From Cellblock to CNC: How a San Diego Nonprofit is Turning Decades Behind Bars into High-Tech Careers

SAN DIEGO — In a converted industrial machine shop humming with the rhythmic thrum of heavy equipment in southeastern San Diego, men who have spent decades behind bars are quietly forging a new future. Just weeks out of state correctional facilities—where futures are frequently defined by concrete walls, rigid schedules, and the stigma of a felony record—these individuals are mastering the exacting science of computer numerical control (CNC) machining.

At the helm of this transformation is Rise Up Industries (RUI), an inspirational San Diego-based nonprofit that has spent over a decade dismantling the barriers to reentry. By transforming a felony record into a machinist certification, RUI offers a comprehensive paid apprenticeship program that pairs high-level technical trade education with essential wrap-around services, including professional therapy, rigorous tutoring, and dedicated case management.

Yet, despite its noble social mission, the day-to-day operations of the facility are entirely rooted in the real world. The machine shop does not rely on charity work or simple mock-ups; it fulfills high-end, competitive manufacturing contracts for aerospace components, medical devices, automotive parts, camera and faucet hardware, BMX bicycle components, and precision fishing lures.

By marrying cutting-edge manufacturing with deep-rooted psychological rehabilitation, Rise Up Industries is directly confronting one of America’s most stubborn systemic failures: a staggering mass incarceration rate paired with an economy that routinely shuts its doors on formerly incarcerated job seekers.

Main Facts: The Blueprint of Second Chances

The scope of the American criminal justice crisis is well-documented. The United States continues to lead the developed world in per capita incarceration. For those who finally complete their sentences, the transition back into society is frequently a brutal gauntlet. A felony conviction acts as a nearly impenetrable barrier to stable employment, often pushing individuals back into the very environments and cycles of survival that landed them behind bars in the first place.

Rise Up Industries changes that mathematical equation entirely. While national data compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that roughly 66% of released prisoners are re-arrested or re-convicted within a three-year window, RUI’s internal tracking tells a radically different story. Among program graduates, the recidivism rate plummets to a staggering 3%.

Key Program Metrics:

• Core Skill: CNC and manual machining, tailored to San Diego’s robust advanced manufacturing sector.
• Support System: Integrated clinical therapy, case management, and academic tutoring (including shop-floor trigonometry).
• Recidivism Rate: 3% for program graduates, compared to the 66% national average over three years.
• Commercial Output: Aerospace components, medical device parts, automotive gear, and specialized hardware.

"San Diego has a strong advanced manufacturing sector and a significant need for skilled workers, so CNC machining became the central employment pathway in our program," explains Jonathan Yackley, Executive Director of Rise Up Industries, in a written statement.

Chronology: Journeys Across Decades

To understand the profound nature of the transformation happening inside the Rise Up machine shop, one must look at the personal timelines of the men who walk through its doors—journeys measured not in years, but in decades.

Komisi Savaiinaea: From Skepticism to Supervision

Komisi Savaiinaea served more than two decades behind bars. When he was first released, the prospect of entering a high-tech manufacturing facility felt alien and overwhelming.

"I was very intimidated and skeptical about the whole thing," Savaiinaea admitted in an interview with the Good News Network. "I’d never had any experience with machining, it had been many years since I went to school, I’m not too savvy with technology, so I was a bit fearful of the whole thing."

Everything changed the moment he walked through the doors of the facility. By touring the shop floor and speaking with current members operating the heavy machinery, Savaiinaea realized a comforting truth: none of them had prior machining experience either.

With the help of patient tutors stationed right on the machining floor, Savaiinaea dove headfirst into a crash course in applied trigonometry. "If these gentlemen on the floor can get it, you know, I believe in myself, I think I can get it as well," he recalled.

Looking back, Savaiinaea recognized that the only alternative path available to him would likely have been day-to-day, hand-to-mouth labor on construction sites—a precarious existence with no upward mobility. Instead, he persevered, graduated from the apprenticeship, and has since been promoted to a shop supervisor. In this role, he serves as a steady, reliable anchor for new arrivals.

His journey has not been without additional hurdles; Savaiinaea is also a cancer survivor, having navigated significant health battles between 2023 and 2024. Throughout his medical challenges and professional growth, he has utilized RUI’s therapy programs to strengthen his personal life, supporting his wife of more than 30 years as they navigate life post-incarceration.

Anthony Walkens: Rewriting a Life After 47 Years

For current apprentice Anthony Walkens, the passage of time behind bars was even more profound. In 1998, Walkens was convicted of gang-related homicide charges and sentenced to 55 years to life. He ultimately served 47 years in various correctional institutions across California.

It was only during his final decade in the system that a fundamental shift occurred in his personality and outlook. He became eligible for parole in 2025, stepping out into a technological and societal landscape that had transformed entirely while he was inside.

Like Savaiinaea, Walkens experienced a wave of intimidation upon entering the Rise Up machine shop. Having spent nearly half a century behind bars, the sudden immersion into a professional, high-precision industrial setting felt daunting.

"When I first came through the door, I was overwhelmed, I thought I had bit off more than I could chew," Walkens shared. "But the welcome I got here from people like Komisi, it reassured me that I would be able to do this. When Komisi first started, he had this same experience, and coming from the same scenario as I, it started being comfortable."

Today, Walkens describes the RUI machine shop not as a sterile industrial workspace, but as something much warmer. "It’s really a beautiful place," he says, "kind of like a family setting."

Supporting Data: The Economics and Statistics of Reentry

The success of Rise Up Industries is not an isolated miracle; it is the logical result of evidence-based intervention strategies. Sociological and economic studies consistently demonstrate that sustainable rehabilitation requires a three-pronged approach: financial stability, mental health support, and community reintegration.

The Cost of Incarceration vs. Investment in Reentry

According to state correctional reports, housing a single inmate in California costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars annually. Multiplied across decades for long-term sentences, the financial burden on the public is immense. Conversely, community-based programs that successfully divert individuals away from recidivism yield massive economic dividends:

• Tax Base Contribution: Graduates transition from state dependents to tax-paying, wage-earning citizens.
• Family Stability: Reducing recidivism breaks intergenerational cycles of trauma and incarceration for the participants’ children and spouses.
• Industrial Output: Local manufacturing economies gain a dependable, highly skilled labor pool to fill critical supply chain gaps.

Executive Director Jonathan Yackley emphasizes that technical training in a vacuum is ultimately insufficient to solve the systemic crisis.

"Over the years, we have learned that technical training alone is not enough," Yackley notes. "Someone can leave incarceration with a certificate and still face the same isolation, trauma, instability, and lack of opportunity that contributed to incarceration in the first place."

Official Responses and Holistic Philosophy

The operational philosophy of Rise Up Industries is built on the understanding that human beings require emotional and psychological rehabilitation just as much as professional training. This is why RUI embeds comprehensive behavioral health care directly into its daily routine.

Participants receive ongoing support from licensed therapists and dedicated case managers who help them untangle decades of institutionalization, trauma, and societal alienation. For participants like Komisi Savaiinaea, this clinical backing is vital. Having endured addiction, the trials of long-term incarceration, a cancer diagnosis, and decades of marriage, Savaiinaea credits the pro-social environment with allowing him to show up as a reliable husband and community member.

"I’ve been with her through dysfunction, addiction, and it looks different coming home in a responsible state of mind in a pro-social setting," Savaiinaea reflects.

Yackley points to Savaiinaea as the living embodiment of the program’s ultimate vision: "Sustainable change happens when demanding career training is combined with behavioral health care, case management, education, and a community in which people know they belong—Komisi is a powerful example. The leadership skills he once used in prison now help him supervise a manufacturing team, encourage new participants, and serve his community."

For supervisors like Savaiinaea, guiding newly released men is an exercise in mutual healing. "It’s more gentle, they can relate to it better," he says. "So it allows me to continue my learning and be of service to others."

Implications: A Blueprint for National Reform

The work being done in southeastern San Diego carries profound implications for criminal justice reform across the United States. As lawmakers, economists, and community activists search for actionable solutions to overcrowding, high recidivism, and labor shortages in the manufacturing sector, Rise Up Industries offers a proven, scalable model.

By treating formerly incarcerated individuals not as liabilities to be managed, but as untapped human capital waiting to be cultivated, RUI demonstrates that redemption is entirely possible when society provides the right tools.

When advanced industrial training is combined with genuine empathy, mental healthcare, and economic opportunity, the revolving door of the prison system grinds to a halt. In its place, a new kind of production line takes over—one that manufactures precision aerospace parts on the outside, and rebuilds shattered lives from the inside out.