsOnly": false,
"totalRequested": 12,
"isLoading": false,
"isLoadingMore": true,
"total": {
"value": 12,
"relation": "eq"
},
"items": [
"news_12088096",
"news_12066539",
"news_12055960",
"news_12051263",
"news_12049979",
"news_12035958",
"news_12034726",
"news_12034513",
"news_12031584",
"news_12031367",
"news_12009162",
"news_11936245"
],
"complete": true
}
},
"recallGuideReducer": {
"intros": {},
"policy": {},
"candidates": {}
},
"savedArticleReducer": {
"articles": [],
"status": {}
},
"newslettersReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"newsletters": {},
"isSubscribing": false,
"isUnsubscribing": false,
"subscribedNewsletters": {}
},
"termsReducer": {
"about": {
"name": "About",
"type": "terms",
"id": "about",
"slug": "about",
"link": "/about",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"arts": {
"name": "Arts & Culture",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"description": "KQED Arts provides daily in-depth coverage of the Bay Area's music, art, film, performing arts, literature and arts news, as well as cultural commentary and criticism.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "arts",
"slug": "arts",
"link": "/arts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"artschool": {
"name": "Art School",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "artschool",
"slug": "artschool",
"link": "/artschool",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareabites": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareabites",
"slug": "bayareabites",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareahiphop": {
"name": "Bay Area Hiphop",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareahiphop",
"slug": "bayareahiphop",
"link": "/bayareahiphop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"campaign21": {
"name": "Campaign 21",
"type": "terms",
"id": "campaign21",
"slug": "campaign21",
"link": "/campaign21",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"careers": {
"name": "Careers",
"type": "terms",
"id": "careers",
"slug": "careers",
"link": "/careers",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"checkplease": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "checkplease",
"slug": "checkplease",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"education": {
"name": "Education",
"grouping": [
"education"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "education",
"slug": "education",
"link": "/education",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"elections": {
"name": "Elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "elections",
"slug": "elections",
"link": "/elections",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"events": {
"name": "Events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "events",
"slug": "events",
"link": "/events",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"event": {
"name": "Event",
"alias": "events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "event",
"slug": "event",
"link": "/event",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"filmschoolshorts": {
"name": "Film School Shorts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "filmschoolshorts",
"slug": "filmschoolshorts",
"link": "/filmschoolshorts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"food": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "food",
"slug": "food",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"forum": {
"name": "Forum",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/forum?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "forum",
"slug": "forum",
"link": "/forum",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"futureofyou": {
"name": "Future of You",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "futureofyou",
"slug": "futureofyou",
"link": "/futureofyou",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"jpepinheart": {
"name": "KQED food",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/food,bayareabites,checkplease",
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "jpepinheart",
"slug": "jpepinheart",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"liveblog": {
"name": "Live Blog",
"type": "terms",
"id": "liveblog",
"slug": "liveblog",
"link": "/liveblog",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"livetv": {
"name": "Live TV",
"parent": "tv",
"type": "terms",
"id": "livetv",
"slug": "livetv",
"link": "/livetv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"lowdown": {
"name": "The Lowdown",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/lowdown?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "lowdown",
"slug": "lowdown",
"link": "/lowdown",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"mindshift": {
"name": "Mindshift",
"parent": "news",
"description": "MindShift explores the future of education by highlighting the innovative – and sometimes counterintuitive – ways educators and parents are helping all children succeed.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "mindshift",
"slug": "mindshift",
"link": "/mindshift",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"news": {
"name": "News",
"grouping": [
"news",
"forum"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "news",
"slug": "news",
"link": "/news",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"newsletters": {
"name": "newsletters",
"type": "terms",
"id": "newsletters",
"slug": "newsletters",
"link": "/newsletters",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"perspectives": {
"name": "Perspectives",
"parent": "radio",
"type": "terms",
"id": "perspectives",
"slug": "perspectives",
"link": "/perspectives",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"podcasts": {
"name": "Podcasts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "podcasts",
"slug": "podcasts",
"link": "/podcasts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pop": {
"name": "Pop",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pop",
"slug": "pop",
"link": "/pop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pressroom": {
"name": "Pressroom",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pressroom",
"slug": "pressroom",
"link": "/pressroom",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"quest": {
"name": "Quest",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "quest",
"slug": "quest",
"link": "/quest",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"radio": {
"name": "Radio",
"grouping": [
"forum",
"perspectives"
],
"description": "Listen to KQED Public Radio – home of Forum and The California Report – on 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento, 88.3 FM in Santa Rosa and 88.1 FM in Martinez.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "radio",
"slug": "radio",
"link": "/radio",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"root": {
"name": "KQED",
"image": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"imageWidth": 1200,
"imageHeight": 630,
"headData": {
"title": "KQED | News, Radio, Podcasts, TV | Public Media for Northern California",
"description": "KQED provides public radio, television, and independent reporting on issues that matter to the Bay Area. We’re the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California."
},
"type": "terms",
"id": "root",
"slug": "root",
"link": "/root",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"science": {
"name": "Science",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"description": "KQED Science brings you award-winning science and environment coverage from the Bay Area and beyond.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "science",
"slug": "science",
"link": "/science",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"stateofhealth": {
"name": "State of Health",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "stateofhealth",
"slug": "stateofhealth",
"link": "/stateofhealth",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"support": {
"name": "Support",
"type": "terms",
"id": "support",
"slug": "support",
"link": "/support",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"thedolist": {
"name": "The Do List",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "thedolist",
"slug": "thedolist",
"link": "/thedolist",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"trulyca": {
"name": "Truly CA",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "trulyca",
"slug": "trulyca",
"link": "/trulyca",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"tv": {
"name": "TV",
"type": "terms",
"id": "tv",
"slug": "tv",
"link": "/tv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"voterguide": {
"name": "Voter Guide",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "voterguide",
"slug": "voterguide",
"link": "/voterguide",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"guiaelectoral": {
"name": "Guia Electoral",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "guiaelectoral",
"slug": "guiaelectoral",
"link": "/guiaelectoral",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"news_tag_formerly-incarcerated": {
"isLoading": true
},
"news_32212": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_32212",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "32212",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "formerly incarcerated",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "formerly incarcerated Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 32229,
"slug": "formerly-incarcerated",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/formerly-incarcerated"
},
"news_6266": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_6266",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "6266",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Housing",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Housing Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 6290,
"slug": "housing",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/housing"
},
"news_28250": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_28250",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "28250",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Local",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Local Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 28267,
"slug": "local",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/local"
},
"news_8": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_8",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "8",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "News",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "News Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 8,
"slug": "news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/news"
},
"news_3921": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_3921",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "3921",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "affordable housing",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "affordable housing Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3940,
"slug": "affordable-housing",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/affordable-housing"
},
"news_1386": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_1386",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "1386",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Bay Area",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Bay Area Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1398,
"slug": "bay-area",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/bay-area"
},
"news_27626": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_27626",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "27626",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "featured-news",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "featured-news Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 27643,
"slug": "featured-news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/featured-news"
},
"news_34388": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_34388",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "34388",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "funding",
"slug": "funding",
"taxonomy": "tag",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "funding Archives | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 34405,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/funding"
},
"news_1775": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_1775",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "1775",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "housing",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "housing Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1790,
"slug": "housing",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/housing"
},
"news_38": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_38",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "38",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "San Francisco",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "San Francisco Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 58,
"slug": "san-francisco",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/san-francisco"
},
"news_33739": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33739",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33739",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Housing",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Housing Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33756,
"slug": "housing",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/housing"
},
"news_33733": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33733",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33733",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "News",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "News Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33750,
"slug": "news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/news"
},
"news_33729": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33729",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33729",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "San Francisco",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "San Francisco Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33746,
"slug": "san-francisco",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/san-francisco"
},
"news_35718": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_35718",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "35718",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "housing assistance",
"slug": "housing-assistance",
"taxonomy": "tag",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "housing assistance | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 35735,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/housing-assistance"
},
"news_3424": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_3424",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "3424",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "nonprofits",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "nonprofits Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3442,
"slug": "nonprofits",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/nonprofits"
},
"news_31795": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_31795",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "31795",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 31812,
"slug": "california",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/california"
},
"news_18540": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_18540",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "18540",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Education",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Education Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2595,
"slug": "education",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/education"
},
"news_260": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_260",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "260",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Alameda County",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Alameda County Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 268,
"slug": "alameda-county",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/alameda-county"
},
"news_129": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_129",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "129",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Berkeley",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Berkeley Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 133,
"slug": "berkeley",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/berkeley"
},
"news_18538": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_18538",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "18538",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 31,
"slug": "california",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/california"
},
"news_20013": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_20013",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "20013",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "education",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "education Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 20030,
"slug": "education",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/education"
},
"news_35130": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_35130",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "35130",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "juvenile hall",
"slug": "juvenile-hall",
"taxonomy": "tag",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "juvenile hall | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 35147,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/juvenile-hall"
},
"news_17597": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_17597",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "17597",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "UC Berkeley",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "UC Berkeley Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 17631,
"slug": "uc-berkeley",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/uc-berkeley"
},
"news_33742": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33742",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33742",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Berkeley",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Berkeley Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33759,
"slug": "berkeley",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/berkeley"
},
"news_33746": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33746",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33746",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Education",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Education Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33763,
"slug": "education",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/education"
},
"news_34167": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_34167",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "34167",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "Criminal Justice",
"slug": "criminal-justice",
"taxonomy": "category",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "Criminal Justice Archives | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 34184,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/criminal-justice"
},
"news_6188": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_6188",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "6188",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Law and Justice",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Law and Justice Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 6212,
"slug": "law-and-justice",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/law-and-justice"
},
"news_17725": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_17725",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "17725",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "criminal justice",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "criminal justice Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 17759,
"slug": "criminal-justice",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/criminal-justice"
},
"news_33723": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33723",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33723",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "fci dublin",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "fci dublin Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33740,
"slug": "fci-dublin",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/fci-dublin"
},
"news_33888": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33888",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33888",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33905,
"slug": "federal-correctional-institution-in-dublin",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/federal-correctional-institution-in-dublin"
},
"news_28654": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_28654",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "28654",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "incarcerated",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "incarcerated Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 28671,
"slug": "incarcerated",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/incarcerated"
},
"news_1305": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_1305",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "1305",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "prison guards",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "prison guards Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1317,
"slug": "prison-guards",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/prison-guards"
},
"news_4435": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_4435",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "4435",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Rape",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Rape Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4454,
"slug": "rape",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/rape"
},
"news_1527": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_1527",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "1527",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "sexual assault",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "sexual assault Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1539,
"slug": "sexual-assault",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/sexual-assault"
},
"news_2838": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_2838",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "2838",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "sexual harassment",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "sexual harassment Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2856,
"slug": "sexual-harassment",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/sexual-harassment"
},
"news_32043": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_32043",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "32043",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "women's prison",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "women's prison Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 32060,
"slug": "womens-prison",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/womens-prison"
},
"news_33745": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33745",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33745",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Criminal Justice",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Criminal Justice Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33762,
"slug": "criminal-justice",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/criminal-justice"
},
"news_33741": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33741",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33741",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "East Bay",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "East Bay Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33758,
"slug": "east-bay",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/east-bay"
},
"news_22960": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_22960",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "22960",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "community",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "community Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 22977,
"slug": "community",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/community"
},
"news_17759": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_17759",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "17759",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "domestic violence",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "domestic violence Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 17793,
"slug": "domestic-violence",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/domestic-violence"
},
"news_18365": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_18365",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "18365",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "restorative justice",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "restorative justice Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 18399,
"slug": "restorative-justice",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/restorative-justice"
},
"news_30212": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_30212",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "30212",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "social services",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "social services Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 30229,
"slug": "social-services",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/social-services"
},
"news_19954": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_19954",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "19954",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Law and Justice",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Law and Justice Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 19971,
"slug": "law-and-justice",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/law-and-justice"
},
"news_33738": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33738",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33738",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33755,
"slug": "california",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/california"
},
"news_616": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_616",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "616",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California prisons",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California prisons Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 625,
"slug": "california-prisons",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/california-prisons"
},
"news_3543": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_3543",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "3543",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Dublin",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Dublin Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3561,
"slug": "dublin",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/dublin"
},
"news_18352": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_18352",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "18352",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "East Bay",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "East Bay Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 18386,
"slug": "east-bay",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/east-bay"
},
"news_2700": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_2700",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "2700",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "sexual abuse",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "sexual abuse Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2718,
"slug": "sexual-abuse",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/sexual-abuse"
},
"news_457": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_457",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "457",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Health Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 16998,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/health"
},
"news_86": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_86",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "86",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "gangs",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "gangs Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 88,
"slug": "gangs",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/gangs"
},
"news_18543": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_18543",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "18543",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Health Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 466,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/health"
},
"news_2109": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_2109",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "2109",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "mental health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "mental health Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2124,
"slug": "mental-health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/mental-health"
},
"news_922": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_922",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "922",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "ucsf",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "ucsf Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 932,
"slug": "ucsf",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/ucsf"
},
"news_33747": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_33747",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "33747",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Health Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 33764,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/interest/health"
},
"news_17626": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_17626",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "17626",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "crime",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "crime Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 17660,
"slug": "crime",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/crime"
},
"news_1917": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_1917",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "1917",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "women's rights",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "women's rights Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1932,
"slug": "womens-rights",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/womens-rights"
},
"news_34054": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_34054",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "34054",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "oakland",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "oakland Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 34071,
"slug": "oakland",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/oakland"
},
"news_34168": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_34168",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "34168",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "Guides and Explainers",
"slug": "guides-and-explainers",
"taxonomy": "category",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "Guides and Explainers Archives | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 34185,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/guides-and-explainers"
},
"news_13": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_13",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "13",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "Politics",
"slug": "politics",
"taxonomy": "category",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "Politics | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 13,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/category/politics"
},
"news_32707": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_32707",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "32707",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "audience-news",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "audience-news Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 32724,
"slug": "audience-news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/audience-news"
},
"news_32839": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_32839",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "32839",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Election 2024",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Election 2024 Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 32856,
"slug": "election-2024",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/election-2024"
},
"news_28639": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_28639",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "28639",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Election Explainers",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Election Explainers Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 28656,
"slug": "election-explainers",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/election-explainers"
},
"news_17968": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_17968",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "17968",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "Politics",
"slug": "politics",
"taxonomy": "tag",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "Politics | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null
},
"ttid": 18002,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/politics"
},
"news_2027": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_2027",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "2027",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "voting",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "voting Archives | KQED News",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2042,
"slug": "voting",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/voting"
},
"news_4020": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "news_4020",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "news",
"id": "4020",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"name": "Homelessness",
"slug": "homelessness",
"taxonomy": "tag",
"description": null,
"featImg": null,
"headData": {
"title": "Homelessness | KQED News",
"description": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogDescription": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"twDescription": null,
"twImgId": null,
"metaRobotsNoIndex": "index"
},
"ttid": 4039,
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/news/tag/homelessness"
}
},
"userPermissionsReducer": {
"wpLoggedIn": false
},
"eventsReducer": {},
"fssReducer": {},
"tvDailyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvWeeklyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvPrimetimeScheduleReducer": {},
"tvMonthlyScheduleReducer": {},
"userAccountReducer": {
"user": {
"email": null,
"emailStatus": "EMAIL_UNVALIDATED",
"loggedStatus": "LOGGED_OUT",
"loggingChecked": false,
"articles": [],
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"phoneNumber": null,
"fetchingMembership": false,
"membershipError": false,
"memberships": [
{
"id": null,
"startDate": null,
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"familyNumber": null,
"memberNumber": null,
"memberSince": null,
"expirationDate": null,
"pfsEligible": false,
"isSustaining": false,
"membershipLevel": "Prospect",
"membershipStatus": "Non Member",
"lastGiftDate": null,
"renewalDate": null,
"lastDonationAmount": null
}
]
},
"authModal": {
"isOpen": false,
"view": "LANDING_VIEW"
},
"error": null
},
"youthMediaReducer": {},
"checkPleaseReducer": {
"filterData": {
"region": {
"key": "Restaurant Region",
"filters": [
"Any Region"
]
},
"cuisine": {
"key": "Restaurant Cuisine",
"filters": [
"Any Cuisine"
]
}
},
"restaurantDataById": {},
"restaurantIdsSorted": [],
"error": null
},
"userAgentReducer": {
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)",
"isBot": true
}
}
