‘Mother, mentor and enforcer’: Shirley Lamarr’s legacy of helping inmates struggling with addiction carries on

The program started in a tiny pod in the women’s jail back in 1999 by Dr. Teri Delane and was based on the Delancey Street model, a recovery program based in San Francisco that provides job training and social services to help former inmates hooked on drugs reintegrate into society.

Lamarr knows the Delancey Street program well because she graduated from it in 1994.

“It saved my life,” Lamarr, 66, said about Delancey Street.

Delane also became Lamarr’s best friend as she worked through the program trying to kick a 22-year heroin addiction.

It was Delane who recruited Lamarr to Redwood City to help run Choices.

Years later, Lamarr replaced Delane as director and now Lamarr is searching for her own replacement as she officially retired this past Friday.

She plans to stick around until the end of the year to make sure Choices has a new director suited to assist the next generation of inmates struggling with addiction.

She came to lead Choices through her dedication and commitment toward helping others.

She credits early supporters former sheriff and current county Supervisor Don Horsley, former supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, County Manager John Maltbie and former supervisor Mike Nevin, who died in 2012, for putting an emphasis on recovery rather than incarceration.

Horsley saw how well the Choices program worked in the women’s jail and had it expanded to the men’s jail.

“It was really successful with the women. You could see lives transform,” Horsley said.

There was some hesitancy to expanding, however, because the Choices counselors were all essentially graduates of the Delancey Street program and many of them had lengthy criminal histories, including Lamarr.

The program worked even better in the men’s jail, he said.

He credits Lamarr’s charisma and powerful personality for making it work.

The rate of recidivism for Choices graduates was also way lower compared to the rest of the jail population, Horsley said.

“She cries and screams and cajoles and coaches and hugs. She does it all and they respond to it,” Horsley said about inmates in the program. “She’s someone you don’t want to disappoint.”

Choices serves 96 men and 24 women who all have to apply to join the program.

Over the years, Lamarr estimates up to 25,000 individuals have benefited from the program through its parenting classes, math lessons, GED preparation and vast number of workshops.

“We’ve built an army of Choices people. I run into them all over the country,” she said.

Lamarr is also the director of Mz. Shirliz Transitional Living, which provides food, housing, job training and other services for the formerly incarcerated and those struggling with substance abuse problems.

The single-floor and aging El Camino Real office she leases, however, is primed to be razed and replaced with housing or offices.

She doesn’t know yet where she will relocate.

But her landlord, Selby Development Group, has agreed to give her free rent for several months until the property is ready to be redeveloped.

“I’m a big believer in blind faith,” she said.

Although she has officially retired, the county has hired her back to run Choices until a replacement is found, possibly a graduate of the Choices program.

“I’m going to keep my blood flowing through its veins,” she said about the program.

Deputy County Manager Mike Callagy calls Lamarr a “one in a million.”

She’s been a “mother, mentor and enforcer,” Callagy said about her relationship with inmates.

“The foundation she has established will live on. She has left a legacy and recipe for success that will live beyond her tenure with the county,” Callagy said.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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