JAIL SITE OF ELFIN PROJECT.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

CASTAIC - They may not be Santa's elves, but for some inmates at Pitchess Detention Center, the job description is the same: Spend the better part of a year hand-crafting wooden toys and then give them to thousands of children at Christmas.

Rows of shiny wooden cars, dump trucks, helicopters, rocking horses and squirrels with wheels are stockpiled at the prison facility near Castaic and given to inmates' children during the annual Santa's Magic Day event.

Toys are also donated to needy or sick children throughout the county during the holidays.

For inmates in the woodworking program, the toys are an emotional link to their own, temporarily out-of-reach children.

Aurelio Campa, 44, said he thought of his 6-year-old daughter when he came up with the idea of creating wooden squirrels on wheels that can be pulled by a leash.

``I love her very, very much and I feel like she's with me when I'm making these toys,'' said Campa, serving the last two months of an eight-month sentence for spousal abuse. ``I love my kids and I love my family very much, and I never, never want to come back to jail.''

Robert Loera, a 26-year-old El Monte resident serving a 10-month sentence for grand theft auto, also said he thinks of his two small children while he sprays lacquer on a row of wooden cars.

``It feels great to be doing something good for once,'' he said. ``I think I'm going to keep making toys when I get out, either as a hobby or a job.''

Only low-risk, well-behaved inmates qualify to participate in the toy-making program because it involves the use of sharp tools, table saws and drill presses, jail officials say.

Those who work with the inmates say the program offers the men a sense of pride and accomplishment many have never experienced before.

``One of the guys in here is a little gangbanger who never did any kind of work before in his life,'' said Deputy Bryan Trout, who co-founded the toy-making program about 15 years ago. ``But now that he knows the toys are going to kids, he takes a lot of pride in what he's doing, probably more pride than he's ever put in anything else.''

Deputy Dave Zuehlsdorf added that the process of creating something from a block of wood boosts the inmates' self-esteem.

``Most of these guys are in here because they can't complete anything, whether it's high school or a job,'' he said. ``But it's psychologically healthy to create something step-by-step and see it through to completion.''

The inmates also learn furniture-making and wood-refinishing skills they could put to use outside of prison in the job market, Zuehlsdorf said.

``Instead of selling drugs they could make toys and sell them for a few bucks when they get out,'' he said. ``If they worked this hard on the outside, they'd never have to worry about coming back.''

The toys are also popular with employees at the jail. The waiting list to purchase rocking horses made by the inmates is over two years long, said Mark Palmieri, a civilian employee at the jail who supervises one of the woodworking shops.

The $100 fee paid for the rocking horses is put in an inmate welfare fund used to purchase personal items, athletic equipment and television sets for the inmates, said Deputy Gary Sholder.

Palmieri, a former schoolteacher, has been working with the inmates in the toy-making shop for 10 years and said it's the most rewarding job he's ever had.

``The inmates are invariably appreciative of anything I do,'' he said. ``I get a real feeling of helping them with this creative outlet.

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(1 -- 2 -- color) Aurelio Campa builds a rocking horse at the Pitchess Detention Center wood shop while Robert Loera varnishes toy vehicles that will be given to needy children or sold to benefit fellow inmates.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer