Sports Programs for Inmates
Churches, local community teams, and even professional teams play basketball, football, and softball against prison teams, which allows for prisoners to learn how to interact with society outside of prison walls. The inmates also learn how to play fair, follow the rules of the games, and work together as a team. Church programs, public organizations like the RestartSports program, and professional sports teams have donated money towards sporting equipment and have even donated their time to play against prison teams.
The golden state warriors
The California professional basketball team the Golden State Warriors began visiting the San Quentin Prison in 2013 and have been playing basketball with several inmates ever since. The professional players began playing against the inmates because they realized the participation was bettering the inmates' social interaction and making the inmates feel human again. Eric Freeman (2013), the author of the article about the Golden State Warriors, has no background or understanding of the criminal justice system or prisoner rehabilitation, but Freeman witnessed the positive influences of sports actually inspired a positive change in the participating prisoners (Freeman, 2013). When outsiders play sports against prisoners, the inmates are never allowed to leave prison guards all sports must be played at the prison. Some people argue that the community members are not safe on prison grounds; inmates could injure the community members on purpose. But the Golden State Warriors' basketball players and the church groups never felt threatened, mainly because those few hours of freedom are cherished by the inmates. Freeman (2013) believes that the prisoners become attached to a hobby and would do anything to ensure they have the freedom and the opportunity to participate, even if that means practicing good behavior.