Prison honor guard performs at Padres game

Imperial Valley Press — The Calipatria State Prison honor guard represented not only the Department of
Corrections but also the Imperial Valley during an appearance in the opening ceremony of a major league baseball game last week.

Members of the Calipatria State Prison honor guard as well as a member from Centinela State Prison’s honor guard attended the Padres-Pirates game Aug. 19 in San Diego’s Petco Park.

“It’s amazing because how many people get to do that?” Calipatria State Prison honor guard Cmdr. Robert Silvas said. “We love representing our communities, because each officer is from a different community like Brawley, El Centro, etc. We try to promote Imperial Valley wherever we go. Unless you have a prison in your town, you know nothing about it.”

Silvas was in the Padres game opening ceremony along with Centinela Correctional Sgt. Sandra Rivas as well as correctional officers Joseph Manning and Ismael Luna.

He has been involved in the all-volunteer honor guard for 10 years and during that time, has also been able to be in the opening ceremonies of Los Angeles Clippers and San Diego Chargers games as well as in local events like the Cattle Call Parade.

He said that when the honor guard opened for the Clippers, “The roar of the crowd was just deafening and we couldn’t even hear each other and were just going off visual cues.” continue reading...