CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 26, 2000 | MANUEL GAMIZ JR., TIMES STAFF WRITER
Amber Bias spent Christmas 1998 in custody on drug charges. Allah Watkins spent six years in prison for his involvement in a gang-related murder and attempted murder. They both left incarceration with few options. They could have continued their troubled lives, risking arrest again or maybe even getting killed--or they could have turned their lives around by going to school or getting jobs. Both chose the latter option.