Of the 2,000 people incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony, at least 258 of them are between the ages of 18 and 29—the youth offenders of the prison system.
Michael Nelson was a part of this demographic, sentenced to life at the age of 15 for his crime. In 2018, after serving 20 years at the Men’s Colony, he reentered society and wanted to make a difference for incarcerated youth like himself.
Nelson and seven others created the nonprofit Kid Creating Awareness Together, or Kid CAT, dedicated to providing mentorship, education, and support for youth who are serving lengthy or lifelong sentences, so they are better equipped once they get out.
The program focuses on a unique population that lacked life experiences and brain development before being incarcerated, he said.
“I’ve seen the majority, if not all of us, come home and continue to struggle because we just haven’t had that life experience of being out here as adults,” he said. “It feels really important for me and very personal that we provide spaces now where folks can not only develop further as people, as individuals, but feel really connected to community and believe and know that they have a sense of belonging in the world.”
As executive director of Kid CAT, Nelson said he helps develop the curriculum for a 28-week course called First Step, which is taught to those who are currently incarcerated at the Men’s Colony, with plans to expand this summer. The program explores eight topics: emotions and sensations, communication, environment, self-identities, gender, consequences, trauma, and forgiveness.
“Anywhere from learning how to get in our bodies when identifying our emotions and our sensations, so we can help develop that emotional awareness and intelligence to exploring childhood trauma and unraveling those untrue narratives about how the world and maybe what we believed we were to be as people in the world,” he said. “We challenge those narratives, and we support folks going on a deep dive of self-exploration and expansion, while encouraging accountability throughout the processes.”
This work isn’t easy and requires a lot of vulnerability, Nelson said, as participants share intense emotions on both ends of the spectrum, crying tears of sadness but also those of “hearty laughter.”
“In prison, there’s not a lot of space for joy. And so, when I see folks freely expressing themselves however they are in that moment, I think that’s a huge testament to the space that we’ve created for one another,” he said.
According to Nelson, one participant said, “This module taught me how to investigate the origin of these feelings and gave me tools to cope with my emotions. I learned that my emotions are valid.”
Once participants graduate from the 28-week program, they can apply to be facilitators. That role is only open to those who were incarcerated as youth and are serving a lengthy sentence, although any inmate can enroll in the course itself.
Facilitators also must have at least a year of good standing in the prison.
“One of our asks is that you do your work first before you can sit in the space and hold somebody else’s,” Nelson said, “and so our training is very much focused on each individual really getting to know themselves on a deeper level.”
Kid CAT is hoping to connect with the community to further its mission and is hosting a “SLO Connected” event on Saturday, May 10, that includes dinner and drinks, a silent auction, and an art gallery of work by incarcerated artists.
Nelson hopes the event will help promote a deeper connection within the community because he’s often asked, why should I care about the incarcerated?
“A lot of those people will return to their community point. They’ll be our neighbors; they’ll shop at the same grocery stores,” he said. “So the question is how would you envision them being your neighbor? It’s important that we allow ourselves to bridge that gap and to address how we might feel so removed from this population of people that we just don’t see.”
For more information about the SLO Connected event, visit thekidcat.org/sloconnected or contact lindsay@kidcat.org.
Fast fact
• Cambria Nursery is celebrating the season with its Spring Bloom Weekend from March 21 to 23 with exclusive garden sales—including 20 percent off soil—plus hands-on workshops with vertical driftwood, and a special book reading from local Paso Robles author Sofia Howard. For more information, or to purchase tickets visit: cambrianursery.com/events. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Spring Arts Annual 2025.