The State - News from Jan. 16, 1989

For the first time in the state, inmates at San Quentin prison have begun mass-producing custom wheelchair parts for the disabled, a spokesman said. “It’s an opportunity for me to give something back-- it makes me feel great,” said Rocky Laboa, 29, a convicted murderer from Hanford who has been behind bars for eight years. The parts turned out by Laboa and others are used in custom vehicles that make everyday life more tolerable for the handicapped, said Emmet Band, director of mobility engineering at the Sonoma Developmental Center.