- [Narrator] This is not a university.
It's a prison.
And these men are learning how to code.
- Give them tools, give them support,
they will not re-offend.
It is gonna change the dynamic of families
across the country.
- [Narrator] We went behind the walls
of one of our country's oldest and most infamous prisons
to check out a program
that's transforming the lives of their students.
On average, 50% of incarcerated people in California
re-offend after their release.
But not a single graduate of this program
has returned to prison.
- Students are coming back to society
and they're also getting offered jobs
in successful tech companies.
- [Narrator] The Last Mile is flipping the script
on what's possible for their students
when given an opportunity.
- I look at my life
and every time I was disruptive I always got punished.
But here in tech, disruption is celebrated.
And they call it innovation.
- My name is Jason Jones,
I spent about 13 and a half years in prison.
I was getting write ups,
being very disruptive in the facility.
From some advice, I got introduced to The Last Mile.
It drastically changed my life.
Drastically.
Now I'm the lead remote instructor at The Last Mile.
(clapping)
I didn't even know what coding was before getting here.
That's real.
How many people think
this is like a definite job opportunity when you get out?
I like that.
I want y'all to know like, y'all got support.
'Cause coding is hard.
Work in teams, work together.
Your biggest resource, and I tell this to every class,
is the people in here.
(clapping)
- In 2010, prior to starting The Last Mile,
I committed to do about 30 minutes inside San Quentin
and speak to a group of men about business
and entrepreneurship.
I thought I'd talk to them, I'd get a bunch of blank stares
and I'd leave.
And what happened was,
this became one of the most engaged conversations
I've ever had.
These guys were prepared, they were interested,
they had a lot of desire.
Some guys had business plans
that they had been sitting on for years
and they finally had someone to show them.
Before I started this I had similar opinions
that it was an easy remedy to just lock 'em up.
And we talk a lot about second chances,
but many people in prison,
basically didn't have a first chance.
And to be honest with you,
Silicon Valley's probably the ideal place
for us to start this,
'cause Silicon Valley's all about failure,
dusting yourself off, starting over again.
- It challenged me on so many different levels.
But it was hard, like I struggled with reading still
at that time.
But the way I learned it was like
I used to have a facilitator print out blocks of code for me.
And I'd just write down in English what I think's going on.
And I'll go test it.
- The people in the program, it's their full time job,
so they're in the lab at least 30 hours a week.
They live this.
They meet on the weekends.
They're doing their own whiteboard sessions,
it's amazing how obsessed they are with this.
Of our returned citizens, we've had zero re-offend
over the last 10 years.
- The Last Mile is in five states today
in the United States.
17 classrooms, men, women and youth.
We have returned citizens coming back into San Francisco
and Silicon Valley area and they were getting jobs
and earning a much more marketable wage and thriving.
- The idea of being able to go through a process
of redemption is critically important.
People in the general public need to see
that process of redemption,
because it's not necessarily what someone did,
it's what they've done since that.
I mean this country is sort of built on second chances.
- So I grew up with this mentality,
like the world is against me.
At 11 years old I was in a foster home.
I was walking down the street
and one of my good friends got killed right in front of me.
That same year I joined a gang.
And didn't have like no remorse for anybody I hurt.
I went to prison because I shot someone
that molested my daughter.
I was really angry at the world.
The Last Mile helped me see some potential in me
that I didn't see at the time.
I just had so much trauma that I needed to unpack
and process throughout my childhood
that I would just like sweep it under the rug.
As time went by and I stayed in the program,
I started to find more of myself, more of my identity,
more of who I wanted to be.
- We feel like we're parents
to a lot of people in the program,
but Jason's particularly special.
When Jason got out it was really emotional
because his son was there
and he hadn't seen his son in years.
Then at that moment he was shedding that past
and looking to the future
and it's one of the most rewarding things you'll experience
where someone is actually stepping into a new life.
- What I'm most proud of,
aside from who he has become as a person,
is how he pays it forward.
And how he nurtures kids who could've been him.
Who he was. But he has such a genuine caring spirit,
and I love that about him.
- You can change so many lives.
Mentoring, showing them what success can look like
if they choose a different path.
Like so many youth when I go talk to them,
I tell 'em, I'm an engineer, they're like,
oh wow, you don't look like no engineer.
And if they don't see me as an engineer,
they don't see themself as an engineer,
and I think that's a big problem.
I can come into these young people's life
or even some of these adult's life
and then show them something different
than what their norm in their world is.
You know, in my time on earth did I make more room for people
or did I take up space for people?
Well I wanna be able to say I made more room.
- [Narrator] Beverley and Chris
are developing a bold solution
to one of our biggest problems.
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