It was not your typical college graduation.

Twenty-one men in robes and mortarboards of Norco College burgundy sat in folding chairs facing the podium, blue uniforms peeking out from the bottoms of their robes.

A handful of spectators sat at a nearby picnic bench, their blue uniforms clearly visible, with “Property of CDCR” — the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — written on each. Armed guards watched over the ceremony, which took place in a courtyard for visitors to the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, with a jungle gym off to one side for visiting children, and the entire courtyard ringed with razor wire.

Wearing graduation robes and mortarboards, inmates from the California Rehabilitation Center walk with their Norco College degrees during a commencement ceremony Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Rehabilitation Center inmates move their tassels after graduating with associate degrees from Norco College on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Sound The gallery will resume in seconds

Surrounded by armed guards and layers of barbed-wire fences, California Rehabilitation Center inmates attend their Norco College graduation Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Prison inmate Cordell Jones, right, laughs during the Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, Norco College graduation ceremony at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmates from the California Rehabilitation Center attend their Norco College commencement ceremony Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



Inmate Christopher Hunter shakes hands with a faculty member after receiving his associate degree from Norco College at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Cordell Jones speaks Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, as California Rehabilitation Center Warden Cynthia Tampkins, left, looks on during the Norco College commencement ceremony. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Rehabilitation Center Warden Cynthia Tampkins, left, talks to inmates after they received associate degrees from Norco College during the Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, commencement. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Chris Rowan, right, embraces his mother, Ronda Noel, after receiving his associate degree from Norco College at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Chris Rowan, center, listens to speakers during a Norco College commencement ceremony for inmates at California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



California Rehabilitation Center Warden Cynthia Tampkins, center, waits to congratulate inmates after a Norco College graduation ceremony at the California Rehabilitation Center on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Daniel Duron listens to his mothers greeting speech during a Norco College graduation ceremony at California Rehabilitation Center on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmates Michael Howey, left, and Christopher Hunter applaud during the Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, Norco College graduation ceremony for inmates at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Cordell Jones moves his tassel across his mortarboard during Norco College commencement ceremony for inmates at California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Inmate Israel Sanchez, right, shakes hands with fellow prisoners after receiving his associate degree from Norco College at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. The program aims to give prisoners job skills and to shorten their terms. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



“A shooting gallery is a place where heroin addicts hang out and come in and do their heroin,” student speaker Cordell Jones told the audience at Norco College’s graduation Friday, Jan. 31.

“At this place, there’s prostitution, there’s a lot of people ODing. This is the type of place I grew up in, the first few years of my life. The reason why my mother stopped using drugs is because I found her stash and ODed.”

Norco College began this program in fall 2017, teaching prisoners face to face inside the medium-security prison in several associate degree programs. The hope is that they will be released with the tools they need to never return to prison again.

“Data shows that prisoners who get college degrees don’t come back to prison,” Samuel Lee, Norco College’s vice president of academic affairs, told graduates, their guests and prison staff.

About half of those released from California prisons are later convicted of another crime, according to a January 2019 report from the corrections department. But inmates who take part in educational programs are 43% less likely to return to prison, according to a 2013 RAND Corporation report. They’re also 13% more likely to get a job after release. The RAND report suggests that every $1 invested in prison education saves taxpayers $4 to $5 after prisoners are released.

“Now I’m ready for another fight,” Jones told the audience. “Education is my fist, my weapon, my foundation.”

Twenty-two California community colleges, like Norco College, offer face-to-face college instruction in California prisons, according to the corrections department. Enrollment in the programs has grown from 5,451 in spring 2017 to 6,728 in fall 2019. The department is working with the California State University system to establish bachelor’s degree programs at several of the state’s 35 prisons.

The classes aren’t free for prisoners, though California residents who can demonstrate serious financial need receive have their community college tuition waived through a California College Promise Grant.

For Freddy Cisneros, 39, working on his degree was, at first, just about a taste of freedom.

“You’re incarcerated for 22 hours a day,” he said after graduation. “It was a way to get out of your cell.”

Cisneros, who’s been in prison since 2011, received his fifth degree Friday, this time an Associate of Arts in social and behavioral studies. Next year, he hopes to receive a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College.

Prisoners in California who complete a course or earn a degree can knock time off their sentences. Seven more men earned diplomas, but didn’t attend Friday’s ceremony, as they’d already been released.

The degrees shaved two and a half years off Cisneros’ sentence, but he still won’t be eligible for parole until March 2022.

Maureen Mitchell, chairwoman of the prison’s Inmate Family Council and a member of the California Statewide Inmate Family Council, says California Rehabilitation Center’s focus on rehabilitation is unusual — and starts at the top with Warden Cynthia Tampkins.

“I don’t know that philosophy is put in first place in other prisons,” Mitchell said. “She’s instilled in her staff that ‘Our job is to rehabilitate these inmates; they are put here for us to do exactly that.’ … There’s a big, big effort to get everyone at least a GED.”

Fewer than a dozen family members showed up to see the 21 prisoners graduate Friday. Mitchell said many families face a stigma when a family member is convicted.

“As a parent, you never have in the back of your mind, ‘Gosh, I can’t wait until my son goes to prison, won’t that be great?’” she said. “You have friends who kind of back away, even though you’re not the one who committed a crime. I think part of it is, not ignorance, but not knowing what to say.“

This is Jones’ second time in prison, something he promised his mother wouldn’t happen the first time he was incarcerated. But she died before he was released.

“I know you think I hit rock bottom, because here I am again,” Jones told the audience. “But the outcome is different this time because of my transformation and my rehabilitation and my choices in decision making.”

Jones, 52, has been incarcerated for six years on a 15-year sentence. He was approved for parole in December. On Friday, he received an Associates of Arts degree in sociology. He’s scheduled to be released in spring. He’s been accepted at Cal State Dominguez Hills and is waiting to hear back from several other schools he’s considering.

Jones hopes to get bachelor’s degrees in sociology and psychology. He wants to help former inmates connect with well-paying jobs, including rehabbing houses, to give them low- and no-skills jobs after their release.

According to Norco College staff, Jones has also talked about one day getting his Ph.D. and becoming a teacher.

Either way, he said, things are going to be different.

“Every person has two lives to live,” Jones told attendees, quoting Confucius. “The second one begins when you realize you only have one.”