Archives for March 2018

NEWS QUOTES FEB 2018 C

March 30, 2018 by Wayne Boatwright

1930 Wall City News

25% drop in state prison incarceration

10% drop statewide average in county jail populations

22% drop in felony filings

California still spends a combined $20 billion in state prisons and county jails, according to “SAFE AND SOUND: STRATEGIES TO SAVE A BILLION IN PRISON COSTS AND BUILD NEW SAFETY SOLUTIONS” by Californians For Safety and Justice Nov. 2017

“There are over 4,800 legal restrictions facing people with convictions – after sentence completion…73% of these legal barriers are permanent.”

“SAFE AND SOUND: STRATEGIES TO SAVE A BILLION IN PRISON COSTS AND BUILD NEW SAFETY SOLUTIONS” by Californians For Safety and Justice Nov. 2017

“Nearly 7 in 10 support clearing the records of people who complete their entire sentence if they remain crime free for seven years.”

“SAFE AND SOUND: STRATEGIES TO SAVE A BILLION IN PRISON COSTS AND BUILD NEW SAFETY SOLUCTIONS” by Californians For Safety and Justice Nov. 2017

“64% of California’s jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016.” Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail. Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/

25 percent of millennial-age American men think asking a woman who is not a romantic partner to go for a drink is harassment, according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18.

More than a third of millennials say that if a man compliments a woman’s looks it is harassment, according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18.

With 343 homicides in 2017, Baltimore “had the highest murder rate in its history, and by far the highest among the nation’s 30 largest cities,” according to The New York Times 1-17-18

Court aids sex offenders seeking early parole

Girls of color overlooked in the school to prison pipeline

Santa Clara DA discusses solutions to crime

Boatwright

A nightmare for one incarcerated dreamer

March 30, 2018 by Tare Beltranchuc

Luis Ojeda, 23, is serving a six-year sentence in San Quentin State Prison after a conviction for assault with great bodily injury. Upon his release, he faces deportation to Mexico. His sister, Jennie, 21, is a law-abiding resident of San Jose, where she is studying and working. Nevertheless, she also fears deportation.

“I wanted to be a lawyer and help out my parents,” Luis said. “But, I messed up the opportunity DACA offered me. I feel ashamed for committing a crime. I squandered the opportunity given to me in this country. And, I feel bad they are using us as an excuse to not renew DACA. I don’t think it is fair.”

Jennie Ojeda, Luis Ojeda, and Lourdes Ortiz

Former President Barack Obama created DACA in 2012 to protect undocumented children from deportation if they entered the U.S. before they turned 16-years old.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

The Ojeda family’s story shows how ending the DACA program could separate a family. Luis and Jennie are among the 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought by their parents to the U.S. at a young age, and who are called Dreamers.

Since President Donald J. Trump’s administration announced his intention to end the humanitarian program known officially as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), the Dreamers are facing an uncertain future.

Siblings Jennie and older brother Luis are facing eminent separation if DACA ends.

“I feel worried,” Jennie said. “If they don’t do anything, not just my family will be affected, but a lot of people. It will crush our dreams. We will not be able to go to school or to work.”

Jennie remembers how DACA changed her life. The program allowed her to work legally in the US. She works now as a secretary at a plumbing company during the day, and attends De Anza College at night. Her goal is to become an archeologist and an anthropologist.

“I like learning about people that were here for a long time ago, about the significance of religions, their views, ancient civilizations,” Jennie said. “If I become an archeologist I will get to explore the world,” Jennie said.

“Some 70 million Americans have a criminal record – a number equal to Americans with a college degree,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. NEW YORK TIMES July 27, 2018 “Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance”

The majority of Dreamers contribute to the U.S. economy. Ending DACA would affect all Dreamers — even those who have not committed a crime.

“Since DACA was implemented in 2012, a total of 2,139 (about 0.3 percent) Dreamers have lost their status because of criminal behavior,” according to the article “The Numbers Behind The Dreamers” By Will Racke of the Daily Caller.

Although in prison, Luis said he also benefited from DACA. He thought his future lay in the American Dream.

Hoga Ojeda, Lourdes Ortiz, Hilario Ojeda, and Luis Ojeda in San Quentin’s visiting room

Luis acknowledges his wrongs and accepts the punishment for his bad choices. However, Trump’s threat “plays an emotional” game with the Dreamers, like his sister Jennie, who contributes to the country’s economy and obeys the law.

“I am super afraid. It makes me sad,” Jennie said. “When I just saw the news — they are playing with our feelings. They are not taking us serious. How can we have a future? It makes me sad, worried, stressed out.”

Harvard researcher Roberto G. Gonzalez surveyed 2,000 DACA participants.

Gonzalez found that 22 percent of Dreamers have earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to about 32 percent of the US population as a whole who hold a bachelor’s degree, according to National UnDACAmented Research Project.

Jennie and Luis came to the U.S. like most Dreamers with their parents and a little brother. They became part of the fabric of America. They attended American schools, learned English and embraced the dominant culture.

“First day in school I was super nervous,” Jennie said. “I didn’t know how to speak English. The next day, I didn`t want to go back to school. I didn`t know anyone. I didn’t know how to communicate.”

Ending DACA creates stress for Dreamers because many would have to make sudden changes in their lives. Some would have no alternative than to return to living in the shadows — in constant fear of deportation. For others, it might mean going back to countries from which they fled or know little about.

“Before DACA at 11-years old, I often stressed thinking about La Migra (ICE) coming to get me and separate me from my family,” Luis said. “I received DACA at 18-years old. This helped me to get a driver’s license, and a work permit with which I got my first job as a cook in a restaurant while I continued with my education.”

However, the future of Dreamers like the Ojeda siblings lingers in limbo since the Trump administration announced the termination of DACA. The issue of DACA’s future is a topic of debate in Congress. It is also tied up in the federal courts.

“I was brought to this country by my parents when I was 9-years old,” Jennie said. “My baby brother, Luis and I were fortunate because we didn’t have to climb the fence like my mom and older brother did. My father brought us to this country to have a better future. My mom helped me start doing the research for DACA, gathering all documents and we have to pay a lawyer and DACA fees,” Jennie said.

She continues to “have hope the Congress will do something about” DACA to bring relief to all the DACA participants and maintain their legal status in this country to make their dreams come true.

–Taré Beltranchuc and Marcos Villa

Deportation Crimes Explained

http://sanquentinnews.com/daca-repeal-is-a-nightmare-for-dreamers/

Unibody turns ex-cons into personal trainers

March 30, 2018 by Joe Garcia

A successful fitness entrepreneur recently launched his own nonprofit organization to train and prepare ex-convicts for employment as personal trainers in the thriving fitness industry.

Unibody Fitness members

“I spent 10 years in federal prison and spent most of my time there in the gym,” said Hector Guadalupe, founder of Unibody Fitness. “When I left, I had to decide what to do for my career. I became a certified personal trainer and immediately found employment in a New York City Sports Club.”

The unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is eight times higher than the average person, according to an AlleyWatch article. Unibody is trying to improve those statistics one personal trainer at a time.

After five years of working in the fitness community, Guadalupe started New York-based Unibody, along with its nonprofit branch, A Second U.

“Through job creation and the cultivation of a community, Unibody Fitness helps to reduce recidivism and improve morale post incarceration,” Guadalupe stated. “We have employed close to 70 formerly incarcerated individuals in our first two years, which is more than most New York City businesses can say.

“We have personal training directors, recruiters and fitness managers all over New York City seeking to hire our trainers.”

Guadalupe estimates the U.S. fitness market as a $30 billion industry with plenty of room for growth and upward mobility. Within this burgeoning network, A Second U provides support and resources to help soften the challenging reentry from incarceration to the societal workplace.

Guadalupe said his goal within the next six months is “to raise additional funding for A Second U so that we can expand to every major city throughout the country with a high recidivism rate and a strong market for fitness.”

“I’d love to be in touch with Jay-Z, who is committed to exposing the injustices of the prison system,” he added. He said he has “a lot to discuss” with the cultural icon.

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

Right to Police Transparency

Trump pardons legendary heavyweight champ Jack Johnson

ROOTS graduates learn inter-generational trauma

March 30, 2018 by Rahsaan Thomas

The audience cried and laughed with recent graduates of the Restoring Our Original True Selves (ROOTS) program as they told stories of healing generations of intergenerational trauma and jokes.

“For a lot of groups coming from refugee and war-torn situations that have strong disconnections with the generations before them, intergeneration trauma is definitely one of the keys to healing,” ROOTS Facilitator Roger “The Professor” Chung said.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

ROOTS is an Asian Pacific Islander culture awareness group that focuses on teaching intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, LGBT tolerance and transformative justice.

On Jan. 21, ROOTS held a graduation ceremony at San Quentin State Prison hosted by incarcerated facilitators Phoeun You and Anouthinh “Choy” Pangthong.

Those in the program housed in H-Unit couldn’t attend due to a lockdown.

Graduate Kevin “K” Neang, a 23-year-old from San Jose, shared a story that made many “eyes sweat.”

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

The ABC (American-Born Cambodian) lived a gang lifestyle that glamorized the streets and Khmer pride while not even knowing what that meant.

“All I knew was that Angelina Jolie loves our country,” Neang said. When the audience laughed, he responded, “What? She even adopted a baby K.”

He learned from ROOTS that he needed to know his history in order to heal.

“It allowed me to go back and call my mom and asked about her history—the Killing Fields,” Neang said. “I told her, ‘I need to know where I came from. You don’t have to hurt alone no more.’”

She visited and opened up about being a little girl run out of her home by Khmer Rouge, seeing kid soldiers killing, blood everywhere, finding her father with his throat slit, hands and feet cut off and chest opened, whole family being executed, and about her being tied to a tree, shoes taken, and beaten. She took off her shoes in the visiting room and showed Neang the scars on her feet.

“I couldn’t take the visit no more,” Neang said. “We were both crying. She told me, ‘Please do not have hatred toward Khmer Rouge because they too were victims.’”

When Neang called her after the visit, she said, “Thank you. I’ve been needing to let that out. I love you.”

Neang added, “That very first moment my mom opened up to me about her life is when I started living my own. Now conversations have begun throughout the family. Now we’re reconnecting with family in Cambodia. ROOTS helped my family get stronger.”

Graduate Si Dang followed with his quest to know his history. ROOTS sparked him to ask his mother about their family history. She told him about growing up in Vietnam during the war. Helicopters fired on her village. She saved a child, but that same child was killed a little while later—survivor’s guilt.

Dang, born in 1975, said his father was in a re-education camp until 1981.

In the United States, they were poor and discriminated against.

In 1989, a car accident claimed the lives of his father, two uncles and a pregnant aunt. Despite everything, his mother raised six children.

“I see courage, sacrifice and hope when I see my mother,” Dang said.

The Hawaiian community lifted spirits back up with a Haka dance performance.

A comedy routine by San Quentin News crossword designer Jonathan Chiu followed. The mixed crowd gave each other permission to laugh at his unique sense of humor.

The evening ended with skits performed by volunteers, graduates and facilitators.

The other graduates were:

Raven Jenkins, Yeng Lee, Wilson Nguyen, Ezequiel Roman, Sou Saechao, Vah Saechao, Satnam Singh, Glen Tufuga, Angel Villafan, Phouc Vong, Jimmy Vue, Tith Ton, Jerome Watts, and Vadim Zakharchenko.

Facilitators also received certificates. They were Rafael Cuevas, You, Pangthong, Moua Vue, Lamar “Maverick” Harrison, Lee Xiong, Chanthon Bun, Eusebeo Gonzales, David B. Le, Joe Hancock, Damon Cooke, and Kamsan Suon.

The day also marked the retirement of You and the return of Nighiep Ké Lam.

You, who had been with ROOTS since Eddie Zheng and Ben Wang started it in 2012, stepped down from the chairman role.

Ké Lam, known as “Mr. San Quentin” for participating in everything from baseball to ROOTS before paroling, visited.

“I cried the first time I drove by here because I miss y’all,” Ké Lam said. “I don’t have that same sense of brotherhood out there that I have here. A lot of people out there are still in prison because they never learned how to deal with their emotional trauma. We need more strong men to be role models, not just for other men, but for kids and people in leadership today.”

Ké Lam gives back to his community as an Asian Prisoners Support Committee reentry coordinator. He helps with getting identification, peer support, counseling, transportation, mediating with parole officers and picking people up from the gate on their release dates.

Many volunteers who came in to teach, learned in the process.

Cambodian volunteer Lina Khoeur added, “I never really had the experience working South East Asian identities. So coming here and learning about the trauma helps me bring that back to my family.”

Volunteer Xanh Tran, a jack of many trades, said, “All of our traumas are passed down from our families. If we don’t heal, the fruit will be rotten. If we can heal ourselves, we don’t have to pass down those rotten apples.”

Tracy Nguyen, who taught the LGBT segment, said, “If we really dissect our lived experiences as LGBT people and incarcerated people, you will find that our oppressions are similar—that is otherization from society, shame within our communities, policies that restrict our freedom. When we get in front of each other to share those stories, the unity and power we can build is part of the pathway to our shared liberation.”

ROOTS Solidarity Run helps spirits of the community

8th Day of Peace celebration held on SQ’s Lower Yard

Out of prison but not yet free of ICE

The Religion of Sports reaches behind the wall

March 29, 2018 by Rahsaan Thomas

Branden Riddle-Terrel, Marvin Mutch, producer Mike Gattanella and John “Dunnie” Windham

Sports is a religion according to Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and the other producers of The Religion of Sports TV series. On Jan. 9, The Religion of Sports screened an episode at San Quentin featuring Forty-Niner Pastor Earl Smith, formerly incarcerated legends like Marvin Mutch, current San Quentin A’s players and their families.

The documentary, produced by NFL icons Brady and Strahan (who didn’t attend but sent best wishes) along with Gotham Chopra, Chris Uttwiller, Gattanella and Giselle Parets, makes the case that sports is a religion.

“Baseball is the religion; it is the faith,” said Chopra, executive producer and creator of the series. “Sports is universal. Every religion, every race, every lifestyle—baseball brings them all together.”

Executive Producer Uttwiller added, “I think sports is more inclusive than religion.”

The Thomas Leach-directed documentary is told through a glimpse into the lives of four characters: John “Dunnie” Windham, Branden Riddle-Terrel, Chris “Stretch” Rich and Mutch.

Smith, who resurrected the baseball program when he was a minister at San Quentin, provided perspective.

“My job as a minister was to give guys a sense of hope, sense of light, and baseball does that,” Smith said. “Big games transform people. It gives you a sense of hope that you no longer have to be what others think of you.”

Windham, Riddle-Terrel and Rich shared their crimes, remorse and how baseball played a role in helping them cope and better themselves.

The movie opens with SQ baseball sponsor Elliot Smith warning a visiting team about the rules for entering a prison. One: you can’t give or accept anything from an incarcerated person and two: the staff do not negotiate for the return of hostages.

From there, the film avoids the typical “Lockup” sensationalism by digging into past issues that contributed to the crimes committed and the rehabilitation.

Windham’s journey from troubled latch-key kid to aiding in a homicide focuses on how baseball helped him interact with folks from all walks of life.

Windham walks the viewers around a yard self-segregated by race and onto a baseball diamond, where all races play together as one team.

“Baseball is my way of healing,” Windham, a power hitter, said in the film. “You want us out on that field because it builds community.”

His sister talked about growth.

“He was 18 when it happened,” Kathy Williams said. “He was a child, but he grew into this amazing man behind bars.”

Riddle-Terrel shared the night he broke his mother and father’s heart by going into a drug-and-alcohol-induced blackout during which he killed his best friend. He was subsequently incarcerated for manslaughter.

“When he played baseball, he was a sophomore playing with the seniors,” Branden’s dad, Doug Joerger, said. “He was that good. He might have had a chance at a higher level.”

Now Riddle-Terrel, pitches for the SQ A’s as he pays for his mistakes.

“It’s therapeutic coming out here,” Riddle-Terrel, said.

Chris “Stretch” Rich pitched for the San Quentin baseball program before he paroled after serving 21 years. His brother, a police chief, supported him the whole time.

In society, C. Rich went astray after a freak accident cracked his chin and destroyed a promising baseball career. In prison, he found light on the diamond.

“Some of my best games were here, and some of my last games were here,” Rich said

Mutch, the other formerly incarcerated man featured, served 41 years in prison on a seven-to-life sentence. For 38 of those years, he represented incarcerated people before the administration as a member of the Inmate Advisory Board.

Mutch still fights for incarcerated people as the director of advocacy for the Prison Reentry Network.

While he didn’t play baseball, he said he did help to get the field put in through bringing Metallica into the prison. The rock band donated $10,000 to make it happen.

In the film, Mutch provided a philosophical view by comparing prison to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

He attended the film screening in the Protestant Chapel and participated in a question-and-answer session along with Windham, Riddle-Terrel and Producer Mike Gattanella.

San Quentin Public Information Officer Lt. Sam Robinson fielded the first few questions. He asked producer Gattanella how his preconceived perceptions evolved over the course of filming the documentary.

“From the start everybody was friendly and open,” Gattanella said. “And I’m like, all right, who’s trying to play me? I became comfortable after a couple of days. Once we talked to John and Branden, I knew it was going to be awesome. This is my favorite thing that I put together. I never expected that.”

Riddle-Terrel was asked how it felt to see how much he let his dad down.

“It was a reminder of the let down and how much he really does love me and what he thought of me as a kid,” Riddle-Terrel said. “We still have a future ahead of us and just because we let someone down doesn’t mean they stay down forever.”

Mike Adam asked Mutch what motivated him to be part of the documentary, even though he didn’t play baseball.

“The walls don’t just keep people in; they keep people out,” Mutch said “The best thing you can do as a prisoner is throw tethers over the wall. The more people that see the lives locked up in prison, the more people will ask about the things being done in their name.

“I was always eager to have people come in. I believe in sports programs. I never bought into the boundaries. In 1975 there were a lot of boundaries, until baseball crossed those boundaries.”

The question came up as to what wasn’t shown in the one-hour film.

“The life I was living, I deserved a life sentence,” said Riddle-Terrel, who is serving 11 years. “What wasn’t shown in this story is: you have thousands of inmates in the state of California that are doing life for something they should have been home for.”

Someone asked how the producers kept from sensationalizing the film.

“We had an amazing leader and partner, DirecTV, that allowed us to tell the show,” Co-Executive Producer Parets said. “Sam (Robinson) and Bill Sessa really paved the way; we never thought we would be able to have a screening inside San Quentin.”

Uttwiller added, “Being able to tell authentic stories—we can only do that when people are authentic with us. You guys really opened up in a world you might be more guarded in. That took strength and vulnerability. We use sports as a background. Interesting stories is the tapestry for it.”

After seeing the movie, SQ baseball player Trevor Bird approached a producer and said, “Seeing film of the Pirates playing at San Quentin from another prison kept me walking the straight and narrow for the possibility of getting to San Quentin to play baseball. Now the possibility has become a reality, and seeing this film brought it full circle.”

Windham revealed that he saw the film just in time. The next day, he was shipped to Jamestown, a minimum-security prison, which he views as one step closer to home.

“It’s the best documentary I’ve seen yet,” said SQ’s incarcerated play-by-play announcer Aaron “Showtime” Taylor. “The honesty and raw emotion… that was raw—probably the best documentary representing who we are as a whole.”

Gattanella said, “My biggest fear was putting together something that wasn’t honest. It felt like a responsibility…it’s having an effect. It’s at a film festival in Montana. I don’t care if it wins; that you guys liked it is all that matters.”

The Religion of Sports airs on DirecTV Audience Network and, internationally, on Netflix.

Actor Danny Trejo escaped the death penalty

NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art comes to SQ

Women complete culinary program

March 27, 2018 by William Tolbert

The women of the first Culinary Arts Management program with
their instructor

Eleven inmates graduated from the first Culinary Arts Management program at Folsom Women’s Facility.

Vincent Moralez, supervisor of the program, and Jason Doolittle, adjunct professor and executive chef, started the program in 2017 and taught their students everything from serving to cooking, as well as restaurant management, reported The Folsom Telegraph.

“It feels amazing and gratifying to finish the program because it makes me feel like I can accomplish anything,” said Cherish Velez, class participant.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

The women are taught by instructors from Cosumnes River College. They learn cooking, using the kitchen equipment correctly and basic management principles. The women will receive a culinary college certificate and college credit from this 10-month program.

Velez, who has always liked cooking, said it is now her passion. When she paroles, she hopes to travel to France, Italy and Spain to expand her culinary skills and experience as a chef, reported the Telegraph.

“It’s a really awesome program,” said Mireya Flores, another class participant. “I’m also really looking forward to continuing my education because there is so much to learn in cooking.”

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

Flores said her favorite thing about the culinary program was working with others. She enjoyed cooking Mexican dishes and, with her certification, plans to open a taco truck.

Speaking of the cooking demonstrations the students have to perform, Doolittle said, “They were all so excited when they were able to pull off the recipes by themselves. I remember when I was a young chef and how I felt, so it’s exciting to see.”

With these skills of basic cooking technique, teamwork, and proper sanitation the women will be prepared to find work and benefit the community when they parole.

The program doesn’t teach everything, Doolittle said. He hopes the women keep on learning and trying to better themselves after they are released.

A look inside the bustling San Quentin prison library

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Valentine visit

March 27, 2018 by Juan Haines

About a year and half ago, Aly Tamboura returned home after serving almost 14 years behind bars. He came back to San Quentin on Valentine’s Day with several of his coworkers at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) for a tour of the highly touted rehabilitative prison.

CZI advocates for social justice and criminal justice reform. They seek to provide affordable housing in the Bay Area. The organization has social media operations aimed at changing the criminal justice narrative, specifically how prisons operate.

Tamboura is a manager for technology and program delivery. He is currently working on a housing program.

CZI got a look at the prison’s mental health services, the cellblocks and prison yard and had a conversation with inmates enrolled in college.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“Why do we have prisons?” Adnan Khan asked the CZI employees prior to the tour.

Their answers varied: “reform people,” “punishment” and “rehabilitation.” Khan told the group a tourist once said, “That’s where we hide the bad people.”

Khan gave a short lecture about the challenges of serving time in a maximum-security prison. He brought up some of the obstacles to rehabilitation in violent and disruptive prisons, such as lockdowns and violence. The traumatic experiences, he said, transformed him into only wanting to survive racism was rampant.

Once Khan transferred to San Quentin, its 70-plus rehabilitative programs surprised him. He said hearing collegiate-level conversations seemed foreign.

Jody Lewen, executive director of the Prison University Project (PUP), said giving incarcerated people a first-rate education helps the public in immeasurable ways, from reducing recidivism to reuniting families. She said one of PUP’s goals is to change how the public perceives incarcerated people.

Several PUP students chimed in on their experience of attending college while incarcerated.

“I dropped out of school around the sixth grade,” said PUP clerk Corey McNeil. “While in prison, I got my GED but was stuck as far as going further in my education. I needed more hands-on teaching, and I got that at PUP.” He added, “PUP didn’t save me. It fostered the stuff that was naturally in me.”

Other PUP students said the program gave them the confidence to continue their education, once returned to the community, and taught them how to think independently.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

However, even with programs at San Quentin, such as ones designed to address victim awareness and impulse control, Tamboura pointed to waiting lists of three to five years for enrollment as well as the prisoners’ huge technology gap.

Khan brought up the extra challenge of having youth offenders intermixed with an older population—sometimes the interactions add tension to the prison’s rehabilitative routine.

The purpose of keeping the youngsters at San Quentin is two-fold—prevent their exposure to the violent and oppressive nature of maximum-security prisons and give them an opportunity to partake in the rehabilitative services at San Quentin.

However, they must sign contracts, stating that they will remain discipline-free. If they break the contract, they transfer to a higher-level prison, which happens a lot.

With 90 percent of the incarcerated getting out of prison, Khan asked CZI, “So, how would you like them to get out? Going through one of these kinds of programs or not?”

San Quentin News & Wall City Merchandise

Exclusive screening ‘From Incarceration to Education’

California’s early release programs ACP

http://sanquentinnews.com/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-aids-programs/

Ear Hustle wraps up first season with over six million downloads

Arnulfo T. Garcia a dream continues to prosper

March 25, 2018 by Juan Haines

This newspaper has previously reported on the life and untimely death of former editor Arnulfo T. Garcia. However, Garcia was much more than editor of the San Quentin News (SQN), he was a towering visionary and dreamer.

Unlike most dreamers, he had the rarely bestowed persistence and determination to carry out his dream. The result was the newspaper’s Social Forums and the respect of news organizations from around the world.

Under the guidance of Garcia, the San Quentin News transitioned from being a reporter of news to being a source of news. Through the News forums, Garcia was able to let criminal justice decision makers experience the results of their decisions.

Nicholas and Monica Garcia, Sabrina Garcia, Carmen, Arnulfo and Nick Garcia

Those decision makers were then able to get feedback from inmates regarding inmate families and the communities. The reach of Garcia’s work went well beyond the prison walls. His determination to make SQN into a respected source of criminal justice information cannot be overstated.

In December 2017, Garcia’s family began the Arnulfo T. Garcia Foundation to carry on Arnulfo’s dream. Supported by the Horse Club Foundation and the Con-Ex Restorative Justice Project, the Arnulfo T. Garcia Foundation is developing its initial program of a horse ranch style reentry facility.

New Executive Arnulfo Garcia hard at work inside San Quentin News, 2016

As a former writer on this newspaper, I had both the honor and pleasure to know and work with Garcia. Arnulfo’s powerful impact on inmates and aspects of the corrections system, led me to believe that Garcia’s dreams were built on a solid foundation. He had expansive dreams and wanted to provide solutions and reforms that would generate results, not more effort.

Arnulfo’s idea related to reentry facilities and expanding San Quentin News as the voice of the voiceless. He wanted to address inequalities created by flaws in the criminal justice system. One of the biggest difficulties for paroling inmates is successful reentry back into the community. As Arnulfo and his family grew up with horses, he knew the value of caring and providing for horses as a way to learn responsibility.

With over 150 years of combined horse experience, the value of horse sense is well recognized in the Garcia family. The Arnulfo T. Garcia Foundation associated with the Horse Club to allow paroling inmates to experience the responsibility associated with being an equestrian.

The Horse Club is a membership association providing sanctuary, refuge and a retirement haven to horses for which there is no caretaker. By teaching parolees how to care for horses, the Arnulfo T. Garcia Foundation believes that Arnulfo’s dream and mission will be fulfilled. Paroling inmates will learn to provide for horses while learning to reenter the community as a contributing member.

From illegal immigration and reentry facilities to criminal justice news, Arnulfo had broad and extensive ideas to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. He continuously reported that it all begins with acknowledging responsibility for our actions. From that basis, Arnulfo taught that one can then begin a new journey of progress.

As directors of the foundation, Arnulfo’s siblings. Carmelita, Nick, Jesus and Art, are committed to the fulfillment of Arnulfo’s dream. Arnulfo’s sisters Leilani and Maria are also pledged to the pursuit of Arnulfo’s dream. Through Arnulfo T. Garcia Foundation, Arnulfo’s dream, mission and legacy live on.

San Quentin News Launches Wall City Magazine

http://sanquentinnews.com/the-100th-edition-san-quentin-news/

United States leads world in locking up women report

March 25, 2018 by Marcus Henderson

Women locked up behind bars in a United States jail

Individual states of the U.S., along with the federal government, lead the world in putting women behind bars, according to a 2017 report by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI).

Women in the U.S. represent only 5 percent of the world’s female population, but account for nearly 30 percent of the world’s imprisoned women, cites the report, titled The States of Women’s Incarceration: The Global Context , by Aleks Kajstura and Russ Immarigeon of the Prison Policy Initiative.

“Across the globe, the 25 jurisdictions with the highest rates of incarcerating women are all American states,” said the researchers.

Approximately 206,000 women are currently confined in U.S. prisons and jails. The United States jails women at twice the percentage rate of China and four times that of Russia.

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Thailand is the first non-U.S. state that appears high on the list at number 26.

The United States also incarcerated women at a rate eight to 25 times higher than some of our closest allies from NATO countries.

The U.S. incarceration rate for women is 127 per 100,000, while in countries such as the United Kingdom, the rate is 13 per 100,000, in Canada 11 per 100,000 and in France it’s 6 per 100,000. Denmark is the lowest of the NATO countries at 5 per 100,000.

“Women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population, but despite recent interest in the alarming national trend, few people know what’s happening in their own states,” wrote Wendy Sawyer of PPI in The Gender Divide: Tracking women’s state prison growth, a January 2018 report.

Illinois’ incarceration rate for women is on par with El Salvador, where abortion is illegal and women are routinely jailed for having miscarriages, noted The Global Context report. New Hampshire is on par with Russia, and New York with Rwanda.

Rhode Island has the lowest incarceration rate for women, but has a rate twice that of Portugal. If Rhode Island were a country it would rank 15 on the list. Nationally, the incarceration rate for women is eight times higher than Portugal, said the report.

“Perhaps the most troubling finding about women’s incarceration is how little progress states have made in curbing its growth — especially in light of the progress made to reduce men’s prison populations,” wrote Sawyer in her report.

Between 2009-2015, Michigan state prisons reduced the number of men incarcerated by 8 percent, but women imprisonment grew 30 percent over the same period. Texas cut its men’s prison population by 6,000, but added 1,100 women into its prison system.

Idaho refilled half of the prison beds it emptied from its men’s prisons by adding 25 percent more women to its prisons, reported Sawyer. California, New York, and New Jersey are the few states that have reversed course and began sending women home from state prisons.

“States continue to ‘widen the net’ of criminal justice involvement by criminalizing women’s responses to gender-based abuse and discrimination,” wrote Sawyer. “Policy changes have led to mandatory or ‘dual’ arrests for fighting back against domestic violence, [and] increasing criminalization of school-aged girls’ misbehavior.”

Offenses include running away for survival or women turning to sex work, noted Sawyer. Drug use and minor involvement in drug networks also have driven women’s prison growth.

“Women’s incarceration demands more attention because of the distinct ways in which prisons and jails fail women and their families,” wrote Sawyer. “Research consistently shows that incarcerated women face different problems than men and prisons often make those problems worse.”

PPI used two incarceration datasets from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research and population data from the United Nations and other sources for its reports.

PPI’s “Correctional Control: Incarceration and Supervision by State” issued on June 1, is the first report to aggregate data on all types of correctional control nationwide. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/50statepie.html

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Actor Danny Trejo escaped the death penalty

March 23, 2018 by Joe Garcia

A friend of Danny Trejo, Trejo himself and Daniel ‘Nane’ Alejandrez

After facing a possible death penalty, Danny Trejo wove his prison experience and tough-guy persona into a successful movie career.

The now well-known actor spoke of how striking a corrections officer in the head with a rock during a prison riot inevitably changed his life, as contained in a Dec. 16 article for LADbible.

“I was throwing it at a group of guys, and he happened to be hit,” Trejo said. “So we all had gas chamber offenses, and we were taken to the hole.

“I remember saying, ‘God, if you’re there, everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to. If you’re not, I’m f—ed.’”

Danny Trejo holding SQ News

No one came forward to testify against him, Trejo explained. Being able to walk away from the hole without any charges was the wake-up call he drastically needed.

After 11 years in and out of prison for various armed robberies and drug offenses, Trejo realized it was time to give up alcohol and narcotics once and for all upon his release.

“I discovered AA and Narcotics Anonymous,” Trejo said. “My sponsor took me to a program called RIF – Recover, Independence and Freedom – working with teen drug addicts.

“Even now, kids come up and say, ‘Trejo, what’s up? You helped me years ago.’ So that’s been a blessing.”

Mentoring one of the kids, Trejo got called to the guy’s workplace to help him avoid the temptation of freely flowing cocaine. That workplace turned out to be the film set for Runaway Train, starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.

“Some 70 million Americans have a criminal record – a number equal to Americans with a college degree,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. NEW YORK TIMES July 27, 2018 “Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance”

“You have to understand that this was 1985, and on movie sets you could walk into production and cocaine lines were right there on the table,” Trejo recalled. “It wasn’t even hidden.”

The film’s screenwriter instantly recognized Trejo and all his tattoos from Trejo’s days as a prison boxing champion.

“I was lightweight or welterweight champion of every penitentiary I’ve been in,” Trejo once told TMZ. “And I’ve been in all of ‘em.”

“He’d seen me box in San Quentin,” said Trejo, who was hired on the spot to train Roberts. Trejo ultimately would appear in Runaway Train and soon film role offers came pouring in.

“I learned how not to behave on a movie set from Eric Roberts,” explained the affable Trejo. “He was very demanding.”

Trejo has been a favorite of directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez for years,; he was notably featured in Desperado, and starred as Machete alongside Jessica Alba.

A friend of Danny Trejo, Trejo himself and Daniel ‘Nane’ Alejandrez

The actor’s endearingly gruff demeanor is currently on display in a series of television ads for SlingTV.

“I remember the first time anyone interviewed me,” said the 73-year-old Trejo. “It was this young Chicana, just out of college, real into La Raza – ‘Danny, don’t you feel you’re being stereotyped? You’re always playing the mean Chicano dude with tattoos.’

“So I lifted up my shirt and said, ‘What are you talking about? I am the mean Chicano dude with tattoos.’”

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