what is pickleball in prison?
Roger BelAir, a retired Seattle businessman, developed a unique pickleball background through his friendship with Barney McCallum, the sport’s last living founder, and close ties with Pickle-Ball, Inc. This insider knowledge shapes his popular clinics, where he’s taught over 4,000 people and served as a frequent Guest Teaching Pro at Rancho La Puerta.
Inspired by a 60 Minutes segment, Roger brought pickleball into Chicago’s Cook County Jail to teach communication and emotional-regulation skills. The results were dramatic—rival gang members played together, tensions eased, and behavior improved. His success sparked a nationwide
movement, leading him to teach in major prisons from Rikers Island to San Quentin and co-found PICLeague.org. Today, pickleball is offered in 40+ correctional facilities across 10 states, with a feature documentary in production.
Roger now mentors volunteers nationwide to expand the program’s reach.
statistics
There is no definitive, single public tally of all U.S. prisons and jails, but according to credible sources:
The American Jail Association reports that there are about 3,100 jail facilities in the U.S. (local jails). American Jail Association
According to the World Prison Brief, the U.S. has 3,940 establishments/institutions (federal + state + local) counted as “prisons” (i.e., longer-term facilities) in their dataset. World Prison Brief
Another source puts the total number of “correctional facilities” at around 6,245 across various categories. Security Journal Americas
Estimated total number of prisons + jails in the U.S. is on the order of ~ 6,000+ facilities (combining jails, state & federal prisons, plus other correctional institutions).