Today nearly 70 percent of all prisoners will be rearrested within three years of their release. Might awareness of this failure invigorate efforts to reform the experience of incarceration in a country where more than two million people (out of a world total of nine million) inhabit prisons, jails, youth facilities, and immigrant detention centers? This conversation raises this question, and suggests practical and proven approaches to change.

MICHAEL HENNESSEY
Michael Hennessey has been Sheriff of San Francisco City and County for twenty-five years. His pioneering efforts to rehabilitate prisoners include a wide range of successful prisoner education and substance abuse recovery programs. Most recently, Sheriff Hennessey has worked with victim rights advocates to create Resolve to Stop the Violence (RSVP), an anti-violence curriculum for prisoners who have been convicted of violent crimes.

CATHRINE SNEED
Cathrine Sneed, Founder and Executive Director of The Garden Project, became inspired to give prisoners hope in their own potential for personal growth by finding a way to develop in them a sense of purpose and connectedness. Sponsored by The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, The Garden Project offers structure and support to former offenders through on- the-job training in gardening and tree care, counseling and assistance in continuing education.

MICHAEL KRASNY (moderator)
Michael Krasny is host and senior editor of KQED’s award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that explores the arts, culture, health, business and technology.