Partially excerpted from the organization’s website

TRUST is an acronym for “Teaching Responsibility Utilizing Sociological Training.” The program is run out of San Quentin Prison under the sponsorship of Kathleen Jackson  — a very dedicated teacher and mentor — and it seeks to convert men in prison from liabilities into assets by conducting workshops (and engaging in other positive behaviors)  that target their criminal value systems. According to the group’s website, “We therefore aim to replace that value system with a new system that promotes positive, life affirming behavior among [ourselves] the men in prison.”

 The organization also sponsors cultural celebrations that promote and reinforce its core guiding principles, which are also taught within the workshop settings. Additionally, the group sponsors health fairs and fundraising events as they seek to help men to begin to accept responsibility for the actions that landed them in prison in the first place and teaches them how to make amends. Their goal is to cognitively restructure themselves while behind bars so they become assets to themselves, their families and their communities upon release. 

According to the website the San Quentin TRUST was “established by a group of incarcerated educated men who have enhanced their value system from their former criminal lifestyle while they are still incarcerated. With assistance by Dr. Garry Mendez, these men, through their hard work and determination, created a program at San Quentin that was validated and deemed a functioning program of the prison on August 11, 2003. With the help of staff sponsors and community support, the San Quentin TRUST has become a group of incarcerated men who have taken responsibility to rehabilitate themselves.”

TRUST’s core educational principle is its asset-based training. The program develops long-term prisoners into peer mentors who assist other men in changing negative behaviors and thought patterns by reinforcing positive ones … turning liabilities into assets. Its mission is to enhance and change the value systems criminals bring to prison:  from criminal behavior to a sense of respect. By building a bridge of communication with their communities for a successful reentry, they ultimately decrease crime and recidivism and improve public safety with the quality of life. Program mentors are called TRUST Fellows.

The men of the San Quentin TRUST recognize that many of those returning to society from prison can often become liabilities and their goal is to change that paradigm … to train and guide other prisoners as they make the same changes to their own lives.

The goal is to foster the development of a positive sense of self-worth; to commit to turning liabilities into assets; and to develop the necessary skills to become responsible and successful citizens. The mentors also assist men in their development by showing how values determine lifestyle and behavior through the examination of one’s own and others’ histories and cultures.

TRUST works toward these goals by teaching a year-long, three-part curriculum to the mainline population of inmates in San Quentin. This curriculum is taught in a series of weekly workshops on Thursday afternoons. The program provides a safe environment that creates and allows men the opportunity to purge negative thoughts and behaviors.

The workshops are offered in a six-module, 27-unit series in order to assist and prepare incarcerated men. These workshops are prepared and delivered by TRUST Fellows in collaboration with volunteers and other area specific professionals, who provide research and facilitation support. TRUST Fellows offer peer-to-peer training on each topic, aiding and educating their fellow prisoners in bettering themselves and preparing them for reentry.

The six modules are Internal Work, Health, Relationships, Organizational Skills/In the Workplace, Parole Preparation and Re-Entry. Each of the modules takes approximately one month. Many of the men in the program are lifers, so gauging how successful the program is in terms of reducing recidivism is difficult. But Jackson said, that to her knowledge, of the few men that have gone through the program and were released, none has ever returned to prison.

In a 2010 interview with Marin Magazine she stated, “… working with these men has shown me that here is an amazingly talented population that is mostly ignored or forgotten. The men I work with … have done a lot of work on themselves and, to my way of thinking, would make the community a safer place if they were outside. Why? Because they have worked on themselves for a very, very long time; they have dealt with their anger and they’ve dealt with their liabilities and worked to turn them into abilities, or assets. They understand the population that gets into trouble much better than those in law enforcement, political positions or the everyday citizen. Many of those I am with say that if they ever get out, they want to work with at-risk young people and they would be very good at it.”