Folsom Prison Inmates Find Calm In Crocheting Gifts For Those In Need

FOLSOM PRISON (CBS13) — Chances are when you're thinking of doing hard time in prison, you're not thinking of inmates taking up crocheting.

But at Folsom Prison, many doing life sentences are making their lives behind bars worthwhile in a most unusual way.

As the dark clouds hover and the cell block door slams shut, you're instantly reminded the granite walls of Folsom Prison are as cold as they are uninviting.

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But just outside the B Block, a giving spirit warms the space in a way you'd never guess. It's where hardened criminals, with their tattooed arms and tarnished pasts, working on fixing the broken fabric of their lives by crocheting gifts for others.

They call themselves The Hooks and Ladders Knitting and Crocheting Club of Folsom Prison. It's where inmates make toys for needy children, hats for cancer patients going through chemotherapy, and scarves and blankets.

For inmate Eddie Rand, who's serving 25 years to life, it's helped him find a way to take a deep breath again.

It's very stressful, day-to-day," he said. "You don't know what's going to happen in here; we try to find things to do to keep busy."

You have to have a thick skin if you choose to be in the program .

"As other inmates were walking by, they would kind of snicker and laugh and tease and that kind of thing," said Marcia Devers, who oversees the program.

Before, they'd see inmates with pink yarn and laugh. Now, the only comments being made include how can they sign up.

Lifer Greg Gibson says he gets better with every ball of yarn.

"The first things I did were pretty terrible but it got better as I go and just practice--now I'm doing some pretty good work," he said.

Jerald Hickman is also locked up for life. He calls the unusual inmate activity therapeutic.

"It's relaxing; it's a good way to release energy," he said.

And it's a great way to give the inmates a feeling so foreign behind bars—a sense of pride.

The group is now award-winning, recently picking up a statewide award as the Small Club Project of The Year.

They're sponsored by the Folsom Lake Lions Club, which relies on donations to keep the program going.