Los Rios Prison and Reentry Education Program faculty cleared of wrongdoing following investigation

By Keyshawn Davis, Solving Sacramento

Following a district-initiated investigation of nine faculty members in Los Rios Community College District’s Prison and Reentry Education Program, the president of the teachers union reported that they have been cleared of wrongdoing.

In an email to union members, Jason Newman, president of the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers wrote, “On July 18, 2024, all nine faculty under investigation were unequivocally exonerated of all charges.”

The district investigated the faculty members for several allegations, including violating  approved curriculum, physically moving letters from the prison to outside of the prison, and misusing faculty email to distribute those letters.

In response to a request for comment about the outcome, Los Rios Chief Strategy and Communications Officer Gabe Ross wrote in an email: “I can confirm that our independent investigation was completed, and it was determined there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by any Los Rios employee. In Los Rios, we have a legal and ethical responsibility to investigate any accusations that could constitute a violation of policy, the law, or both, but we never pre-suppose the outcome of any investigation. That is precisely why we typically use outside investigators to conduct investigations based on all facts available, such as in this case.”

Ross added, “Most importantly, we look forward to continuing classes in our PREP program and returning the focus to the students in this remarkable program and doing everything we can to help them reach their academic goals.”

In his email about the exoneration, Newman said the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers is pleased to have official confirmation of what they already knew was true: PREP faculty had done nothing wrong. 

“We now look forward to restarting the program and encouraging faculty to reenter the prisons. Our faculty want to engage with incarcerated students to help them achieve their dream of living a productive life outside of the system,” Newman wrote. “But our teachers remain concerned about working in the program. The LRCFT will work closely with LRCCD in the next year to ensure our new agreement is followed. Our students and faculty deserve it.” 

While there were frustrations on both sides, Newman wrote that the LRCFT negotiated stronger protections and provisions into the PREP Memorandum of Understanding in order to protect faculty if they were to return to the prisons. According to Newman, an MOU has now been completed that “prioritizes faculty authority over the educational process in the prisons.” 

“This includes clear processes for protecting academic freedom, addressing safety concerns, handling student grievances and assessing complaints,” according to his email. “We insisted on language with specific timelines for reimbursement and compensation payments.”

(Left to right) Kalinda Jones, Josh Fernandez and Veronica Lopez at Sacramento City College.Keyshawn Davis for Solving Sacramento