California prison officials began touting a new public safety reform in January that would encourage inmates to complete a rehabilitation course and earn six weeks per year off a sentence.

Inside Folsom State Prison, though, inmates and instructors leading such courses are skeptical it will work.

In reality, they say, budget cuts approved by legislators last year, needed to cope with an unprecedented fiscal crisis, are devastating programs that are the basis for the new credit and for helping inmates stay straight once free...

CDCR stands for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, but after $250 million in cuts to the rehabilitation programs, some believe it should just be called CDC.

Douglas Jockinsen, a correctional facility teacher who could be laid off March 1 said, "There is no 'R' in CDCR. And the programs that are left are a shadow of their former selves. They are the only programs that have shown to cut recidivism, people coming back to prison."

CDCR's Web site says "Inmates who learn to read and write and those who gain a skill are far more likely to succeed upon release. Those who do not are more likely to re-offend and end up back in prison."

With the hundreds of teacher cuts, CDCR will also have a new model when it comes to education — model they admit is not ideal….

Gina Tatum spends her days in a compound surrounded by electrified fence in the sun-baked heart of the Central Valley, hoping to change her life. She will soon turn 50, and after two decades in and out of prison, she says she is tired of victimizing others, tired of stealing, tired of doing drugs.

"I can't afford any more years up here - I've lost too many," said Tatum, who is serving a four-year stint for forgery at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla. "I'm trying to learn things to change my thinking, change everything about me, so I can go home. It's so easy to get caught up here and never leave. I don't want to die in prison."

But because of cuts in the state budget, Tatum and thousands of other inmates and parolees in California are about to lose access to many of the programs the prison system has offered to help them turn their lives around…

…"Guys who get out, for the first 24 hours, what they want to do is take their money, get high, get a woman and they're back in jail in no time," Alexander said. "So getting prison out of the mind is getting to a place where you know what you need to do, the types of steps you need to do to be like us."

Alexander says veteran inmates who master the three-year program serve as mentors to help newcomers deal with their emotions. Those who do get out receive post-prison support so they continue treatment.

But the program that once put Donovan on the map in California's prison system is going away. It is one of the casualties as the department of corrections slashes $280 million in rehab programs.

Inmate Oscar Mayorca says these programs are the only things making a difference in the lives of prisoners…