The Bay

Formerly incarcerated people who can’t find work after prison face a 50 percent chance of returning to prison. Those who do find work have a better chance of staying out. San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison, has several programs such as arts, continuing education and electronics training to help inmates prepare for life outside its walls. One of these programs, Quentin Cooks, helps inmates learn kitchen skills and get certified to work in the food service industry after they get out of prison. But there are challenges that rehabilitation and transitional programs can’t prepare you for — the shock of being released into a Bay Area that looks and feels very different from the one you left.

Guest: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED reporter

The cost of going to prison is both personal and financial. That’s exacerbated by the price of phone calls from the inside. In San Francisco, a 15-minute phone call can cost $2.10. Other jails charge about $5. And it's often the family and friends of incarcerated people who pay these fees; often they are women of color and low-income people. So, San Francisco plans to eliminate fees for phone calls from jails, and will stop marking up the cost of items such as toiletries and food at the commissary. The proposal is personal for Mayor London Breed whose family members have served time in jail. She sees it as a form of rehabilitation that can improve inmate behavior and help people reenter society.

Guest: Marisa Lagos, correspondent for KQED’s Politics and Government Desk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cost of going to prison is both personal and financial. That’s exacerbated by the price of phone calls from the inside. In San Francisco, a 15-minute phone call can cost $2.10. Other jails charge about $5. And it's often the family and friends of incarcerated people who pay these fees; often they are women of color and low-income people. So, San Francisco plans to eliminate fees for phone calls from jails, and will stop marking up the cost of items such as toiletries and food at the commissary. The proposal is personal for Mayor London Breed whose family members have served time in jail. She sees it as a form of rehabilitation that can improve inmate behavior and help people reenter society.

Guest: Marisa Lagos, correspondent for KQED’s Politics and Government Desk

The cost of going to prison is both personal and financial. That’s exacerbated by the price of phone calls from the inside. In San Francisco, a 15-minute phone call can cost $2.10. Other jails charge about $5. And it's often the family and friends of incarcerated people who pay these fees; often they are women of color and low-income people. So, San Francisco plans to eliminate fees for phone calls from jails, and will stop marking up the cost of items such as toiletries and food at the commissary. The proposal is personal for Mayor London Breed whose family members have served time in jail. She sees it as a form of rehabilitation that can improve inmate behavior and help people reenter society.

Guest: Marisa Lagos, correspondent for KQED’s Politics and Government Desk

"Surreal" is the word Paradise High School seniors used over and over again to describe their graduation months after the deadly Camp Fire that leveled most of the town. Most of the students lost homes in the fire, the most deadly and destructive fire in recorded California history. Last week's ceremony was the first time most students had set foot on campus since they were forced to evacuate. We hear from students whose sense of normalcy was restored, at least for an evening.

Guest: Jeremy Siegel, KQED reporter

Click the "listen" button above to hear the interview. Or find the episode on your favorite podcast app.

Read Jeremy's story about twins Kirsten-Grace and Nicholas Baker graduating together from Paradise High, and see photos of the moving graduation ceremony.

Subscribe to The Bay on any of your favorite podcast apps to hear more local, Bay Area stories like this one. New episodes are released Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 a.m. Find The Bay on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, NPR One, or via Alexa.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Surreal” is the word Paradise High School seniors used over and over again to describe their graduation months after the deadly Camp Fire that leveled most of the town. Most of the students lost homes in the fire, the most deadly and destructive fire in recorded California history. Last week’s ceremony was the first time … Continue reading A ‘Surreal’ and Emotional Graduation for Paradise High →

"Surreal" is the word Paradise High School seniors used over and over again to describe their graduation months after the deadly Camp Fire that leveled most of the town. Most of the students lost homes in the fire, the most deadly and destructive fire in recorded California history. Last week's ceremony was the first time most students had set foot on campus since they were forced to evacuate. We hear from students whose sense of normalcy was restored, at least for an evening.

Guest: Jeremy Siegel, KQED reporter

Click the "listen" button above to hear the interview. Or find the episode on your favorite podcast app.

Read Jeremy's story about twins Kirsten-Grace and Nicholas Baker graduating together from Paradise High, and see photos of the moving graduation ceremony.

Subscribe to The Bay on any of your favorite podcast apps to hear more local, Bay Area stories like this one. New episodes are released Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 a.m.  Find The Bay on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, NPR One, or via Alexa.

The teachers strike at the New Haven School District in Union City and South Hayward has been going on for two weeks now. Unlike more recent teachers strikes around the Bay Area, New Haven’s comes at the end of the school year when students are supposed to take final exams and graduate. So if there’s no agreement, what does that mean for students?

Guest: Joseph Geha, reporter for the East Bay Times and Mercury News

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The teachers strike at the New Haven School District in Union City and South Hayward has been going on for two weeks now. Unlike more recent teachers strikes around the Bay Area, New Haven’s comes at the end of the school year when students are supposed to take final exams and graduate. So if there’s no agreement, what does that mean for students?

Guest: Joseph Geha, reporter for the East Bay Times and Mercury News

The teachers strike at the New Haven School District in Union City and South Hayward has been going on for two weeks now. Unlike more recent teachers strikes around the Bay Area, New Haven’s comes at the end of the school year when students are supposed to take final exams and graduate. So if there’s no agreement, what does that mean for students?

Guest: Joseph Geha, reporter for the East Bay Times and Mercury News