Fernando Jara and Rockville Farm

Jara, right, told the CIA in 2001 that he had sharp survival instincts because his heroin-addicted father had spent much of his life in prison. His father, Harry, left, now has been clean four years and works at Rockhill Farm.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Jara, right, leads prayer at Rockhill Farm.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Jara feeds his young son. In 2011 he married Leticia Perez, a Kern County public defender who in November became the first Latina elected as a county supervisor in the Central Valley.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Jara, right, leads a Bible study session at Rockhill Farm. The felons and drug addicts who work there live in dorm rooms surrounded by a citrus orchard.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Tattoos adorn the hand of a man attending a Bible study session at Rockhill Farm.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Jara carries his son at the farm. Rockhill Farm’s residents grow, harvest and sell vegetables and fruit and get daily counseling and Bible study sessions.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Farm manager Nick Hernandez, right, gets a hand from Jara’s father, Harry.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Farm crew leader Mike Juarez pulls an irrigation line.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Jara walks to a field. He is completing a master¿s degree in divinity at Claremont School of Theology and plans to begin work on a doctorate and a law degree.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)