{"id":3654831,"date":"2025-07-11T11:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T18:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montereyherald.com\/?p=3654831&preview=true&preview_id=3654831"},"modified":"2025-07-11T11:43:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T18:43:45","slug":"santa-cruz-rabbi-brings-purpose-to-incarcerated-men-through-choices-for-life-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montereyherald.com\/2025\/07\/11\/santa-cruz-rabbi-brings-purpose-to-incarcerated-men-through-choices-for-life-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Cruz rabbi brings purpose to incarcerated men through Choices for Life class"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOLEDAD \u2014 The power in seeking help is rarely recognized, but there is strength in the choice to transform. At the root of a self-help class at the Soledad Correctional Training Facility \u2014 a medium-security state prison on the Central Coast \u2014 is the power of choice. Led by Rabbi Yochanan Friedman, Choices for Life gives incarcerated people\u00a0the opportunity to embark on a journey of healing and purpose.<\/p>\n

Friedman, who directs Chabad by the Sea in Santa Cruz, began serving as the prison\u2019s Jewish chaplain in 2008. After years of witnessing the emotional isolation many residents faced, he along with the help of his father, renowned lecturer Rabbi Manis Friedman, created Choices for Life in 2017 as a pilot program to teach participants how to redirect their energy toward helping others and in doing so, help themselves. Eight years later, the weekly course has seen over 600 graduates walk through the chapel doors where it takes place.<\/p>\n

\"Rabbi
Rabbi Yochanan Friedman has been a prison chaplain for more than a decade and said he found his true calling as a teacher to incarcerated individuals with Choices for Life. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A program many residents say has transformed their thinking and their lives; the class weaves sacred wisdom from the Torah into modern-day lessons. Each session begins with a conversation about the difference between living with intention and just surviving, usually centered around a theme involving self-reflection, such as family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no group like this,\u201d said Derek Ancrum, a six-time enrollee who plans on retaking the class until he is eligible for parole in 2032. \u201cOther groups focus on exterior things, this group is more internal. This group deals more about how you can help humanity, not just helping yourself. This group is about making yourself better for society. To be needed, instead of being needy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ancrum\u2019s reflection highlights the deeper impact of the course. Essentially, the class acts as a mirror, helping participants recognize the weight of their decisions and how those decisions affected the people around them, ultimately shifting their focus toward the well-being of others.<\/p>\n

It starts with a question<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat have you done in the past two weeks that is good?\u201d the class began. This sparked a conversation within the roughly 35 students in attendance. Guided by insightful questions, the discussion often revolves around spirituality and ethics. Next, the men are encouraged to share their homework responses, which is assigned after each session. Giving the example of Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor, the lesson provokes critical thinking about moral choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes you answer the question: Are you living, or just existing?\u201d added Steven Estell, a third-time student.<\/p>\n

Miguel DeSilva, a chaplain\/facilitator for the course, expanded the program into a Spanish-speaking chapter after applying the same principles he learned from Friedman to become a more impactful presence in his community. \u201cI can read and write Spanish, and a lot of Spanish-speaking people here don\u2019t have the opportunity with a lot of groups,\u201d he explained, \u201cso I wanna make sure I can at least do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Resident
Resident chaplains\/facilitators Amos Stevenson, left, and Miguel DeSilva, share a moment of fellowship during a recent Choices for Life class at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. DeSilva runs the Spanish-speaking Choices for Life class. (Shmuel Thaler - Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the help of Choices for Life, DeSilva emphasized that the need to be of service is what turned his life around after years of living destructively. Upon joining the course and getting sober, the guilt of his actions caught up with him. Friedman encouraged him to use that pain as motivation to do better. Now qualified to lead his own cohort, DeSilva is scheduled for a parole hearing early next year. \u201cI\u2019m gonna continue doing this when (I\u2019m out), I\u2019m not stopping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To encourage good behavior, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation offers credit-earning opportunities, such as Rehabilitative Achievement Credits, for participation in rehabilitative activities, potentially resulting in reduced time off sentences. Choices for Life is not part of this incentive system, and many in attendance noted that they were there because they truly wanted to change their lives.<\/p>\n

From self to service<\/h4>\n

After experiencing significant emotional and physical abuse growing up, Amos Stevenson, another chaplain\/facilitator for the class who has been incarcerated for 32 years, admitted he made choices from a place of trauma to escape the pain, always in denial. By embracing the ideals taught in the course, facing his triggers and rebuilding a healthy sense of direction, he was able to connect with humanity and empathy \u2014 feelings that had once been out of reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times in the past when I started my criminal lifestyle, I was thinking, \u2018What can I get out of, what can I leverage this person for?\u2019 But now my purpose is to share this story and bring life to this program and how it has shifted my mindset,\u201d shared Stevenson. \u201cIt\u2019s helped change the culture of prison politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

His transformation reflects a main tenet of the program: service to others. Giving back is deeply woven into the course, and participants often carry what they\u2019ve learned into spaces beyond the chapel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way (Choices for Life) helps me is, in order for me to keep what I have, I gotta give it away,\u201d said Paul Moreno, who has been attending since 2018. \u201cSo whatever I learn in this group, I share with other men in other groups. And they get nuggets, they get a sense of the \u2018aha moments.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno came to realize that instead of taking from others, he could choose to give, a shift that led him into deeper introspection. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard for a lot of us who have lost our spirituality, or who have put it in the back burner, to grasp it,\u201d he said. \u201c(The class) makes me wanna be more in tune with my higher power.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he continued to attend and share what he learned with his loved ones, it was not only a spiritual change, but a physical one, as his mother noticed a difference in his demeanor and appearance. Crediting much of his\u00a0growth to the Choices for Life program, Moreno was granted parole July 3.<\/p>\n