Inmates Donate Wages to Crime Victims Fund

Inmate work crews from the Richard J. Donovan state prison joined the San Diego Trolley and the Sweetwater Authority on Friday to donate $10,588 to the San Diego Crime Victims Fund.

It was the largest donation to the Crime Victims Fund since the organization was established in 1982 to provide emergency financial assistance to victims of crime, said fund administrator Gini Araiza.

The donation was made under labor contracts the prison made with the trolley system and with the public water authority, which provides drinking water to Chula Vista, National City and Bonita.

The trolley system contributed about $8,900, and the water authority about $1,600 on behalf of the inmates.

Both donations represented a percentage of the inmate work crews’ wages earned during the past five months for clearing brush around Sweetwater Reservoir and for servicing trolley equipment.

About 30 inmates performed the work.

Last year the inmate work crews donated $1,500 to the fund.

Recipients for Crime Victims Fund assistance are screened by the district attorney’s office and selected by the fund’s board of directors.

Financial assistance goes primarily to crime victims who need money immediately for food, rent and other necessities.

The fund has provided more than $200,000 in emergency financial aid to 1,800 people since 1982.

The Donovan prison, a medium-security institution that opened in Otay Mesa in 1987, is one of 18 state prisons in California.