Through many metal gates, across an active exercise yard, past cyclone fences topped with curled barbed wire, at the end of a row of neglected warehouses at the California State Prison Solano, there is an incongruous sight: a restaurant.

The cooks are men serving time for murder and drug and gang-related crimes. They built the restaurant and then learned how to dice jalapeños not from culinary school graduates but from members of Delancey Street Foundation, a self-help residential program for ex-addicts, alcoholics and convicts that has operated in San Francisco for over a half a century. Smaller Delancey Street facilities operate in Los Angeles, New Mexico , North Carolina, South Carolina, New York and Massachusetts.

Unlike most of the California prison system, where there are gang controlled white showers, Black showers and Latino showers, white tables for eating, Black tables and Latino tables, in this open kitchen, the men in starched chef jackets, who are Black, Latino and white, work together.

While California and other states promote normalization — an effort to make prisons more closely resemble the world outside — the restaurant in the prison in Vacaville, 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, is proof that change can happen.

First: The Delancey Street Restaurant, a dining area and work-training program for inmates, at the California State Prison. Last: Cristin Smith, 35, works in the Delancey Street Restaurant kitchen with other inmates at the California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville on July 24, 2024. Photos by Florence Middleton, CalMatters

On a Tuesday in June, a correctional officer who processes arriving inmates, enjoyed a sourdough patty melt with a side order of fried pickles with Sriracha aioli. “I work long, crazy hours,” Officer V. Fera said, referring to her 16-hour shifts, and until this restaurant opened, there was no place to get “healthy, homemade food.”

The restaurant, with 52 seats, is open only to correctional officers, prison administrators, plumbers, teachers, doctors, gardeners and others who work at the prison and to people who work at a nearby state prison called the California Medical Facility.

In the kitchen, Shaylor Watson, 55, imprisoned for two murders he committed when he was 17 and 18, calls himself “the master of tomato soup.” He was completing his day’s work, soaking and sanitizing his knives, which, for security, are tethered to his workstation. “This is my way of making amends for the harm I caused,” he said.

Shaylor Watson works in the Delancey Street Restaurant kitchen at the California State Prison Solano in Vacaville on July 24, 2024. “This program has given me hope again in life. I received an LWOP, or life without parole, sentence which means death by incarceration. Delancey gives me hope to show my life matters. By giving to others, it allows me to feel better about myself.” Watson, 55, has been incarcerated since he was 18 years old. Photo by Florence Middleton, CalMatters

Nearby, Justin Miller, who is Latino and has been in an out of institutions on drug charges since he was 13 and has tattoos climbing up his neck, stood with Ray Williams Jr., a Black inmate who has spent 24 of his 43 years in prison for first degree murder, as they bantered and managed the kitchen.

“Our idea is to teach them skills and teach them how to be decent people even though they’re in a horrible place where decency doesn’t get you far,” said Ramiro Mejia, a Delancey Street graduate who for eight years managed the prison unit.

“These guys get the experience of what it’s like to be a human again,” said Tobias Gomez, a Delancey Street graduate and manager of the prison restaurant. “This wouldn’t be possible anywhere else,” he said. At the restaurant and their cell block there are “no gangs, hatred, racism or segregation,” Gomez said.

Early concerns that correctional officers would not eat what the inmates make have dissipated. Guards, nurses, administrators and maintenance workers have been won over by the $10 buttermilk crispy fried chicken sandwiches with homemade slaw, the $15 burger with maple-candied apple wood bacon on a Brioche bun and the $6 quesadilla with pico de gallo and guacamole. Free delivery has led to a bustling take-out business since the restaurant is quite a distance from almost anywhere else in the prison, although there can be issues: When two gates malfunctioned, Rob Souza, a state assessor who also does deliveries, got stuck with brown bag lunches for delivery for an hour and a half.

Delancey Street in the prison opened in March 2015 with 90 handpicked prisoners. Plans for a restaurant were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is my way of making amends for the harm I caused.”
— Shaylor Watson, inmate, California State Prison Solano

The engine of all things Delancey Street is Mimi Silbert, the diminutive 82-year-old co-founder and chief executive with a Ph.D. in criminology from the University of California, Berkeley. She works with sentencing judges and people who have hit bottom. Candidates commit to two years of tough commitments, learning how to live a crime-free, drug-free life. They learn vocational, academic and social skills. “We get lots of gang members,” Silbert said,” Delancey Street teaches them “how to rely on each other,” she said.

Part of that involves food. Silbert believes meals eaten together — the inmates built a long, dining room table where they eat together — creates a sense of family. And Delancey Street members with kitchen training can enter “an industry that doesn’t discriminate,” Gomez, the manager said.

“The whole point of Delancey” and the prison honors unit “is to show that the people with the problems become their own solutions,” Silbert said. With no chef, “It’s inmates teaching each other.”

Silbert had no desire to work in a prison; Delancey Street teaches people how to live outside of prison. But her longtime friend, Jerry Brown, the former governor who calls her “a saint,” coaxed her to take it on. Gavin Newsom, the current governor, is equally supportive.

Years ago, when Brown wanted to better understand prison gangs, he often dropped by Delancey Street’s San Francisco headquarters and for hours interviewed ex-gang members. Early in his SF mayoral career, when Newsom grappled with alcohol abuse, he visited Delancey Street three times a week, Silbert said. When he became governor, he visited the Delancey Street in the prison to speak to the prisoners.

“The human is crushed by excessive institutionalization,” Brown said in a phone interview from his ranch in rural Northern California. “Mimi gives inmates their personhood,” he said.

Silbert agreed to the deal but insisted it would be on her terms.

Mimi Silbert, president and CEO of the Delancey Street Foundation, at the Delancey Street Restaurant in San Francisco on July 17, 2024. Photo by Florence Middleton, CalMatter

When the warden recommended the best inmates for her program, Silbert objected. “I want the worst of the worst!” she recounted in her best you-better-not-ignore-me voice.

“We wanted guys that were violent and in that world, respected, but also had the skill set to survive,” Meja said. “If we could turn them, then we could get guys to follow them,” he said.

The restaurant opened nearly a year ago. It grosses $7,500 a month, more than covering the $5,000 food cost. Inmates earn a dollar an hour, which goes to their victims or the victims’ families. Delancey Street pays Gomez’s salary. The state pays for Souza, the assessor, who said, “The goal is not so much monetary. The inmates are learning how to be better versions of themselves.”

Only at the Delancey Street Solano does prison food come from excellent local suppliers. But nothing came easily. Silbert said, “When we started, it took us eight months to get a blackboard to write the word of the day,” a Delancey Street practice. For Thanksgiving it took eight months to get approval to serve turkey and roast beef, Silbert said. When she realized she had forgotten napkins, she said, “I called Jerry and said, ‘I need napkins.’”

Earlier this month, at the restaurant’s grand opening, inmates served meals to both Newsom and Brown.

The inmates in the Delancey Street Honors Program at the prison practice “each one, teach one,” becoming proficient in public speaking, debate and constructive criticism. On a Tuesday in June, the word of the day, selected by a group of Delancey Street Solano members, was “quintessential.”

Silbert says the inmates have gone beyond normalization. “They have so many things going against them,” she said. And yet, “they’re doing things that are extraordinary. They’re forming unity out of a world that is not unified. And they’re becoming the absolute best of themselves.”

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Financial support for this story was provided by the Smidt and Irvine foundations.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

In Memory of Mattie L. Culver
August 1938 – July 2024

It is with great sadness that we share with you the passing of Mattie Culver, beloved sister, mother, grandmother, greatgrandmother(Grandma Gee Gee), mother-in-law and nurse. Mattie was an amazing woman, who provided love, encouragement and support. She lived her life with integrity, style, grace and determination. Mattie has three children: Daniel, Kathy and Karen; six grandchildren, Michael, Matt, Ricki, Rhonda, Alisha and Jake; and nine great-grandchildren. She loved all her family and was an active part of their lives.

Mattie worked as a meter-maid for Eureka PD, then after obtaining her nursing degree she worked as a home health nurse, public health nurse, public health nursing supervisor, a nurse practitioner in Dr. Burleson’s office, then as temporary nursing director and supervisor in Public Health nursing. She then worked seven years in the California Children’s Services Program.

Mattie loved learning about other cultures and lived and worked as a public health nurse in Tok, Alaska. She also loved fishing and while there landed a 135-pound halibut. She also joined the Peace Corp and spent two years working in Malawi, Africa. Mattie made friends wherever she lived and worked. Mattie was a positive role model and mentor for many public health hurses.

Mattie was the matriarch of the family, bringing us all together for barbecues, fishing, fun on the beach, Thanksgivings and the family reunion. Family and friends were always welcome at her home. Mattie became a master gardener and many people have admired the landscaping she did on her property at the corner of Hodgson and W streets.

Mattie was a lifelong learner. Mattie was an artist, painting a landscape on the wall in Karen’s room when they lived on “L” street, in Eureka. Mattie also enjoyed going to the casino and “winning big” and seeing her friends there. Mattie enjoyed the book club, kayaking and having breakfast with the kayak club. She enjoyed making pottery. She enjoyed having her hands in the dirt in h er vegetable garden and enjoyed her many flowers.

We will miss Mattie’s kindness and love and she will remain forever with us in our hearts and actions. There will not be any funeral services per Mattie’s request. If you wish please make a donation to hospice, palliative care, the Eureka Breast Health Program or volunteer at an event that promotes the health of our community.

Andrew Lamb, 40, passed away on June 13, 2024, in Arcata. Raised in Sacramento, Andrew moved to Arcata in 2002 to attend HSU and spent the next 22 years enjoying life in Humboldt.

Andrew adored his beloved friends and their growing families. His impeccable memory and brilliant sense of humor were complemented by an infectious laugh that always brought joy to everyone around him.

As an audiophile, Andrew had a profound passion for listening to southern rock, jam bands, and bluegrass. His sound system and vinyl collection were some of his most cherished belongings and you could often find Andrew and his lovable companion, Burgess, enjoying their favorite albums.

Andrew is survived by his loving parents, Beverly and Ronald Lamb. His presence will be profoundly missed by all who knew and loved him.

A Celebration of Life is being planned in Sacramento in the fall and will be announced at a later date. Andrew’s life will be celebrated in a manner befitting his joyful spirit and deep love for music.

Press release from TRIB Research: 

“If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em”

The Eel River pikeminnow fishing derby is back. The derby is being put on by a collaboration of groups working to restore native fishes in the Eel River, in part by eradicating invasive Sacramento Pikeminnow. We need your help to remove more pikeminnow this summer! From now through August 31st, anyone with a fishing license (or if under 16 years of age, no license is necessary) can go and catch pikeminnow on the Eel for a chance to win up to $400 in cash prizes and do your part to remove these non-native piscivorous (fish-eating) predators.

Pikeminnow were introduced to the Eel River via Pillsbury Reservoir in the late 1970’s. Since then, they have spread to all the forks of the Eel and are remarkably prolific. They make seasonal migrations within freshwater, based on water temperature, prey availability and spawning preferences. In 2018, The Wiyot Tribe and Stillwater Sciences began a focused effort to monitor the pikeminnow population in the South Fork Eel, develop a better understanding of their prey through diet analysis, and test suppression methods. Since then, the collaboration has grown to include CalTrout, UC Berkeley, the Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and TRIB Research, all working together to determine best practices for pikeminnow removal. A recent method has been to install a channel-spanning weir to limit pikeminnow migration into the upper South Fork Eel. On top of the other factors negatively affecting the Eel River such as historic overfishing and logging practices, habitat loss, and impacts from climate change, pikeminnow now have a significant effect on native Pacific Lamprey, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead and Sacramento Suckers.

The waters open to fishing for the derby are from the mouth of the Van Duzen to the South Fork confluence on the mainstem Eel, and from the mouth of the South Fork to the Humboldt County line (near Piercy) on the South Fork Eel. All current fishing regulations for the Eel River apply for the derby (including no bait, barbless artificial lures only). The prize categories are for most pikeminnow (greater than 6 inches or greater than 12 inches) caught during the contest, biggest fish caught and a drawing for anyone who enters a fish. 

We recommend eating your pikeminnow in the form of fried fish cakes, fish balls in noodle soup, fish tacos or smoking them. Don’t believe the common misconception that pikeminnow are inedible. They are delicious, they just need extra care to deal with the y-bones.

For more details on how to enter the derby visit https://tribresearch.org/pikeminnow/

Press release from the Arcata Fire District:

On Monday, July 29 at 3:24 A.M., the Arcata Fire District was alerted to a residential structure fire on the 3000 block of Alliance Road.

The first of Arcata Fire’s engines arrived on scene to find a manufactured home on McCallum Circle fully involved with heavy fire showing out of the two front-facing windows.

Dispatch had noted a possible victim trapped inside the building, however the single resident arrived home while fireground actions were taking place. The two remaining Arcata Fire engines arrived to finish the extinguishment of the building, and no occupants were found inside.

Firefighters encountered many obstacles in the home due to an accumulation of possessions which made entry to the residence challenging.

The cause of the fire is suspected to be a space heater that was left on and unattended. Arcata Fire would like to extend our gratitude to mutual aid partners Blue Lake Fire, Humboldt Bay Fire and Westhaven Fire who all assisted with overhaul.

Arcata Fire would like to remind residents not to leave space heaters on and unattended.

Press release from the Northern California Community Blood Bank follows. Here’s their website, with all sorts of donation information and how-to’s.

The Northern California Community Blood Bank is urgently asking for blood donations from the community, especially from individuals with type O positive blood. The blood bank is currently experiencing a critical shortage of type O positive blood. This shortage is putting local lives at risk, and the Blood Bank needs the community’s help to address this problem.

The Northern California Community Blood Bank provides blood to hospitals and medical facilities throughout the region. Without a sufficient supply of type O positive blood, patients who require transfusions may not receive the care they need. This is why it is so important for individuals with type O positive blood to come forward and donate blood.

If you have type O positive blood and are able to donate, please consider doing so as soon as possible. The blood bank is asking for type O positive donors to visit our Welcome Center or one of our many mobile drives and encourage their friends and family with type O positive blood to do the same. The process of donating blood is safe and straightforward, and your type O positive donation can make a significant difference in someone’s life.

Thank you for considering donating type O positive blood to the Northern California Community Blood Bank. Your generosity can help save lives and make a difference in our community.

Over the years, licensed therapist Sarah Soroken has heard from her patients again and again about what a miserable experience it can be to find a mental health provider who actually takes their insurance. But one patient stands out.

Soroken said she was working at Kaiser’s Vallejo Medical Center in 2022 when a college-aged woman was admitted to the hospital’s emergency room after she attempted suicide.The patient, Soroken said, gave up and tried to take her own life after she called a list of 50 mental-health providers who were listed as taking Kaiser’s insurance plan, but none would see her, or they didn’t actually take her insurance.

“This patient now has the traumas of a suicide attempt and having been harmed by our health care system to add to their treatment needs,” Soroken told the Senate Health Committee earlier this month.

Soroken, who no longer works for Kaiser, testified in support of Assemblymember Chris Holden’s Assembly Bill 236. The legislation from the Pasadena Democrat would give state regulators authority to fine insurers if their lists of in-network doctors, hospitals, mental health workers, labs and imaging centers aren’t up-to-date and accurate.

The bill tackling what are disparagingly called “ghost networks” has so far passed the Assembly and the Senate Health Committees with only Republicans in opposition, and despite the lobbying powerhouses representing California doctors and insurers fighting the bill every step of the way. Doctors and insurers blame each other for problems in the directories, but they argue the bill is unnecessary, burdensome on them and that laws on the books already address the problem.

Combined, the groups have given at least $4.7 million to California legislators since 2015, according to the Digital Democracy database.

State health agency cites huge costs

Along with opposition from influential lobbyists for doctors and insurers, the measure also received a lukewarm response from the state agency that would enforce the bill if it becomes law.

As the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to address a $30 billion budget deficit this year, the Department of Managed Health Care estimated that the bill would cost $12 million to bring on “additional staff.” According to the bill’s analysis, the new employees are needed to develop regulations, forms and to monitor “provider directory accuracy.”

The estimate of $12 million is the equivalent of 80 employees each making $150,000 a year – figures that could alarm Newsom’s budget team and the lawmakers who dole out cash to state agencies on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where the bill will be considered in the coming weeks.

The department didn’t respond to CalMatters’ request to explain its estimate. In a one-paragraph emailed statement, Kevin Durawa, a department spokesperson, said the estimate may be out of date since the bill was recently amended.

“The department is reviewing the amendments to the bill and how they may impact the fiscal estimate,” Durawa said.

Ken Cooley, a former Democratic Assembly member from Sacramento County who sat on the Assembly Insurance Committee, said he wouldn’t be surprised that the department analyzed the bill “with a vengeance” to possibly overestimate the costs.“If they don’t like it, if they think it’s the wrong priority, whatever it is, they would be remiss if they didn’t try to lay out every argument,” he said.

But Cooley said solving the problem of inaccurate provider lists is worth fighting for.

“I’m not familiar with the specific bill, but I certainly understand what it means to be a consumer of health care,” he said. “And having accurate lists is actually pretty damn vital to the wellbeing of people.”

Why ‘ghost networks’ are a problem

Holden, the bill’s author, didn’t respond to multiple interview requests. He told the Senate Health Committee that a law on the books since 2015 requires insurers to maintain accurate directories of providers in their networks, but they haven’t been doing it, leading to “rampant directory inaccuracies.”

His office told legislators that recent studies found that some smaller health plans have inaccuracy rates as high as 80%, and some major plans have inaccurate information for 20% to 38% of providers.

Holden’s bill would require an insurer’s provider directory to be at least 60% accurate by this time next year and 95% accurate by July 1, 2028. The insurers would face fines up to $10,000 for every 1,000 enrolled customers each year if they didn’t hit the benchmarks. Kaiser, for instance, says it provides care to 9.4 million Californians.

The bill also says patients who mistakenly use an out-of-network doctor due to inaccurate information from provider lists cannot be charged out-of-network rates.

Doctors and insurers oppose the bill

At the Senate Health Committee earlier this month, the insurers weren’t thrilled with the proposal. They blamed doctors for the inaccuracies in their provider lists.

“The accuracy of each individual provider directory is reliant upon practitioners and medical groups maintaining accurate records,” Jedd Hampton, a lobbyist for the California Association of Health Plans, told the committee.

A bill pending in the California Legislature would require that insurers provide their customers accurate lists of health-care providers for doctor referrals in their networks, including hospitals. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

The California Medical Association, representing the state’s physicians, argues that insurers – not doctors – are the ones responsible for maintaining their directories and ensuring they’re up-to-date. Doctors fear that if insurers are fined, the costs could be passed to them. They’re also concerned about losing out-of-network payments due to inaccurate lists provided by insurers.

The group’s lobbyist, Brandon Marchy, said those requirements would absolve health plans “of their requirement to maintain accurate directories … by paying not what an out-of-network rate would be.”

Soroken, the therapist who saw the suicidal Kaiser patient, said that Californians pay their insurers and health care providers well. They deserve to have accurate, up-to-date lists of those who’ll take their insurance, she said, especially when they’re at their most vulnerable.

“We would be negligent if we didn’t do everything in our power to ensure patients get the health care they need … and are legally entitled to,” she said.

Kaiser hasn’t taken position on the bill, and a spokesperson declined to address Soroken’s testimony about her suicidal patient.

The Oakland-based health care giant is already under scrutiny because of patient complaints about delays in obtaining mental health care. Last year, it agreed to pay a $200 million settlement to resolve a state investigation into its behavioral health system. In 2022, about 2,000 of its mental health workers went on strike over high caseloads and what they described as unreasonable working conditions.

“We at Kaiser Permanente are working hard to ensure that we are meeting the mental health care needs of our members and our communities,” Kaiser spokesperson Kerri Leedy said in an email. “Over the past several years, we have increased our staffing and facilities to help meet the growing need.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.