In the coming months, programs for the more than 4,600 men and women housed at the Main Jail in San Jose and the Elmwood Jail in Milpitas will expand to include counseling for trauma victims, literacy classes and newspapers for all.  Many of the services had been cut because of budget reductions; others were shortchanged because a special pot of money known as the Inmate Welfare Fund had been unlawfully used for guards’ salaries instead of education and welfare, according to a lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2005.  A January settlement between the county’s department of correction and a lawyer team from the Public Interest Law Firm and Fenwick & West has resulted in a newly flush inmate fund. The county admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to reinstate $1.5 million to the fund, money that will restore long-defunct jail programs by year’s end.

Chief of Correction Ed Flores said he is pleased to have the new resources, and described inmate programming as critical to public safety. A recent study of Santa Clara County jail programs found them to be “among the most comprehensive and well-thought-out efforts” in California, but paying the bill has been an ongoing struggle … The $1.5 million added to the more than $4 million welfare fund will pay for 800 inmates who have suffered trauma and abuse to receive individual and group counseling. An additional 500 maximum-security inmates will be offered a personal journal program known as “Roadmap to Recovery,” and literacy classes will begin for those who previously have not had access to reading and writing assistance. Mercury News subscriptions will also be reinstated.

A lot more details are available at the San Jose Mercury News.