Key Partnerships: Amity Foundation & California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

Years of evidence-based partnership with California’s correctional system – working at every stage, from in-prison treatment to residential reentry to life in the community.

Overview

What We Do

Amity Foundation is one of California’s longest-standing and most trusted partners to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) – operation evidence-based programs at every stage of the correctional journey, from inside state prisons to residential campuses to community-based support.

Where We Work

Amity administers substance use disorder treatment in all 31 California adult state prisons
Residential reentry campuses: Amistad de Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles; La Entrada, Los Angeles; Vista Ranch, San Diego
Fire Camps: Pine Grove and Growlersburg
Community-Based: Amity on Broadway (Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming, or STOP) assigns case workers to support currently incarcerated individuals to meet their needs as they transition from prison to the community

Who We Serve

Incarcerated adults across California’s state prison system; individuals on parole transitioning into residential reentry; men and women participating in community reentry programs as alternatives to incarceration; justice-involved youth in fire camp and vocational programs

Core Services

Male and Female Reentry Programs (MCRP/FCRP) at two Los Angeles residential campuses
Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment (ISUDT) funded through the state budget, at all 31 state prisons
Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming from our home base in Los Angeles County
In-Prison Programming which includes family connection and treatment readiness at all state prisons
Fire Camp Vocational Training at Pine Grove and Camp Gonzalez

Our Approach

For the last several years, Amity Foundation has become one of California’s most trusted partners in transforming the state’s correctional system by replacing punishment with something more effective: community, accountability, and the evidence-based tools people need to build a different life.

Our partnership with CDCR spans every stage of the justice journey. We believe that reentry doesn’t begin at the prison exit – it begins the moment a person enters custody. That conviction shapes everything we do: from the treatment groups we offer inside state prisons to the residential campuses where students rebuild their lives to the community-based networks we maintain to support them long after release.

Building on Amity’s Successful CDCR Partnership

Building on this success, Amity partnered with the Los Angeles County Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD) and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) to offer STOP services to those impacted by the county carceral system. And in 2025, we launched a fire camp at Camp Gonzalez — a former juvenile detention center transformed into a residential job training facility. Participants receive hands-on fire services training, room and board, life skills training, and a monthly stipend. The first cohort of 21 participants began training on February 4, 2024 and will spend up to 12 months at the camp — the first program of its kind in Los Angeles County.

Amity’s Work

Male & Female Community Reentry Programs (MCRP/FCRP)

Amity’s MCRP and FCRP are evidence-based residential reentry programs operated in partnership with CDCR as alternatives to traditional incarceration. Participants are transferred from state prison into Amity’s community-based campuses, where they receive comprehensive services — recovery programming, workforce development, family reunification support, behavioral health treatment, and housing navigation — in an environment that emphasizes independence and community reintegration. The programs have demonstrated significantly lower recidivism rates and lower cost per participant than continued incarceration, and have become a national model for community reentry. Amity operates MCRP and FCRP at three campuses: Amistad de Los Angeles (Historic South Central LA), La Entrada de Los Angeles (Amity’s first campus dedicated to women), and Vista Ranch (San Diego County, serving 60 parolees).

Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment (ISUDT)

Launched in January 2020, ISUDT is a statewide initiative of CDCR and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) to provide comprehensive substance use disorder treatment inside all 31 California adult prisons. Amity Foundation operates ISUDT programming across the system, delivering Cognitive Behavioral Interventions (CBI), supporting access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), and helping create Supportive Housing environments within facilities. The program also includes an Enhanced Pre-Release process beginning up to 210 days before release, ensuring students are connected to community-based care before they walk out the door. Amity’s role in this program reflects its decades of experience operating in-prison treatment and its deep familiarity with California’s correctional system.

Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming (STOP)

Amity on Broadway serves as CDCR’s STOP service provider for Los Angeles County. The STOP program provides essential services designed to support the successful transition of parolees back into their communities — connecting individuals with substance use disorder treatment, employment resources, educational programs, anger management, counseling, housing, and more. Amity maintains close collaboration with 42 subcontracted service providers at 102 locations throughout LA County. Through a parallel initiative with the LA County Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD), Amity’s JCOD-STOP program extends this model to currently and recently incarcerated individuals in LA County, connecting them with community-based providers as a meaningful alternative to reincarceration.

In-Prison Programming

Amity’s in-prison work reaches more than 30 state correctional facilities across California — including San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, Folsom State Prison, California Institution for Men, California Institution for Women, RJ Donovan Correctional Facility, and many others. Inside these facilities, Amity focuses on education, treatment readiness, family connection, and community-building — working to transform the correctional environment from one that damages people further into one that prepares them to return. We host graduation ceremonies, coordinate family visits and incentive events, and run the Tapestry of Family workshops that help incarcerated people examine and rebuild their most important relationships. Our goal is simple: to return people from number to name to dignity.

Fire Camps

In partnership with CDCR, Amity operates vocational fire camp programming at Pine Grove and Growlersburg — intensive residential programs where justice-involved young men train alongside professional firefighters and earn certifications to serve as fully qualified crew members. Many graduates go on to secure jobs with Cal Fire after release. The courage and skill of these young men was on display during the Southern California wildfires of January 2025.