Pickleball Breaks Out in Prisons

Six years ago, Candace BelAir and her husband, Roger, were watching the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” as they did most Sundays. A gripping report came on, narrated by correspondent Lesley Stahl, about Sheriff Tom Dart and the Cook County Jail in Illinois. Life for the 10,000 inmates looked grim and tedious.

“Look at them, they’re just sitting around,” Roger BelAir remembers saying to his wife that night. “They ought to be playing pickleball!”

He was dead serious. BelAir, still a relatively new convert to pickleball himself at the time, was fired up. He left the room to think over his idea. Later, he circled back to his wife, still watching TV.

“I’m going there,” he vowed. “I’m going to teach them the game.”

Before long, improbably enough, BelAir was teaching pickleball to Cook County inmates. One jail visit led to another. It made sense: Why not try teaching pickleball to inmates? It might help them get along better. It might help prepare them for life on the outside. It would definitely be fun. Soon he was in demand, teaching pickleball in prisons in multiple states.

“Going into a prison is a lot like going into a Catholic church in Italy—they’re all the same, but they’re all different,” BelAir says. “Most people in prison are pretty good at sizing people up. If they weren’t, they might be dead. They’ve got real street smarts. So, within 20 minutes or so, they’ve got me figured out. They know I’m not there to talk about my hip replacement or my grandkids—I’m there for them. And they go out and play pickleball, and all they care about is hitting the ball over the net. I go from ‘OG’ (Old Guy) to bro or dude within a half hour.”

BelAir, who discovered pickleball at 64, found success in banking and investing and was on the cover of Money magazine in September 1984. His book, “How to Borrow Money from a Banker: A Business Owner’s Guide,” was published in 1988 by the American Management Association.

BelAir’s prison proselytizing for pickleball attracted the interest of The Washington Post, which published a February 2023 article, “Pickleball’s Latest Court? The Prison Yard,” by reporter Rick Maese. “BelAir could feel the morning temperature climbing,” Maese wrote, “but this game, he was convinced, is a force of good, bridging gaps and offering life lessons. So here he was at the Sumter Correctional Institution, about 50 miles north of Tampa, talking to a few dozen inmates about pickleball.”

Among the readers of that article was California filmmaker Daniel Ostroff, who—ever on the lookout for ideas—knew a great story when he saw one. Ostroff reached out to BelAir about filming a documentary of his pickleball tour in prisons. The two agreed to meet for lunch.

“I’d had other people approach me about doing a documentary, but Daniel’s for real,” BelAir says. “I didn’t want to make the mistake of going with somebody who would not be able to carry through.”

Ostroff is one of the producers of “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” a 2001 documentary about famous skateboarders Zephyr Z-Boys. The film, directed by Stacey Peralta and narrated by actor Sean Penn, won two awards at Sundance, the Audience Award and the Directing Award. Ostroff’s previous credits include Ron Howard’s “Missing.” His latest movie, “Menace,” starring Isabel May, will be released theatrically in 2025. Now, with his new documentary, “Pickleball in Prison™,” Ostroff is on a mission to spread the word about BelAir’s work.

“It kind of struck me that Roger had Vince Lombardi qualities,” Ostroff recalls. That might seem like a stretch, since Vince Lombardi (“Winners never quit and quitters never win”) was one of the most famous football coaches of the 20th century, but one can see why Ostroff makes the comparison.

“Roger chooses his words carefully,” Ostroff elaborates. “He’s very succinct. I liked what he says about neighbors: ‘We know that 95 percent of these guys in prison will get out one day, and if I can make them into better neighbors, isn’t that good for everybody?’”

After a successful meeting in March 2023, BelAir and Ostroff got right to work. “Roger was booked to teach at four prisons in the San Francisco Bay Area, two of which are among the most famous prisons in the world, Folsom and San Quentin,” Ostroff says. “I just made a quick calculation. They’re all within driving distance of San Francisco. I will get a crew and go with Roger to those four prisons to film.”

He tapped Oscar-nominated cinematographer Vicente Franco, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Kim Komenich and sound man Ray Day.

The visit to San Quentin was especially intense. Located in Marin County, north across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, it opened in 1854 and is the oldest prison in California. “Until recently, San Quentin had more people on death row than any place in the western hemisphere,” BelAir says. “It’s a tough place.”

The San Quentin warden asked BelAir to do a video call.

“I started by saying, ‘Let me tell you about some of the benefits of pickleball,’” BelAir remembers.

“The warden replied, ‘Roger, I’ve done my homework. When can you be here?’”

As part of his pickleball lesson, BelAir explains to the inmates “the kitchen” and walks them through the scoring. And then he tells them his favorite part of the game—the group hug, where players tap their paddles after a match. “I think it’s really simple,” BelAir says. “The world would be a better place if we had more group hugs and less violence.”

As prisoners begin tapping the ball back and forth over the net, BelAir says you see smiles, hear laughter, and some gentle ribbing.

Then BelAir wondered if his favorite sport could not only bring inmates together, but even more. “What about getting some staff involved playing pickleball with the inmates?” BelAir asked his handler. “Maybe even the warden?”

No way, no how, was the reply.

“Roger, this is San Quentin. It’s been around for over 100 years,” he was told. “Staff does not participate in that kind of thing with the incarcerated. The warden has never participated in something like that.”

Not a rejection that left much room for appeals, but BelAir wasn’t going to be deterred too readily. He waited a couple of days. The warden had given him his private number, so he called just to check in.

“It’s going well,” he told the warden. “We’re making good progress. Pickleball is great for breaking down barriers.

“What about getting involved, and I can teach you the game at the same time?” BelAir suggested.

The warden agreed.

“The day I showed up, the warden was at the net with his paddle,” BelAir says.

The film crew went to four different prisons shooting footage. Besides Folsom and San Quentin, they also visited California State Prison in Sacramento.

“There were some tough-looking guys there,” Komenich recalls. “It was raining that day and you could see the joy in these guys, getting a chance to try something that wasn’t part of the prison routine. It made a difference for them that day.”

Many wardens say pickleball is a positive, and something for inmates to look forward to. And the thought of losing the opportunity to play deters inmates from breaking the rules.

Associate Warden Sarah Shepherd at California State Prison, Sacramento, says, “Pickleball gives the population an opportunity to get out and have positive social interaction. It provides a different avenue—team building. I think we’re going to see more and more facilities welcome this sport.”

From the prisons’ perspective, BelAir’s pickleball tour has been such a success that department officials are brainstorming how to get the sport into other state facilities, which would make pickleball accessible to thousands of inmates.

One inmate from San Quentin says, “I think it’s important to have communication and direct contact with the outside while you’re incarcerated to remind us there’s life beyond these walls. Pickleball is something to keep your mind busy and get a little exercise and talk with others, meet new friends and enjoy something new. Pickleball is also a pretty cordial sport. I don’t foresee any troubles in this game. And for somebody like me who doesn’t want any conflict, I think it’s a great way to get out some of that competitive energy in a positive way.”

Another inmate chimes in, “We have the warden, we have COs, and they’re playing the game and learning the game with incarcerated folks at the same time. And I have to say, this is about the first time that I’ve seen prison staff playing a sport with the incarcerated residents. And it’s really beautiful to see.”  •

Steve Kettmann is a former San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter whose books include “One Day at Fenway” and “Baseball Maverick.” His work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Monthly, NewYorker.com and GQ.