Here at CIP what I learned is how to get things done on time. I can't procrastinate because once you open a document or letter you have to do it right away. The reason is because the office is really small and o many papers are being scanned and they can get lost, and not only that but if you think about people who are incarcerated are trusting you with their papers that are super important to them. I have always been responsible about my work but this this is just more serious and I'm going to take things more serious. I will make sure that I check in with my teachers about my graders and asking more questions because that's very important. At CIP I do ask a lot of questions because I just like double check. This internship taught me a lot of stuff and I can't wait to go back to school and talk about my whole experience at CIP.
Here at CIP I haven't faced something like a challenge because the work I do is common sense. I may have questions about something little and my mentor is always there to help me out. Sometimes when family members call I get some what frustrated because here at CIP their is a rule, which is we can't talk to inmates family member about their case we need a letter from the inmate giving us permission to talk about their case. Their has been times where the family members get mad because we can't tell them much.
Read and comment on THREE other students’ blogs:
1. Uriel Lucas 2.. Nymeisha Shannon 3. Jayden Garcia This internship has made me be more open minded. I have learned so much in this internship. For example, It has taught me how to see the other side of the life. What I mean by that is not just focusing on how terrible my day is going because of something little that happened, If not to actually keep myself motivated because their is people who wished they were here living their life like mine. Those people who were wrongfully convicted are most likely wishing to be out and I will do my best in school so later on I can help improve the system. I know that this internship is getting me ready for my future. I'm actually getting to see so many cases that I thought that the person who did the crime was actually the one but you never know because if they claim innocence then that's a whole different story , and that's why CIP is there to help those people. I think this project is amazing and words can't explain how happy I am to help them with their cases they get every day. I have found my strength and that's defending people. In this case I want to study criminal justice and probably moved up to law school, and then become a lawyer. I'm very passionate about helping those in need and I'm good at debating and that's something good to have because others don't have that attitude like mine. I just like to prove my point and be straight up. This will help me for my future job which is becoming a lawyer and helping those who are being denied from their rights. Also in this case I'm aware that everyone makes mistakes but they fix them right? So if their is wrongful conviction then I think that the system could do a much better job by trying not to discriminate someone because of their skin color,race, and other discrimination. I'll continue to motivate myself so I can get people out of prison when I become a lawyer. Just wait on it guys!
Here at the CIP office their is 11 student that work on their cases mostly everyday. They usually come in at different times because they also have class. When they come in the office they just work on their case. The office is super quiet because everyone has already something to do. Sometimes it gets a little loud because of some student discussions or someone is on the phone. I enjoy working on a quiet place because I concentrate more. The students are usually paired up with an attorney for their case and the students do all the research and all the other paper work and then they present it to one of the attorney to see if they are going to move on with the case. They also have XONR8 meetings Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-6 pm with the CIP attorney and they just work on memos together. Usually the students start coming in around 1 or 2pm and they all just chit chat about what happened in class or they talk about how their case is going and they ask for advice on what they should do.
My mentors Email on the project. She won't be in the office for 2 days this week but Jackie and I are going to brainstorm some ideas this week.
BENEFITS: In this case the ones who benefit from this project are the inmates who are currently sentenced and claim innocent. We usually think that the people who are in prison are bad criminals but sometimes it's not like that and it sucks to hear people talk bad upon them. I do believe in wrongful conviction and those who don't are obviously uneducated because they are just stuck on what they hear on the news or from other people. The California Innocence Project is very helpful to those who are incarcerated and are innocent. The work I do benefits the people in there because I get to talk to their family members and let them know that we will take a look at their family member case and that their is hope. From what I've seen is that many inmates didn't even know this project existed and they just didn't think no one was going to help them because their were already sentenced. Everyone at my internship has different roles like Reading letters, Investigating cases, Closing cases, and many others. Which is important in order for CIP to be successful.
One of my Co-worker here at CIP is Alma Gorrila. She attended Castle Park High School. She was born and raised in San Diego. She attended SDSU and got her degree in Criminal Justice. While she studied at SDSU she was able to go on a Prison tour and she went to 10 different prison in Southern California. She now attends the Western Law School this is her 2nd year of law school. She loves working here at the CIP because she has always been interested in Law. She also enjoys coming into the office and working on the cases that she has assigned. Each semester she gets 8 cases and gets paired up with 2 other people so they can investigate the case and come up with a plan. Aside from being here working everyday she likes going home and taking naps. Her favorite food is Pizza! and she has a twin brother who is 6ft tall and doesn't look like her. I enjoy working with Alma because she is very organized and helps me out with sending out letters to inmates.
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