SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
Stockton area, California · Steel fabrication · Reentry
Original reporting: Annie Barker, Stocktonia, September 13, 2026, with contributions from Josh Susong
Floyd Henley was released after nearly 35 years behind bars and now works as a welder at Herrick Corp., a steel manufacturing company headquartered in Stockton, Stocktonia reports. The welding skills he uses there are ones he learned in prison, and he recently earned a promotion.
Henley had been incarcerated since 1990 on two murder convictions. Stocktonia reports that he took 50 classes inside, earning political science and sociology degrees, and took life-skills courses through the Department of Rehabilitation. He recently finished his last class at Delta College. The report also notes that members of one victim’s family attended his parole hearings and asked that he not be released.
At 62, Henley told Stocktonia he is looking for work that is less physically demanding and hopes to land a job with the California Department of Transportation. That is a goal, not an outcome the report confirms.
His story is one of several in Stocktonia’s look at how people rebuild working lives after incarceration, where reentry programs such as Stockton’s Friends Outside help with the transition.
Location Decision takeaway
Skills training inside prison pays off only if an employer outside will hire and promote the person who completed it. Henley’s path shows what that handoff can look like in a regional manufacturing economy.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Annie Barker, Stocktonia, September 13, 2026; Josh Susong contributed.