Editor’s note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series on Folsom Prison’s efforts to racially integrate prisoners.

When news swept through Folsom State Prison that a new statewide policy was looking to break down racial barriers in individual prison cells, the response wasn’t exactly welcoming.

“Initially there was a lot of apprehension,” acknowledged Lt. Anthony Gentile, spokesman for the prison. “We were all a little skeptical” about the policy.

But since officially introducing the new prison cell integration policy on Feb. 1, the prison hasn’t experienced any significant problems, Gentile said.

So what went right?

Preparation and transition

The policy was gradually rolled out at three other prisons in 2008, explained California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

She said there were some early problems at Sierra Conservation Center in Jamestown, mostly involving inmates refusing to go along with the new classifications, but said those issues didn’t last long.

“We’ve prepared the inmates for this,” she said, with videos and brochures, among other outreach efforts.

At Folsom State Prison, several town hall-style meetings were conducted between inmates and prison staff, Gentile explained, to allay concerns the policy would upend their regimented world order.

“They were concerned we were going to take the whole of the population and just uproot everyone,” the lieutenant said. “And once they realized that’s not what we were going to do, they were a lot more amenable.”

“We’re not going to upset a happy home, for lack of a better word,” Gentile added.

The prison’s last informational meeting prior to the policy’s official roll-out occurred Jan. 28 between staff and more than 100 prisoners, some of whom were coming off of administrative segregation. Fittingly, the meeting occurred in the prison’s dining hall, the scene of an Oct. 7 riot between white and black inmates.

Unlike that volatile day, however, Gentile said the information was “very well received,” and invited a reporter to follow up in a couple of weeks to speak to a few inmates directly.

How it works

The integrated housing program assigns inmates a code that factors in as just one element in a multitude of components used to match inmates in cells, Thornton explained.

The prisoner’s criminal history, custody status, health care needs and even physical size all play roles in deciding who gets partnered with whom, as do several other factors.

When it comes to the five integrated housing codes, they range from “racially eligible,” meaning an inmate has been cleared to live with all races, to “restricted to own,” a classification that limits the inmate to living with only members of his own race.

The policy is not yet being applied to women’s institutions, Thornton said.

There are also temporary and partial restrictions, none of which preclude the inmates from participating in other fully integrated aspects of prison life, like vocational programs and prison work, Thornton added.

Other states that have implemented similar integration programs experienced reductions in racial tensions and violence, Thornton said. She believes the same thing can happen in California, and that the end result will better prepare inmates for the outside world.

“We don’t live this way in the community. Why can’t inmates live by the same standards?” she asked. “We just don’t believe gang members should be deciding” which inmates are paired to a cell.

Sac State criminal justice professor James Hernandez thinks that’s asking a bit much of a population that got where it is precisely for breaking rules. The northern and southern Hispanic gangs worry him the most.

“These guys absolutely hate each other,” said Hernandez, an expert on the subject of Latino gangs. “You’ll get a lot of guys that say, ‘Yeah, it’s no problem,’ but once they go into it they start to take care of business.”

Gangs like the Mexican Mafia or Nortenos, he added, “will lead the charge on challenging or accepting the desegregation.”

Thornton said they listen to inmates and look at their records when deciding how to house them.

“It’s all about keeping people safe,” Thornton said.