How California will try to implement San Quentin's baseball program in other state prisons

A California bill expanding organized sports programs in state prisons is set to take effect next year. How the state plans to do this across its more than 30 facilities with different security levels and functions is now the question.

CBS News Sacramento was given access to San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and its baseball team — the inspiration behind this measure — to hear directly from those incarcerated about how the sport has provided them a newfound community.

Players on the San Quentin Giants say camaraderie on their team has not only helped them to process trauma, grief and the time they're currently serving, but it has also saved most of their lives.

Giants' captain Carrington Russelle was a former college athlete. He's now serving a sentence of 50 years to life.

"On June 24, 2007, I broke into the house of a couple and robbed them of their possessions," he said. "I'm ashamed to admit that I sexually assaulted the woman and fled in one of their cars."

Russelle said that during his initial years of being imprisoned, the only thing on his mind was what he had lost.

As captain, Russelle said he's "humble and grateful" to be designated a team leader. But what was once his ticket to a better life is now the only thing helping him pass the time.

California's oldest and most notorious prison, known today as San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, is now home to the only official and most notable organized baseball team across the state's prison system.

"In the 1990s, it was about warehousing people. It was about bringing people to prison and locking them up for the rest of their lives," inmate Steve Brooks said. "We're not in that era no more."

With more than 90% of inmates expected to return to their communities, the facility now offers hundreds of programs to rehabilitate and prepare inmates. Its baseball team has become an opportunity for a second chance.

State lawmakers are now hoping to introduce similar efforts across California's 31 prisons.

Assembly Bill 2204 was authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), with Assemblymember Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) listed as a coauthor.

"I think we found something really special here," Gabriel said.  

The bill requires California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to create statewide organized sports programming, and participating inmates would be awarded credits for earlier release based on good behavior.

"I wish so many people in the public that see and feel and experience what we saw today," Gabriel said on a recent visit to San Quentin.

Gabriel was among a group of state leaders who recently visited the prison as they prepare for its implementation.

It was there that CBS News Sacramento spoke with Brooks, who was an unlikely opponent of the measure.

"There's a lot of logistics and a lot of concerns in the prisons that baseball batting gloves just can't take care of. Can you really translate what's happening at San Quentin to these other facilities?" Brooks said.

As for Russelle, he said that he's excited to hear that his peers at other facilities may have the chance to experience the game that has given him a reason to smile again.

"I would say change is definitely possible, and it starts with understanding the impact of our actions," Russelle said.