Why Choosing to Change Is So Hard in California Prisons | Panel

California’s prison system is changing. The state is closing facilities, moving incarcerated people between institutions, and continuing to invest in rehabilitation. Inside prison, that goal meets a culture with its own long-standing rules, where choosing a different direction is rarely as simple as deciding to.

Nhut Vo and Oscar Rodriguez entered California prisons as teenagers and spent decades behind bars before becoming professional dog trainers. They describe what it took to step away from gang life and how working with rescue dogs became part of rebuilding their lives.

They are joined by Zach Skow, founder of the Pawsitive Change program, who shares what he has seen trying to run rehabilitation inside state prisons for more than a decade. Together, they examine what pursuing change can mean inside those walls, and why the conditions around them can make it harder.

Views expressed in this video are the opinions of the host and guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of the California Insider Show.