In September 2019, East Contra Costa native Joseph Sickler walked out of High Desert State Prison with plans and optimism, but plenty of hurdles to overcome.
He’d taken advantage of a community college program at the prison and used his credits to gain admission to Sacramento State University. And he had a job lined up through a family member. But faced with a parole condition to live in Contra Costa and working there too, attending classes an hour away started to be too much.
“I had to drive to Sacramento twice a week for classes and I couldn’t realistically work at my job part time like that,” Sickler said. “That’s when Rubicon came along.”