Pilot prison program helps inmates with education, new lives

Jeff Caraballo doesn’t want to nickel and dime his way through life anymore.

So he’s trading in his Department of Corrections number for a student identification card.

“I’ve been a hustler on the streets my whole life,” Caraballo said. “It’s time to finally grow up.”

The 35-year-old inmate at the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs is one of 25 prisoners hoping education can give them new life after incarceration. They’re part of a pilot prison education program created in 2017 by the Nevada Legislature.

The College of Southern Nevada is spearheading the education of the inmates, who have been given the choice between two tracks: vocational training or college readiness.

“It will give me a life I’ve never had before,” Caraballo said.

With his hair slicked back, and dressed in shiny white sneakers and his prison-issue jean pants and shirt, Caraballo shared his story Friday from inside the prison.

In 2008, he fell into a serious meth addiction that led to a revolving door in and out of prison. His current stint stems from a burglary conviction.

Scheduled for release on June 22, the father of seven wants to build upon the college credits that he’s earning and complete an associate of arts degree at CSN. From there, he wants to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

“It’s been a tremendous help,” Caraballo said of the program. “It’s put me in the right direction.”

Caraballo and eight other inmates shared similar stories Friday with a contingent of higher education officials and Senate Majority Leader

PRISON

chose to endorse the Giunchigliani after an hourlong phone interview with her last month from which he and the other committee members came away with the same thought:

“What is it about Nevada that is producing a leader like this? We want to bottle it,” he said.

Gerald Benjamin, a longtime professor of political science at State University of New York at New Paltz, said theendorsementinthesilverstate seemslikea“nascentefforttousethe Workingfamiliespartytoorganize the left in national politics.”

The political dynamics in New York, wherethewfpgotitsstartinthe 1990s, are quite different from those in Nevada.

There, the WFP is considered a minor or third party. But unlike in most other places, third parties in New York can carry serious weight.

There, minor parties can appear on the ballots and even cross-endorse candidates, meaning that a candidate’s name could appear multiple times on the ballot in the same race butwithadifferentpartyendorsement next to their name. In 2012, for example, Barack Obama appeared on the New York ballot next to the Democratic endorsement. Three lines down, his name was listed next to the WFP endorsement.

The effect, Benjamin said, is that minor parties can mount significant challenges to the establishment parties.

For example, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, last week got himself a primary opponent in Cynthia Nixon, the actress known best for her role as Miranda in the Hboseries“sexandthecity.”if Nixoncanmanagetogetthewfp’s endorsement, Benjamin said, “the governor has a real problem.”

In Nevada, however, where the minor parties have historically had less influence, Benjamin isn’t sure what kind of measurable effect its endorsementwillhave.

So the question remains whether thewfpcanhavethesamekindof influence among progressive voters in Nevada that it has built its reputation on in New York.

“They can bring influence; people carry petitions, knock on doors,” Benjamin said. “But if their influence is not measurable, it’s hard to tell.”

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702383-4638. Follow @Coltonlochhead on Twitter.