Ed
Joyce, Capital Public Radio News
The
California Arts Council has awarded contracts to 10 organizations that provide
arts programs for inmates. The money for the pilot program, $2.5 million, comes
from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Craig
Watson is the director of the California Arts Council. He says the programs
help prisoners reintegrate into society "in a much better way."
"The
vast majority of prisoners will someday be our neighbors, in one or more
communities of California, and so we need to be thinking about that and
providing all the avenues to improve their potential for success," says
Watson. "And the arts is a proven tactic for improving their state of
mind, their self-esteem and the preparation for being a potentially productive
member of society."
CALIFORNIA INMATES
Kyung
Lah and Jason Kravarik, CNN
(CNN)In
Hollywood, there's no better magnet for stargazing than a movie premiere. So on
a Sunday afternoon in late June, the summer sun couldn't keep thousands of fans
from lining Hollywood Boulevard, hoping to spot a star.
This
was the "Terminator Genisys" premiere, and only one star mattered:
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The former governor of California shook hands, signed
autographs and posed for selfies. It's the kind of personal attention Fred and
Kathy Santos wish they could get from Schwarzenegger, who they say stole
justice from their dead son.
"He
plays a hero in the movies, yet in real life he's not a hero," Fred Santos
said. "He's a dirty politician."