FOLSOM (AP) — The NBA is sending players and coaches into prisons to host pickup games with inmates as part of a new effort designed to lessen the stigmas around those behind bars.
The Sacramento Kings kicked off the first in a nationwide series of contests this week at Folsom State Prison, made famous in the Johnny Cash song.
Team members and coaches first held a discussion Thursday with inmates and representatives of the Represent Justice Campaign who are themselves formerly incarcerated.
The campaign organized the Play for Justice initiative as an effort to bring hope to those in the criminal justice system who are disproportionately people of color and the poor.
Kings coach Luke Walton then joined one of the two inmate teams for an hour-long pickup game coached by Kings players.
