>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ kristen: hi. i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and get we answers for you in real time. that i, what do the shoe palace and adidas have to do with advancing stem education? they are back in the launching textbased education tours across the country. we will tell you all about it and talk to those involved and see if you have a young coder who wants to join in the fun. also music education is important to students though not everyone can afford an instrument and not every school

offers enough. a bay area nonprofit is kicking of a donation drive. we will ask trodetofe- governory announced a bold plan to turn the infamous saint quentin princeton into a place where --e prisoners can receive an education, training, and rehabilitation. >> we have to be in the homecoming business. it's not just about rehabilitation. it's about homecoming. 800 plus people again every year coming out of this. coming out of this institution. you want folks coming back feeling better. kristen: joining us live now to talk about the proposal and how workable it might be, susan champion, deputy director of the three strikes project at stanford law school. thanks for your time. >> thank you for having me. kristen: you are at the governor's news conference today. tell us, how do you feel about the plan to transform san

quentin into a rehab center? >> i have to say that i think it is an excellent opportunity for california to yet again lead the way in addressing issues like crime and rehabilitation. one of the things that is true about prison is that 90% of the people that go there are coming back, they are coming back to their communities. governor newsom is taking a huge stride toward making sure that those who do come back come back prepared to be successful and productive in society. kristen: if those resources as he envisions them are not there, what happens to the 90% of the people who do come back? what are they liking and what is the impact of that? >> -- lacking and what is the impact of that? >> we have been lucky since the huge surge of incarcerations in the 1990's and early 2000's. we took a step back to look

at what we are doing to ensure public safety. if our concern is really public safety, our concern is to make sure that when people come out, they are prepared to be successful and to be prosocial. the california department of corrections really focused on the "r," rehabilitation, and the past couple of decades, have slowly been moving toward a much more robust and comprehensive reentry and rehabilitation focus. and it has had a huge impact. they have had a male community program called mcrp, with a 92% reduction in recidivism for those who participate in the program for nine months. something that inmates can do in their last year of their incarcerations. it really does give them an opportunity to learn skills and be part of their communities before they are actually released. this i think it's just the logical next step in what i think has been a true hallmark of californians in recognizing

that we need to think differently about public safety and that it's not just about detention and incapacitation. it is also about redemption and return and the ability to really strengthen our communities and to give hope to our communities. kristen: talk about why that is so important both for the individual, the incarcerated individuals and their families and to society at large. >> so, obviously as you point out, a lot of families will be reunited. that is obviously very important to those that have lost a loved one to incarceration order crime. -- or to crime. ultimately if we have these robust programs and focusing on rehabilitation, we have the ability to drastically slash the recidivism rate for those coming out of prison right now. i've heard estimates the recidivism rate for california inmates that do not participate

in programs like this can be 40% or 60%. but we can reduce that to 92% lack of recidivism. an 8% recidivism rate by investing in these incredibly important programs that frankly inmates have been craving and seeking for many years. kristen: y mentioned -- you mentioned how this is the next logical step. in 2019 governor newsom issued a moratorium on carrying out death sentences and accelerated the closure of prisons. the thinking has really shifted and evolved. do we still imprison more people in this country than other countries? >> so, we absolutely imprison more people in the western world. our incarceration rate is the highest. in the united states certainly than in the western world. california makes a huge percentage of that -- makes up a huge percentage of that. we have a huge rate of

incarceration. about 100,000 californians that are behind bars for varying crimes, some of which are drug crimes, some property crimes, some are violent crimes obviously. we do have a high rate of incarceration both in the u.s. and in california in particular, and we have been slowly chipping away at that since about 2011, when we release headed to focus on bringing those numbers down. kristen: governor newsom's model i understand is based on norway's model. can you explain what that entails? what do they do in norway and what has worked for them? >> i was actually lucky enough to go to norway at there prisons, finland and norway -- their prisons, finland and norway. one of the prisons in norway was more like a group home setting and had a kitchen with knives in full display. it was very much like living in

a fraternity or sorority. i think governor newsom today said that his vision is not necessarily to replicate norway. his vision is to do a california way. i think that for him, as he expressed today, that is really grounded in not just replicating, we are trying to duplicate things that i worked in other places, but finding something unique to california, california issues, california concerns. i think he discussed bringing up a task force of experts to think about how they can make it both a norway model but truly a california model. kristen: right. the task force will have to hammer out the details. some people who question this or maybe a little bit skeptical, wondering, we are so different from norway, different histories, to the demographics, our economies, values, even our crime rates. there are more differences than similarities but you are not worried about that.

>> i think is governor newsom emphasized today, he's not trying to replicate something from another culture and just drop it in and expected to work. -- expect it to work. he talked about some of the real principles in norway in particular that i think would be very useful to bring over here. there are things like corrections officer training that give corrections officers opportunities to get degrees while doing work there then to go on and do other things. so there is some turnover, which i think is good sometimes because people get -- it is a very tough job. that was another thing the governor emphasized today. this is not just for inmates. this is also for corrections officers and staff to have a very oppressive environment and a violent environment and go into that environment for hours a day every day, it takes a toll, not just on the inmates, but also on those that are charged with their care.

i think honestly he's really looking for a california solution and taking the best things from other places and bringing them here. kristen: i think he an idea of maybe having a junior college site and writing a newspaper there my prisoners. other details, he was a little light on. he said the task force will work that out. how would you respond to those who say, "why should our larger society prioritize the incarcerated individuals and their well-being? why not worry about the victims and their families, the people who were harmed by perhaps the people in prison?" is it a binary choice for you like that? >> this was emphasized against today -- again today at the conference. it is about public safety. victims want to feel safe. they have already experienced horrific consequences from being in a community that is not safe. so they're working closely with

victims' groups in addition to experts on corrections and social workers and statisticians and really looking for data driven solutions, and they are not by any means, based on what i heard today, ignoring victim'' needs and rights. there is some research that suggests a lot of what we do know, which is just pure incapacitation and punishment, actually does not always really help victims. from a restorative justice approach, it's been experimented and expanded because it's been pretty successful in making victims feel truly whole, to actually look someone in the eye and have them apologize sincerely for the things they have done to harm them. the more positive people have we have in our communities, the few victims are will be.

-- the fewer victims there will be. the happier they will be. kristen: susan champion, thank you so much for your time and insight. we will be right back with a bay area program bridging the digital divide.

kristen: we all know silicon valley creates vast wealth, but not everyone living in the valley has access to the opportunities afforded by early technology education. that is where street code academy comes in. the nonprofit has been holding free community coding classes and supplying free computers for nearly a decade. it was the 2021 nonprofit of the year in josh bueckers district,

and street code is taking off and you national tour that involves the support of shoe palace and adidas. joining us now is the street code academy ceo. as well student assistant. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having us. kristen: amira, how old are you? >> eight. kristen: are you a ta, like teaching assistant? you teach others? >> sometimes i do, when i'm in my mom's classroom and she is still teaching. kristen: so you teach coding to other kids? >> i do not, but i do som like to participate in the coding that they do sometimes. kristen: that's amazing. at your age especially. i know for nine years, you've

been having thousands of kids coming through, learning the skills and technology, what is your mission? what's the mission of street code? >> we have always thought of ourselves as a bridge. you said it in the intro, there are a lot of communities that just don't get to access the technology, let alone the emerging technology, the exciting technology that happens. in silicon valley, it is sad, you have a community like east palo alto full of vibrancy and full of culture, but often times gets left out, so we bridge and connect communities of color with opportunities and innovation and we say that we want our divinities to have the mindsets and skills and access to be able to connect. kristen: you have been doing this locally for nine years, but now you are taking a national to cities across the country. tell us what's happening with the tour. we will show folks a video from your inaugural event last night in east palo alto. >> thank you.

i'm so blessed to be sitting next to one of the executives of shoe palace. through a partnership of co-friend of ours that connected us, we are organizations that put communities first, and we always wanted to spread the love that we have an community first. the shoe palace has already done it across the country in the world. so when they shared ther ethos around community first, we shared hours, that was a good partner to help take us nationally. we have a lot of people that look at the epicenter of technology and look at us right here in east palo alto and say that the way you do it, the community first approach that you do to tackle education, we want that. now we got to bring it to houston and dallas and atlanta and virginia and across the country how they wanted and in a way and with a partner that knows community first. kristen: look at that. i saw like ar, vr self, all sorts of -- stuff, all sorts of hands-on stuff.

tell us why your company wanted to get involved in this initiative and stem education. >> for us, it is really about community. we are extremely excited to partner with street code academy for this. you just never know how an experience can shape some of his life, the more opportunities that we can provide, the greater opportunities and chance people have for achieving dreams. we are very passionate about giving back to the communities we serve. this is a great opportunity to do so. kristen: were you there last night? >> i was. kristen: did you learn something yourself? >> i was. it was one of the coolest things with some of the kids that were eight to 12 to 15 that have been with the program a long time. they were actually teaching and guiding a lot of us with new technology for us. that was exciting to witness as well. kristen: just look at that. that looks like so much fun. i wanted to go. but i wanted to -- this last event was at a different location. the ones going forward will be held at shoe palaces. >> correct.

we are going to open it up for the different stations to come in and have an opportunity for everybody who comes to the doors to experience technology. kristen: fabulous. amira, were you there last night as well? >> yeah. it was actually really fun. kristen: what did you like? >> um, even thou to do ar, it was really fun doing vr, drawing, and doing minecraft. kristen: i see. i know you've been doing this for a long time, bottom line, what do you consider success? >> success is just sitting next to me. amira is talking about ar virtual reality and minecraft and the metaverse. for her to walk out with excitement, and in a way t she said it's actually pretty fun, that is a profound statement. there are many young people who look at technology, technology education, and don't connect to it. amira is with her mom in the

classes, she's helped me teach folks. she's feeling confident when she does it. the more people we have like that, the better technology is going to be. what i care about is the better argument is are going to be. the community i come from. the community i love. that success is more excitement around the possibilities for the future. kristen: is there another bay area event coming up for those who missed last night's? >> next friday we are going to be in the shoe palace, in the inaugural shoe palace. their story of success has been across the world now. starting in the bay area we are going to be on that soil. that's next friday. the entire day. from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. then we will be in oakland the final week tuesday, the 28th, at the shoe palace store there. you can follow us at streetco de.org and also shoe palace. kristen: there. -- kristen: there's a website right

there. folks can also sign for coding classes as well, it is absolutely free, right? >> absolutely free. we are starting a new quarter in less than a month. kristen: all right. sounds great. congratulations, everybody. thank you so much. great job. >> thank you, kristin. kristen: we will a nonprofit another one trying to make music -- we will be i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm.

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kristen: we all love music. for many of us, that started when we picked up a musical instrument in school. but one they school -- when they struggle financially, music programs are usually the first to be cut. this is a nonprofit that delivers music education programs, and they can use your help. joining us to talk about the program is megan madden, the executive director, and john friedman, the program's volunteer coordinator. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having

us. kristen: talk about how important music can be to children when it comes to education. >> i think the most basic thing is, it is a lifelong experience. it starts when children are still inside their mom because of listening to their mother's heartbeat. and helps them learn to walk, balance, talk. all of those kinds of things are innate to human beings. and there are things that we can improve on through education. it goes on through your whole life. music is critical to learning to read. it helps -- and science and numeracy. in helps and everything -- in everything. kristen: tell us how the program works when you say you deliver program education -- music on education programs in schools. >> when we get any milk, we -- >> when we get an e-mail,

we repair the instrument, we dusted off, we repair it if it needs repairs, and we get it to the teachers. it is like christmas day for the teachers. they are excited about anything that helps a program. kristen: if i am a band teacher at a school and i am backing -- am lacking a drum set or a cello, i would e-mail you and let you know what i need and hopefully you can deliver on that? >> yes. we support existing teachers and also of course support our own teaching artists who come through our programs. kristen: i understand you guys are launching a new drive for new instruments, tell us what your goal is and what you are looking for. >> springtime is when people tend to clean other closets. we thought this would be a good time to make a special push to serve the nine bay area counties with the offer to collect used musical instruments, gently used

instruments, and put them into the schools. our goal would be about 100 students right now. do you have a more specific figure? >> i don't. but that would be great. we would get them at various drop-off points, i would come get them with my station wagon if i need to. kristen: i hope it's pretty big. i know you make a lot of deliveries. [laughter] what can people do to donate? are there locations, specifically? we have these three. tell people about it. >> you can go ahead. >> we have drop-off points around the bay area. john is wonderful. at just heading out and picking up instruments. cole has been working with music in schools for many years. they have a storage facility like we do. when we get a lot of instruments, we can handle them. historically, sometimes we get a huge pile all at once. we did a drive one with stanford shopping center and we got

$400,000 worth of instruments, including a concierge there to pick them up. they came in one morning and found a full-size organ sitting in front of their office door. [laughter] we wanted to make it a very smooth transfer between people that have an instrument to donate and getting it into the hands of somebody in school. sometimes we can facilitate it so john does not have to pick it up, they can just go directly to the school and then we have these drop-offs. kristen: i see. let's throw the map up, the graphic up of the donation points. is there a deadline to bring it to the locations? are there bins? >> these are year-round programs. as we move into spring, are adding sites that will only be open for a month or two. kristen: got it. ultimately, can you make a pitch for why this is so important and for the kids who are interested in music to have an instrument that they can have their own or

play with? >> absolutely. we take instruments in somebody's closet not being used -- and an instrument not being used is very sad. it's not meant to not be used. we will repair them and clean them and get them into the hands of the kids. they get to put their stickers on it, and these interments last a while, a well calibrated instrument. a trumpet, a drum, a violin, a guitar. these kids get it for themselves and they can practice at home. kristen: that is fabulous. thank you so much. i hope folks will check it out and support the very important donation drive. we will take a short

kristen: thank you so much for joining us for "getting answers." we will be tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. an arrest warrant issued for russian president vladimir putin for alleged war crimes. the international criminal court accusing vladimir putin of abducting children from ukraine and sending them to russia. the kremlin firing back, calling the warrant outrageous and unacceptable saying it does not recognize the court and its decisions with legally void. ukraine applauding the move, saying the wheels of justice are turning. the warrant issued ahead of next week's meeting between putin and china's president xi. josh leivo in ukraine and martha raddatz reporting from issue. here at home, the fbi announcing they prevented a chilling st. patrick's day plomt a suspect arrested, accused of