Kenney-Whitley, Ph.D., is the coordinator of the Rising Scholars program at Palomar College. She lives in North County. In March 2020, I started a new job as the first staff person dedicated to a Palomar College program for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students. I’d been teaching in the Vista Detention Facility since 2017 and, before that, worked extensively in communities impacted by cycles of mass incarceration; this move made sense for me.
Luis and his peers shared their stories generously: Even with a COVID-19 backdrop, what was then known as “Transitions” grew its support on campus and in the community. Transitions had overwhelming backing at Palomar College since it began in 2018, but now these students had to add a pandemic to the list of obstacles to overcome and they did so against monumental odds: About half of people released from jails and prisons return within three years.