What you need to know: As California continues to invest in building safer communities, Avenal State Prison (ASP) became the only institution in the state to be a CrossFit affiliate led entirely by the incarcerated population, helping participants gain expert knowledge, hands-on coaching skills and a potential path to employment upon release.
Avenal – Prioritizing rehabilitative programs to strengthen public safety, this week the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in collaboration with CrossFit opened CrossFit 1 Kings Way, the first institutional affiliate to be led by incarcerated athletes.
ASP leaders, CrossFit Seminar Staff, and a representative from the office of Assemblywoman Rosalinda Alexander attended the ribbon cutting ceremony May 29 to show their support for the new incarcerated CrossFit coaches.
The office of Assemblywoman Alexander presented ASP Coach Bryan Eskew with a certificate recognizing his hard work and determination spearheading the effort in getting ASP officially recognized as a CrossFit affiliate.
“What makes me most proud of this program is that I did not give up on myself, and that’s because of the incarcerated population,” said coach Eskew. “When I felt like I was losing momentum on this project, they pushed me and helped me through it. And the same goes for them, they are feeling down, I push them, because we are a team.”
The state continues to move toward a positive shift in correctional policy that not only focuses on proper support for staff and survivors, but also fosters rehabilitative environments for the incarcerated population, leading to safer communities overall.
“CrossFit is a perfect example of providing normalization within a correctional setting,” said Heidi Wippel, CDCR’s head physical education and recreation coach. “By establishing a new community of CrossFit, the population is working towards a goal of a drug- free, healthy lifestyle. This will help lead to an overall more disciplined and productive human being leading to success in all aspects of their lives.”
In February, CrossFit held a two-day seminar at ASP where 15 incarcerated individuals trained and became certified as level 1 CrossFit trainers. That certification allowed ASP to apply and become an official CrossFit affiliate.
“Seeing the change happening on the outside, happening here on the inside, building their self-esteem, helping with mental health, it’s a huge deal,” said CrossFit Seminar Coach Nick Thomlison. “Where people might lose purpose in their life while being in prison, I think it is now giving them purpose in their life, and they should be proud.”
This collaboration between CDCR and CrossFit helps equip incarcerated participants with tools to be healthy, drug-free and employable members of society. As an affiliate, the incarcerated level 1 trainers are providing fellow incarcerated individuals fitness instruction as well as learning business operations by taking on important roles such as head coach, data manager and head of programming. They track their coaching hours, which will help them gain employment once released.
“CrossFit has fundamentally changed me as a person, it’s my passion, it’s given me direction in life, and it’s given me a grander purpose,” said incarcerated CrossFit coach Adam Baker. “One day when I get out of prison my desire is to be able to bring this to other institutions and help men or women like me who may feel stuck in their life.”
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Read more about CDCR’s rehabilitative programs here.
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