REHAB WITHOUT FENCES

Camp Offers Productive Way For Women To Serve Sentences

RAINBOW -- In a few months, Gidget Henderson and Debra Dunfee will see
something good at the end of the Rainbow Conservation Camp.

They will see changes. Dunfee will see herself 40 pounds lighter and
Henderson will see a stronger, more fit body.

The two women said they are already seeing inner changes.

Henderson is fulfilling an eight-month sentence and Dunfee is spending a
year at the minimum security prison for women.

The camp, one of several in the state, is operated by the California
Department of Corrections and the California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection. It's located at the end of Rainbow Heights Road.

Most of the women who live at the camp -- about 100 at a time -- are there
because of felony narcotics violations. Lt. Andy Ruiz, who has worked there
for 20 years, said the camp doesn't have a problem with escapees.

"I think the women want to serve their time here. I mean, look at their
surroundings," Ruiz said, gesturing to the Pacific Ocean, on a day when the
women were doing conservation work in Cardiff.

Ruiz and a group of 16 women spent that day at a campground at San Elijo
State Beach, digging irrigation trenches in time for camping season, which
begins next month. The women have been working on the project for several
months. They alternate their time with other conservation projects in the
county, especially their forte, fighting fires, Ruiz said.

The inmates at Rainbow receive hands-on training for all of their physical
jobs. They recently helped fight the Viejas fire for five days as well as
other wildfires in the state. Their efforts save taxpayers millions of
dollars each year, Ruiz said.

Inmates must pass a physical fitness test and they must have no history of
violent crime, kidnapping, sex offenses, arson or escape. Any women who
don't meet the qualifications are sent to a maximum security facility.

"I love it here. We can roam freely," Dunfee said. "But you have to really
want to change to be here, and I am changing."

Dunfee is a swamper -- a fire team leader. That means she must prepare the
equipment for the tasks, and supervise the other women, as well as work
herself.

"What these women do, it's the same, if not better than (what) the men do,"
Ruiz said. "The women get complimented all the time."

Henderson balances the physical work with mental stimulation. In June, she
will celebrate her release from the camp and she will wear a cap and gown
for the first time. Through the camp's high school education program,
Henderson will earn her diploma.

Henderson had dropped out of high school in her junior year. At the camp,
she completes her units during her off time, on weekday evenings and weekends.

"It was time for a change," Henderson said. "My mother said, 'You are going
around in circles.' So, I turned myself in."

Inmates have calisthenics and a hike every weekday morning before working
on their daily job, unless they are fighting fires. They can stay for the
duration of a fire, Ruiz said, sometimes working 24-hour shifts at the site
of the fire.

"For a lot of us, this is the first time we have ever felt what it is like
to work," Dunfee said.

Working at the camp is Henderson's first job.

"And after I leave here, I am going to get married, take care of my kids
and take a computer class so I can work as a bookkeeper at my fiance's
business."

Inmates can participate in a drug rehabilitation program at the camp, but
Dunfee said the hard work has changed her more than anything else.

"It's all about being whole again," she said.