The Justice Scholars club is back at Long Beach City College for the fourth year since 2016, dedicated to breaking stigma and giving formerly incarcerated students access to resources to continue their education.
The club remains led by president Anthony Yracheta, who has held the title for the past two years and expressed his excitement for the official institution of the Justice Scholars Program by LBCC, now seeing its first weeks of fruition.
“We need people to know about the program since it was just institutionalized, and take advantage of all the resources,” Yracheta said at the clubs meeting this past Monday.
The Justice Scholars Program offers necessities to formerly incarcerated students: school supplies, laptops, textbooks, and other resources to help those who would not have supplies available to them, otherwise.
This semester, the Justice Scholars Club hopes to offer more resources and advice for expungement, clearing someone’s criminal record to ease their transition into the job field.
In addition to planning “Future Trips with Homeboyz,” an institution in Los Angeles dedicated to helping rehabilitate the formerly incarcerated, the club is planning future panel discussions, fun drives, and more this semester.
Club senate representative Mark Lemerond talked about the differences between formerly incarcerated students and other members of the Justice Scholars.
“[They] walk a fine line between probation and parole,” Lemerond said.
Carlos Rosas, club secretary and formerly incarcerated student who is now in his second year at LBCC studying business administration, talked about the said line and how it can pose difficulties in securing a job in society.
Rosas served three years at Chuckwalla State Prison and talked about his goal of “reuniting people impacted by the system,” through the Justice Scholars.
“It’s important to encourage growth, networking, mentoring, and give resources for better jobs and opportunities in higher education,” Rosas said.
The Justice Scholars program has now been facilitated at Compton College.
Club president Yracheta talked about his dream of seeing the program at every community college. “That’s the goal,” he said.
Club advisor Annahita Mahdavi created the Justice Scholars, due to the obstacles that students impacted by the justice system face.
Mahdavi is a trained clinician and professor of drug and alcohol studies at LBCC, who has worked closely with juveniles during part of her career in 2009.
“I saw that 90 percent of convictions were drug related, they started with addiction,” Mahdavi said.
“Drug policies impact people and are even more harmful than the drugs they’re using.”
Mahdavi talked about her goal to spread awareness on how to interact with formerly incarcerated persons through verbal and non-verbal cues.
“You should not say inmate, as that word is used for inferiority and to create a culture of oppression,” Mahdavi said.
According to Lemerond, Mahdavi and club members want the Justice Scholars Club to be a stop sign for formerly incarcerated students- the first place they go to when they get out of jail.
Lemerond is also among the formerly incarcerated and served 60 months in prison ten years ago.
Lemerond talked about the importance of having a club like the Justice Scholars to provide resources and guide formerly incarcerated students in making the right choices.
“The decisions you make coming out of jail are the most important you’ll ever make,” Lemerond said.
Mahdavi talked about her idea of justice to formerly incarcerated students and how it starts with alleviating stigma and the treatment of these students.
“Social justice is treatment, and treatment is social justice.”
The Justice Scholars program and club are located at the PCC campus, Building QQ, room 105, with meetings on Mondays from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.