Silence can’t create positive change
A call for sex offender rehabilitation for women in CCWF
Important Disclaimer: This article discusses sensitive subjects that may be triggering. Read with caution and stop reading if you feel triggered. Seek support as needed. You are not alone.
In the June 2025 issue of San Quentin News, there was an article on the front page about a new program for sex offenders titled, “Program provides safe space to discuss shame and trauma.” The article describes the group and discusses the importance of a specific program for people who are convicted of sexual offenses. Quoting the program’s facilitator, Robert Esquivel, from the article, he expressed how the miracle of this group brought hard men to tears, “… because they never had an avenue to work on their crime.”
A similar sentiment is shared by some residents here at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) where, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Press Office, there are approximately 100 residents convicted of registerable sex offenses under Penal Code 290 as of Oct. 14, 2025.
Yes, women can and do sexually offend, too. According to an article in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation from 2024, there is a growing recognition across the globe regarding the prevalence rates and impact of female-perpetrated sexual offenses, further recognizing the need for offense-specific programs.
Yet, here at the world’s largest prison for women, currently, there are no groups offered for people convicted of sexual offenses. Mental health and peer support services also lack curriculum for the population on this topic.
The are only two groups relatively related to the topic of sexually offending. One is called Survivors of Incest and Rape offered through Living Outside Violence Everyday, which is a 12-step group for victims of sexual violence. And the Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families provides some insight for victims to cope with the trauma of sexual violence. Neither group is geared towards the needs of an offender, such as rehabilitation and healing.
A study by researchers from The University of the Sunshine Coast’s School of Law and Society revealed that arrest rates in Western cultures indicate 2.2% of sexual offenses were committed by females, yet surveys by victims of sexual abuse revealed that 11.6% were from female offenders.
The World Health Organization recognizes childhood sexual abuse as a “preventable public health issue that substantively contributes to the global disease burden.” Currently, polls by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys are sexually abused before they reach the legal age of adulthood.
The new group at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center is called B.R.A.V.E. and provides a curriculum that helps participants take full responsibility for the harm they caused, address their own trauma from childhood, cope with their shame from committing the offense, and make amends with their communities inside and outside of prison.
Research conducted at McGill University has linked child sexual abuse to intergenerational cycles of abuse. The adage, “hurt people hurt people,” applies to sexual offenders too – indicating that the cycle of abuse is a victim-to-victim cycle that may be difficult to break without addressing one’s own childhood abuse.
This cycle of abuse can take on the form of a mother who was sexually abused in childhood; and then the consequence is she either abuses her own child – or – she has a partner who abuses her child while the child is under her care. Theories of why this cycle of abuse continues may range in factors, and mothers in this category share common traits such as living in homes of domestic partner violence, low income, single-parent households, welfare assistance, and unemployment.
“Contrary to public opinion…” writes University of Ottawa criminologist Adina Ilea, “…recidivism studies show that sex offenders have one of the lowest re-offense rates, particularly when they are identified and treated,” in “What About the Sex Offenders? Addressing Sexual Harm from an Abolitionist Perspective.”
Considering the 2023 California Assembly Bill 1104, which changed the purpose of sentencing people to prison from purely punitive purposes, to be for rehabilitation and successful reentry back into society, then programs that promote behavioral change should be available for all incarcerated persons – meaning that also includes women convicted of sexual offenses.
In a poll of about 18 out of the 100 women at CCWF who have registerable offenses, each one expressed interest in taking a group designed for sexual offenses, if one were to be offered here. Women are vastly underrepresented and often are overlooked in the carceral system — mostly because male offenders outnumber female offenders — but that does not make our population any less worthy of rehabilitative groups. We want more groups because the residents at CCWF embrace positive change and healthy rehabilitation.
There is a need to create and/or allow a program like B.R.A.VE. to be offered here at CCWF. This would not just further the needs of a growing population, but also meet the requirements of Penal Code 1170, which states in part, “The purpose of prison is rehabilitation.” By meeting the needs of our residents, we ensure CDCR is sending rehabilitated people home.
