Inmates find opportunity through Chino diving program

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The hot sun beats down on the group of men handling tanks and other scuba equipment. 

"Check your air," shouts an instructor, while another prepares a separate group to connect an air hose to a heavy commercial dive mask.

By now, they’ve already done military drills and calisthenics in their wetsuits, so they are sweating. After their training dives of the day, they’ll have to train for the mandatory 5-mile swim they’ll eventually be timed on.

It's a typical day at a commercial diving school, except this site is surrounded by barbed wire, and the men are inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino. CALPIA has been funding the prison’s Marine Technology Training Center Commercial Diving Program since the 1970s. 

Initially taught by military divers, it’s now in the hands of one of the program’s graduates.

"We are putting out some of the best commercial divers out there," says Kenyatta Kalisana, who completed the program in 2008. 

Upon his release, he embarked on a long, successful commercial diving career, going from working rigs off the Texas coast to underwater docks in Louisiana and beyond. But when he got the call asking if he’d be willing to come back as an instructor, he jumped at it, recruiting a fellow commercial diver who’d also spent time in prison.

David Calvert explains it’s "the best feeling to see these guys work hard and succeed." 

As for the students, they admit the program is extremely difficult, especially for many who’ve never been in the ocean. Some never learned to swim. Suddenly, they find themselves having to master enough laps in the program pool to cover 5 miles.

Is it worth it? Look at our piece and listen to what they have to say. Perhaps the best example of what is possible comes with our interview of a retired commercial diver who graduated from the Chino divers program back in the 1970s. Phillip Davis says it opened up the world and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.

Perhaps the best testament to the program is the 6% recidivism rate being reported by the California Prison Industry Authority for inmates who complete the program. Keep in mind that CALPIA runs all kinds of job training programs in the system, which do make a difference. Eighty-five percent of those who participate in their job skill trainings don’t return to prison once paroled. For the Chino Divers, it’s approximately 95%.

Compare that to a 42% recidivism rate for the rest of the state’s prison population. One of the Chino diver students puts it this way: "When I see our instructors, I see hope, it’s possible, it’s light at the end of the tunnel."

"The things they have to do to get through the program," adds Davis, "are the things that will make them successful on the outside, no matter what they decide to do."