Many people wonder what it is like to live in an underground economy. Undocumented immigrants live that life. Living in a country without documents and being a part of an underground economy is something I have experienced. I know what it’s like to live in a country where you want to become a citizen, but cannot.
Readers probably are thinking that I wanted to be a citizen of the U.S., but that is not the case. I am a U.S. citizen. I was living as an illegal immigrant in Mexico.
Living undocumented and underground gave me an interesting perspective on U.S. immigration policy. Reflecting on it now, I can feel empathy for the 11 million U.S. undocumented people living in the U.S.
Reflection also brings to mind the saying, “Don’t judge me until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes.”
Walking in my Shoes:
I was facing 123 years to life for a residential burglary under California’s Three Strikes law. Before my trial, I got out on bail and fled to Mexico.
Authorities from both countries hunted for me as a fugitive from the U.S. and I had to live underground in Mexico. Even though my entire heritage was Mexican, I couldn’t be a citizen while undocumented.
While working on a farm, I met a beautiful woman, settled down and started a family. I had to look over my shoulder all the time. Despite that fearful feeling, I did my best to settle into my life.
That fear of dodging the authorities made me think of my heritage — of my father when he first came to the U.S.
My situation in Mexico was the opposite of my father’s situation. My father was illegally in the U.S.; I was illegally in Mexico. The difference: My father wasn’t wanted by the law. Nevertheless, we both lived fearing the authorities.
U.S. History Generally Untold:
During World War II, as many U.S. citizens were pressed into military service, there was a gaping need for laborers in the workforce. When Mexico joined the Allied Forces in 1942, the U.S. and Mexican governments entered into the Bracero agreement.
The Bracero program was a series of diplomatic agreements whereby the U. S. hired temporary contract laborers from Mexico for manual labor. However, the program created a new underclass of American workers who were underpaid and who could not climb up the socioeconomic ladder. Americans looked down upon this new immigrant class.
When the war was over, the Braceros were supposed to go back to Mexico, but many had established families in the U.S. Going back to Mexico would mean uprooting their families and going into a situation best described as uncertain. Moreover, there was an estimated half billion dollars still owed to ex-Braceros. The fight for that money continues even today.
My father came to the U.S. under the Bracero agreement. But, he didn’t want to go back to Mexico. He stayed because marriage to my mother brought the responsibilities of raising nine children. Being a hard worker in the U.S. provided the resources to care for them. Thus he became an illegal immigrant.
If the Shoe Fits:
Reflecting on my family history, I am able to see that the Bracero program altered the fate of many people, the many Mexicans who came to the U.S. seeking a better life for their families.
When I worked as a farm laborer in Mexico and my beautiful daughter was born, I also took on family responsibilities. But, that didn’t change the fact that I was a fugitive and living illegally in Mexico. I was caught between two worlds of my own creation—being an outlaw and wanting to take care of my family. In the end, my family came first.
When it comes to the immigrants who are now working in the U.S. but are outside of the law, I think we should reach out and change the rules because these people are human beings and doing hard labor that really helps the U.S. economy.
It is a “tough on crime” mentality — not wanting the U.S. to look weak — that makes some citizens steadfastly say, “The law is the law.”
But we need to face reality: The people who would be helped by immigration reform are people who break their backs to create a better life for their family. There has to be a balance if America is to be considered a place where compassionate people live and it is a country of opportunity in the eyes of the world.
I am suggesting that U.S. immigration policy should provide a path for law-abiding undocumented workers to become citizens. They are the hard working, family-first type of people who Americans respect.
Policy Maker’s Solution to England and United States’ Criminal Justice Problems
When it comes to criminal justice policies, England and the U.S. have some of the same problems.
As an example, during the past four decades both countries have had a sustained and widespread imprisonment binge and both have recognized that their current criminal justice policies are morally and economically unsustainable. Moreover, both refuse to follow the data telling policymakers how to fix their criminal justice systems.
Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons in the United Kingdom (UK), describes England’s criminal justice system as the “Swiss cheese theory of disasters,” presumably because it has so many holes in it.
Early this year, the independent, non-partisan government analyst Little Hoover Commission described California’s correctional system as “a slow motion disaster.”
On the federal level, independent, non-partisan Inspector General Michael Horowitz told journalist Andrew Cohen that even though the federal government knew since 2006 that prison overcrowding and prison capacity were problematic, “the numbers haven’t improved, they’ve gotten arguably worse and are on the path … to continue to get worse in the years ahead.”
The Rand Corporation has shown through the analysis of millions of cases that vocational training and correctional education are effective ways to reduce recidivism.
“Realignment alone will not solve
the state’s overcrowded prisons”
Britain’s Hardwick recognizes that, “You need to make rehabilitation the central point,” according to a report in The Independent, a British newspaper.
Hardwick said English prisons are deceptive. “Bear in mind whenever you see an official photograph of a prison cell, they seem really enormous,” he said. “But really, they’re not.” It may be hard for people to imagine having to live two to a room, where “you can practically touch both walls,” Hardwick said. “Prisoners are sometimes being locked in those cells for 23 hours a day.”
His description sounds a lot like San Quentin. If Hardwick toured this prison, he’d find he actually could touch both walls inside a cell and that each prisoner has to live in that space with another man.
Then there is the reality that California prison conditions have been found to be unconstitutional because the state cannot deliver adequate medical care to the inmates.
So apparently there is little difference between the UK and US prison systems except for one small matter – the overall numbers.
One statistic that should raise questions for every American taxpayer is this: The U.S. has an incarceration rate of 716 people for every 100,000 in population as opposed to the UK’s rate of 147 per 100,000. The U. S. has 5 percent of the world’s population, but has about 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. In 1980, the nation’s prison budget was about $6 billion per year. Today, that figure is about $80 billion.
The immense costs of incarceration have inspired a new conversation about reducing the prison population as a matter of fiscal responsibility and budgetary necessity. The discussion often centers on cutting down on the arrests and prosecutions of “non-violent drug offenders.” But reducing the prison population for fiscal and budgetary reasons ignores a much more pressing concern – the aging prison population. The rising cost of incarcerating and caring for elderly inmates will soon prove unsustainable if meaningful action is not taken.
In addition to the cost, reliance on long-term mass incarceration of aging citizens has serious moral, ethical, public health and public safety implications. But if taxpayers disregard those factors and focus only on the money, the U.S. currently spends $16 billion annually on incarceration for individuals aged 50 and older — more than the entire Department of Energy budget or Department of Education funding for school improvements.
Today, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is starting to focus more on rehabilitation. But prison officials have done this before. Unfortunately, they quit under Jerry Brown’s first governorship back in the ’70s. Now, the state has undertaken a new approach to reducing the prison population, called Realignment.
The Little Hoover Commission is telling Californians something that they should pay close attention to: “Criminal justice policies that rely on building and operating more prisons to address community safety concerns are not sustainable, and will not result in improved public safety.” Moreover, the commission tells Californians that Realignment alone will not solve the state’s overcrowded prisons. Long, mandatory sentencing laws have to be examined and changed. The criminal justice policy has to incorporate a way for offenders to be rehabilitated and returned to their communities.
The commission looked at Contra Costa County as a model for California criminal justice policy because the county spent a significant amount of its resources on rehabilitative efforts, shorter sentences and health services. The three-year recidivism rate for felony probationers in Contra Costa County was 20 percent, compared to the statewide average of 60 percent or higher.
Bill Clinton’s campaign manager, James Carville, once famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” That generated a lot of attention and brought economic issues to the forefront in the campaign. I would like to modify that sound bite by saying to CDCR, the governor and the Legislature when planning to solve prison problems, “It’s rehabilitation.”
CDCR Press Secretary Visits San Quentin News
In June, the San Quentin News editorial board welcomed three officials from the Sacramento headquarters of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: CDCR Press Secretary Jeffrey Callison, Deputy Press Secretary Terry Thornton and Public Information Officer Kristina Khokhobashvili. They came to introduce themselves to the staff.
Callison, who formerly worked for National Public Radio, opened the meeting by saying, “I know you guys were apprehensive when someone told you that Sacramento is coming down to check out the paper; thinking, ‘We’re from the government. We want to help.’”
His joke relaxed the editorial board.
Prior to the meeting, editorial board members had discussed fears of being shut down or controlled by officials, or being guided into being a mouthpiece for the administration. We were wrong. San Quentin News is an inmate run newspaper, subject to review by the warden’s office for safety and security concerns.
The relationship with communication officials in Sacramento has brought a new level of professionalism to our publication. Now San Quentin News has direct access to the press office at CDCR headquarters, where knowledgeable personnel will take the time to answer questions on any topic a San Quentin News reporter wants to ask. The editorial board believes that this is unprecedented for an inmate run newspaper—having such a level of access to government officials about what is happening inside its prisons.
Even though Sacramento has installed another layer of review of the newspaper prior to going to press, the extra scrutiny offers more accuracy and objectivity of what is printed.
“OPEC respects the San Quentin News journalists for making their newspaper as accurate and objective as possible,” Khokhobashvili said.
Under the supervision of Lt. Samuel Robinson, Public Information Officer at San Quentin, San Quentin News has won widespread recognition as a legitimate and independent news organization.
Our inmate staff felt honored to be respected as professionals by the Daily Californian at UC Berkeley, Marin Independent Journal, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Seattle Times, The Nation magazine and many newspapers that reprinted the stories about the San Quentin News.
On the website Inside CDCR, the Office of Public and Employee Communications posted an article about San Quentin News headlined “Extra! Extra! San Quentin’s inmate journalists share their talents.” Referring to the quality of the newspaper, the article said, “The paper was honored earlier this year by a chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for “accomplishing extraordinary journalism under extraordinary circumstances.”
Due to this recognition by the Society of Professional Journalists, the inmate reporters have been encouraged to form a new chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists within San Quentin.
The inmates who produce San Quentin News have always been concerned with the integrity of the information published in it. The goal of the San Quentin News editorial board is to be responsible, professional and objective. Good communication with officials in Sacramento furthers that goal.
Good Eye Care in Prison
With the federal courts declaring that California’s prisons could not provide adequate health care because they were overcrowded, inmates often feel neglected by a perceived uncaring system. But, that assumption is not always true.
There are numerous health care providers who are concerned about inmates’ medical needs, and they often take extraordinary efforts to meet patients’ needs. They serve inmates in a variety of ways — from the nurse, who first sees an inmate, to outside specialists; numerous people provide a wide range of services. Most of these doctors, nurses and technicians try their best to do a good job.
However, the manner in which a doctor, nurse, technician or medical staff member treats inmates influences the perception of that service. Is the health care provider kind and polite or are they harsh and arrogant?
Influencing how an inmate perceives his or her medical care is that inmates are aware everything in prison is filtered through a strict system crafted around custody. So, sitting in a holding area overseen by custody staff can make an inmate feel that they are no more than an number in an uncaring system.
An exception to inmates’ perception of an uncaring medical department is nurse Tara Kesecker, BA LVN CCHP.
Kesecker has an office in San Quentin’s Central Health Care Facility. She’s worked for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for about six years, all at San Quentin. Kesecker has become recognizable at this prison as someone who takes time to meet the medical needs of each inmate in her care.
Kesecker said working at San Quentin “has been a real eye-opener.”
When she began working here, she went to the North Segregation Unit. She said that an inmate was complaining about not getting his medication and said he was in a lot of pain. She said that since no one would bring the inmate his medication, she went back to the medical building, picked up the medication and took it to the inmate. She said that the inmate was very grateful and six years later, he is still giving thanks.
Kesecker said that incident was her first indication that some inmates might not be getting adequate care. “Getting your medication is very important, no matter who you are,” adding, “follow up and continuing care is very important.”
Today, Kesecker works as an optometrist technician assisting inmates with glasses and other vision problems. She has a huge responsibility providing eye care to inmates, a sensitive area of utmost importance to her patients. “I have nothing but praise for all of my co-workers,” she said. “I love working with them.”
Kesecker said she “loves her work,” even though she said she knew that there would be many complexities. “I look forward to the challenges of my job,” she said.
Inmates who walk into her office are greeted with a warm tone and clear words. New patients instantly know that Kesecker is a caring health care provider who takes her job seriously. Her concern about vision and eye care gives patients a real sense of comfort.
“Tara has a way of making one comfortable and relieving tension,” one inmate said.
Kesecker said inmate health care is a constant concern to her, and she wants to be involved in bringing quality health care to inmates.
She said after listening to question from inmates about the link between sleep and overall good health, conducting a sleep test at San Quentin might be useful. She said after Sacramento’s approval to move forward with the test, she’s excited.
Nevertheless, Kesecker said in order for inmates to receive quality care, it is important to communicate and cooperate. Kesecker said. “Inmates must be quality patients.”
She said once an inmate puts in a slip to see the eye doctor, there’s no need to repeat the process. Within 24 hours, the medical slip is processed and the patient will be seen within 90 days.
While it is easy for inmates to feel neglected and abused regarding health care, inmates do not always think about the difficulty health care providers face with each new patient. If inmates step back and put themselves in place of the person trying to provide help, they might get a better perspective that could benefit the goal of good health care.
A Small Step in the Right Direction Could Impact Millions
The settlement reached in the shackling of ICE detainees case is small, but at least it’s going in the right direction.
Allowing detainees some dignity by removing shackles before they enter a courtroom and treating them more humanely, rather than like chained animals, sets a new path for those who are guilty of merely crossing a border to find work or to be with family.
When the justice system decides to chain and shackle people who have not committed a serious crime, the dehumanizing effect is long lasting. The immigration laws turn a worker into an inmate, and the experience of being incarcerated destroys families.
It is true that these detainees have broken the law. However, this is different from criminal activity like burglary or theft or even worse. They are doing a job where he or she is needed or they are merely reuniting with family.
For any crime where the perpetrator is physically abusive to another or they are stealing, incarceration is appropriate. On the other hand, many ICE detainees happen to be caught up in a system that punishes hard-working individuals because he or she is not properly documented to be in the U.S.
There are more than 11 million undocumented workers in the U.S. These hard-working individuals are paying taxes and contributing to the local economy. Their children, some of whom are born in the U.S., are going to school, serving in our military, living the American Dream and becoming good citizens.
As a society, incarcerating people for wanting to provide for their family in a demanding job market isn’t what our Founding Fathers wanted. However, should we (as I take liberty in paraphrasing the what’s on the Statue of Liberty) give me your tired, give me your poor, give me your huddled masses, we as Americans and as human beings, can accommodate these good people. We set our standards very low when we demonstrate a clear lack of respect for a demanding job market that finds workers, and then treats these hard-working people as if they were criminals.
Although it is encouraging to hear ICE publicly declare that its policy is to preserve the dignity and welfare of all those in its custody, the larger issue is the U.S. criminal justice policy should not be focusing on incarcerating people whose only crime is crossing a border to either feed or reunite with their families.
Your Letters to San Quentin News Are Much Appreciated
Letters, letters, and more letters! First and foremost, I want to thank you for your interest in San Quentin News. I want you to know your voices are being heard.
The volume of letters we receive is large, and growing. I try to read as many as I can. Yet, due to the number of letters with thoughts and ideas of interest to SQN, we are not able to respond to each one individually. I feel badly about not being able to write back to each of you personally.
You diligently bring our attention to your concerns, thoughts, ideas and needs. We at San Quentin News, appreciate your input, and I personally thank you. To address the needs of our readers, we are thinking of new ways to respond—especially to those letters on issues such as medical care, prison programs, cell status, or custody matters. We don’t have the resources to be a legal commentator. However, we regularly have writers researching and covering legal issues. We hope to address and give attention to your thoughts.
While our staff is growing, we are constantly working on the next issue, new stories, new ideas, and trying to manage the great volume of mail. I hope you understand.
We have readers scattered in prisons across the United States and some overseas. Additionally, we have some readers in all 33 other California prisons. Though our objective is to provide each California prisoner a copy of the newspaper, we are a long way from that goal. Many of you have individually subscribed because you are unable to secure the paper at your prison. We thank you.
Despite the difficulties, we wish to grow the paper to meet the needs of our growing audience. Although the state says the prison population is decreasing, “our” readership is increasing.
So, I want you to know that your letters are not just sitting in some corner gathering dust. We do read them, but our space to print them is limited. For myself, I remember sitting in another prison that had no programs, wishing that someone could respond to my needs. Here, we are striving to do better, so please bear with us. We will do our best to address your concerns.
Recently we received an e-mail telling us that our little paper had won the prestigious James Madison Freedom Of Information Award for excellence in journalism given by the Society of Professional Journalists. We are very honored and proud to be recipients of this award. This achievement motivates us to continue this work for our community. You are our community. We are striving to be there for you.
The department of corrections does not fund the printing and distribution of the newspaper, therefore San Quentin News depends on donations to operate. Tell your family and friends they can subscribe at our web site as listed in the paper.
For those of you who are requesting yearly subscriptions, the new price is going to be $25 for prisoners and $40 for outside subscribers.
In closing, I would like to remind you that our mail goes through the same inmate mail system that you deal with. Like all prison mailrooms, the process can take weeks at times, and there is no getting around it. We hope to create an expedited process in the future, but for now, just be aware that it may be several weeks before we actually read your letters.
Finally, again, I would like to thank you for communicating your thoughts. Keep the letters coming.
Denial and the First Steps Towards Accepting Responsibility
There are many types of crimes, but in a civilized society, murder is considered one of the most heinous, perhaps because of its bleak finality. The person convicted of the violent act is called a “monster” and shunned by society.
Ar-Raheen Malik was 25, when he committed murder. Malik says it was initially hard for him to accept responsibility for his crime, yet by the time he got locked up in 1975, he began to recognize the horrific nature of his actions. Yet that was just the beginning of a long self-realization process.
For decades, Malik says he has labored to understand and reflect on how his wrongful acts have devastated the victim’s family, the community, his own family, as well as himself. He says each day is a struggle to tear down self-made barriers that have caused him to delude himself about his own actions. Instrumental to helping him, Malik says, are the prosocial programs provided to him by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation located at San Quentin.
His past delusions were cultivated in the environment in which he was raised.
“I really didn’t know my father,” Malik said. “My last memories of him were when I was nine. He picked me up to go shopping in San Francisco.”
That was in 1959.
Malik said his mother married twice, and he had good relationships with both stepfathers. However, since locked up, they have passed away. “My last step-father, John, was really like a father,” he said. “We worked together when I was on the streets, and when I got locked up, he used to visit me. So, it really hurt when he passed away.”
Malik himself is a father to four children. His first was born when he was just 16, in 1966, the result of a one-night-stand.
Just a year later, he was smoking marijuana heavily, drinking alcohol, and dropping pills — his gateway to cocaine and heroin. Looking back, Malik said he did not know his enemy was a sickness he didn’t even recognize— drug addiction. It took its toll as he said he ended up being kicked out of every high school in Oakland. “By 17, I was doing what I wanted to do,” he said. “Even though the principal tried to talk to me, I wouldn’t listen. He told me that since I was a bad influence on all the other students, I shouldn’t be in public schools. My parents thought the same, so I got kicked out of the house, also.”
Yet he still had not learned his lesson.
In 1969, another relationship resulted in a second child. A third relationship, which lasted three years, resulted in still another child.
Malik says he always wanted a relationship and children, and for a while, he had both. However, as the years passed, so did the relationships.
Malik’s life in Oakland was not easy, especially because of the drugs, crime and fast lifestyle.
Malik says, while not an excuse, his addictive behaviors contributed to his committing a murder one fateful day in 1975.
As he recalls, the night before the murder he had taken LSD, and was up all night. Early the next morning, a friend came by his apartment and asked him to help collect some money.
Malik said he took a gun with him, “because it was standard operating procedure in the neighborhood,” which he said gave him a sense of security. “I was only going with a friend to pick up some money owed to him,” he said. “It never entered my mind that I’d be using the gun that morning.”
But, he did. Malik says he regrets using the gun. He says the lives of three people were changed that night, in which one person died.
For two years, he was on the run.
Malik said his murder trial lasted two weeks. “The public defender did the best he could,” he said. “After two weeks of deliberation, the jury found me guilty on all counts.”
When he was first locked up, he blamed his actions on alcohol, drugs, and a head injury he suffered in 1972 when he was hit by a police officer’s baton for resisting arrest.
In 1979, after he began participating in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous because he wanted to understand the events that led him to prison. He also began seeing the prison psychiatrist who helped him dispel a false belief system and realize how he was minimizing his past actions.
He credits the psychiatrist with helping him grow out of his delusions and to understand his criminal behavior. Malik said, “The programs through out my time in prison, and the psychiatrist helped me change my belief system and therefore, change how I view the world.”
Although he was securely locked away from the world, personal tragedy still crept inside the walls of his confinement.
In 1981, Malik’s youngest sister Debora, jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge while he was doing time at San Quentin. And, in 1991, his brother Luther, 40, hanged himself while he was doing time at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
“It was devastating to me to lose my brother and sister that way,” he said. “They both needed the same help I needed at that time. Poverty is a cold monster,” adding, “A lot of time you’re cold and hungry.”
In 1988, Malik met and married Frances Tops, his first wife.
They were married 15 years but divorced in 2003. He says even after the divorce, they regularly wrote each other. Then one day she stopped writing. A few weeks went by, and then he received a letter from the mailman informing that Frances passed away during a surgical procedure. “A person who’s locked up is blessed by having a precious soul to bring her softness inside a prison and help an inmate change his belief system,” adding, “I only regret I didn’t have the opportunity to spend time with her on the streets.”
Around the same time Frances died, Malik’s mother passed away.
Malik recalls family life with being very hard for his mother, as she had to raise five boys and four girls. “It was tough for her,” he said. “My mother was an uneducated woman from Arkansas and she was very superstitious. Raising so many children took away from her being able to take care of herself. I think this overwhelmed her and drove her to drinking.”
Malik, who has been imprisoned for 36 years, believes he has gained much wisdom from reflecting on his life and choices. The greatest advice he has for his younger friends is to listen to their teachers and to stay away from drugs and alcohol. “Don’t live the street life. Don’t even think there is power in carrying a gun; the only real power is in education,” he said.
Today, Malik is proud to say he is a devoted Christian. He says that if he gets an opportunity for parole, he wants to get into a program that allows him to work with at risk kids in the community.
Officer K.A. Davis Retires
When an opportunity presents itself, sometimes you have to act. That is how Correctional Officer K.A. Davis began his career with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“When I heard that San Quentin was hiring, I didn’t think twice, I joined CDCR,” C.O. Davis said.
Before becoming a correctional officer with the department, Davis was working with Bank of America.
“Working at the bank was a good job, but I needed a job with real security for my growing family,” Davis explained.
Davis said his brother, Richard Davis, began working at the prison a couple of years before him and was happy working at the Vacaville State Prison.
“I saw Richard’s overtime check of $1,800. I knew I had to join too. So in 1985 I went to the Academy and I joined the San Quentin staff on October 28, 1985. This place was close to my house; it was just too good to turn down, said Davis.”
Yet his transition from bank employee to correctional officer was not that easy, he said. Besides having a brother working in the department, he had another issue.
“My brother, Jerry Davis, was serving time in Tehachapi, another California prison. He did 12 out of 18 years for strong-arm robbery,” said Davis.
In addition to having both brothers involved in the system, Davis found a number of his street associates were incarcerated..
“I started working in the H-Unit dorms, and ran into 10 guys I knew,” Davis said. “CDCR has a policy about what is allowable and what is not. Can you imagine coming to work as a prison officer and seeing people you grew up with?” he asked.
CDCR policy is to report it immediately if you run into someone you know. He chose not to and when asked if that presented any problems, he said it hadn’t.
“The inmates knew not to ask for anything from me, they just knew,” Davis said.”
On his first day of work, Davis said there was an inmate who taught him some of the ropes when he was put in charge of feeding over 100 men.
“When I got to work, they handed me a set of keys and told me to go to the fourth tier. An inmate named Malo showed me how to set up the food cart,” said Davis. “Although I had gone through the Academy, they didn’t teach us how to feed the men.”
Having no idea exactly what he was doing that first day, it took him about an hour to feed 53 men. Then, “I had to escort from 40 to 60 men in East Block to one of six yards on the back side of the unit and I relied on inmates to show me what to do,” explained Davis.
In those days, Davis said there were gangs but he did not know anything about them.
“I had a Blood in the first cell, a Northerner in the second, and a Sureño in the fifth cell, that was my first introduction to the Bloods, Crips, Mexicans, and White gangs,” said Davis. “I learned a lot in those early days and I gained a lot of people skills working with so many inmates.”
Davis and his brother Richard, who recently retired from Emeryville Police Department, have been speaking at high schools, and county jails for several years, trying to make a difference in the students’ lives.
Recently they spoke at Castlemont High School for Career Day. Many of the guys just need direction, he said. Unfortunately, some are into a “get rich or die trying” philosophy.
“When we first started public speaking, people were very skeptical. But we were trying to bring them around because they had no guidance or direction,” Davis said. “Yes, we got booed, but people began to listen because they knew we were the last leg of the criminal justice system,” Davis said. “Their families and the community were supportive of our jobs.”
Today the climate in San Quentin has changed, says Davis. When he first began working here, 60 percent of the prisoners were locked down.
“Although there were education programs here at San Quentin back then, there were not as many as there are now,” Davis said. “I think it’s good that the men have a link to educating themselves.”
He also thinks CDCR did not train him or other officers to recognize those that were new to the system, and those that were institutionalized.
“Now some of the younger officers are bringing in a mentality that prisoners are scum. That puts the department in a bad light and it’s not a productive belief system.” Davis said.
Whether it is studying for a GED, AA, seminary credential or degree, he said, once a person knows better, they will treat others better.
For almost three decades, Davis has gone through a variety of challenges with CDCR but a personal tragedy caused him to rethink his position with the department.
“One day when I was at work I got a call from a friend who said, ‘your baby’s dead,’ ” Davis said. “I tried to get someone to work for me because I had to leave and they couldn’t get a relief officer.” Davis said he left anyway
“My son Keith Davis was killed in a case of mistaken identity in 2012,” Davis said. “He was 19 and had just gotten out of the Youth Authority.”
Davis explained that while in Youth Authority, Keith had met someone who closely resembled him. Keith was murdered while he was at the house of an associate he met in Youth Authority.
“The killers came around the corner of the house with AK 47’s and they thought my son was someone else who had been in YA,” Davis explained.
“The investigation is still on-going even though the murder happened two years ago,” he said.
Davis said the tragedy of his son’s death motivates him to keep going, and talking to kids.
“The kids today are in a different world where we don’t see each other as our brother’s keeper, or as helping each other.”
Davis often speaks at the Catholic Charities in Oakland where he talks to kids regularly. He wants these kids to know that he is speaking to them out of love.
“As a black man, I love my race, however we men of color must tell our children that they are loved and validated, which gives them a sense of who we are whether they are Black, Hispanic, or Asian,” said Davis.
He wants young men and women to know that often there will be only seconds to make a decision that could put them in prison.
“Things have changed a lot. Nowadays, my community wants to know more and more about San Quentin because they don’t see it as a threat.” Davis said. “I am very proud of my uniform, and I wear it in my community,” he adds.
Davis will be retiring after 28 years with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
–JulianGlenn Padgett contributed to this story
Recapping Years of Accomplishments
Welcome to all our readers in this, our last edition of the year. How quickly the year has passed. During 2013, San Quentin News diligently applied our mission to be the pulse of San Quentin, while also providing voice to the voiceless—the incarcerated.
With several years under our belt, one might think putting out the news would be routine. Although there has been much progress, we have also been busy working on ways to enhance our capabilities to give incarcerated men and women a bigger voice.
Even though San Quentin News has made great strides forward, the typical convoluted operations of publishing a newspaper from inside a prison continue to stretch our deadlines. As the only fully prisoner produced newspaper in America, San Quentin News staff would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and understanding. From all of the newsroom staff: thank you for your support. You are helping us do our part in our pursuit of truth and justice for everyone, including prisoners.
Our staff has grown from eight to 15. We are developing a Spanish section. We hope to expand to 24 pages with 12 pages of color. But, we cannot do this without your continued support and tolerance of our shortcomings.
In our fifth year we have continued expansion to other California prisons. At this writing, San Quentin News maintains limited circulation into 16 other prisons.
Last January, for the first time in San Quentin history, the newspaper was printed in color. We have created a Journalism Guild with a set curriculum. Our staff and our writers are lobbying to become members of the Society of Professional Journalists. Principal to our mission is continued professionalism and pursuit of excellence in journalism.
We are in the process of looking for more space and hope to have it soon. The additional space is an important part of our growth. That growth is commensurate with our intention to provide a copy of San Quentin News to every prisoner in the state and many outside California.
Expansion of San Quentin News includes scaling the paper’s distribution to reach all of California’s prisoners. It also includes enhancing our capacity to provide comprehensive transparency in criminal justice. All this involves a high level of discipline, planning, and execution on the part of the staff.
Currently San Quentin News receives about 150 letters per week from our readers. We get letters, requests, and writing contributions from other prisons and other states. We get online requests, comments, and e-mails from across the country and around the world. Despite all this, we are still only a voice for but a few.
Although we have enjoyed a degree of success, San Quentin News will continue to report on all aspects of criminal justice. San Quentin News staff considers it our mandate to be objective, seek transparency in implementation of policy, and reveal the effect of such policies on all prisoners. With that in mind, students in the University California at Berkeley’s graduate school of business, Haas Business School, are proving to be an important asset upon which we can rely.
The business school team has aided us in development of a roadmap and phasing plan to accomplish our goals. Among the objectives is growth of our subscriber base. As most readers know, the newspaper is supported with gifts and donations from friends, family and others interested in criminal justice transparency.
The San Quentin News team, its advisors, staff and readers are very thankful for the continuing support and effort of those partners who have facilitated our past and present operations. We are especially thankful to the Marin Sun, which is a critical and trusted partner. With the expected growth, we will need more friends, advisors, staff and partners like the Marin Sun.
In the coming year we need to remain focused on building a substantial subscriber base. One of our critical partners is the Columbia Foundation. Columbia, whose funding has greatly facilitated our possibilities, is to be applauded for its contribution to criminal justice education through our paper. We would like to thank them very much for aiding the San Quentin News. While we are thankful to Columbia, as are many prisoners who have been aided through Columbia’s gifts, we still need to ask others to assist us as well.
We thank all who have made the paper possible during the past year and in prior years.
It would be disingenuous for me not to thank Kevin Chappell, Warden of San Quentin. His vision coupled with accommodations of public information officer, Lt. Sam Robinson, have facilitated the new San Quentin News.
San Quentin News maintains core values which we seek to propagate throughout. It is honest, accurate, and timely. San Quentin News is objective and does not take sides. We report activities of criminal justice, whether good, bad, or indifferent.
San Quentin News values stories on prosocial activities that show criminals changing into socially responsible citizens because these stories demonstrate the importance of education and rehabilitation – a central component of criminal justice policy.
The dedicated team in our newsroom is committed to achieving the goal of giving voice to prisoners everywhere. We have a very, very long road ahead. Nevertheless, while we are not there yet, we have our top men (and volunteer women), working on it.
The next time you are sitting at a table, walking the yard, yelling down the tier or in a day room be the one to stir up the conversation about what the San Quentin News is doing to make a difference for you-and send us your suggestions
I want to wish all of you a Happy Holiday, and I pray that the New Year will bring you much joy in your endeavors. Take the time and share a story with us. Tell us what will help you to make the transition to a positive way of life whether inside or out. We want to see you get back home to your families and live a productive life giving back to your communities.
The Great Legacy Of Fernando Mendez
Fernando Mendez was a troubled youth and addicted to drugs that led him to prison, but leaves a legacy that still impacts many lives, including mine.
Fernando was a mentor and role model for me. He taught me, and uncounted other prisoners, that when you change your life, you can help others change their lives too.
It was a tragic loss for me and numerous others when Fernando was hit and killed by a car while crossing the street in Arizona in 2007. He lives on in my heart.
I am reminded of him when I reflect on this time of thanksgiving. I offer special thanks for a friend who made a significant, positive impact on my life.
Fernando means “ready to journey,” and he was always ready to travel in aid of others. To those of us who knew and respected him, he was also known as “Nano.”
I have many good thoughts and memories about Fernando. He was a kind, and thoughtful man who cared deeply about others and always tried to help. Flying from Tucson, Arizona, he often came to the Amity program at Pleasant Valley State Prison, where I met him.
Nano was a counselor and mentor for the prisoners. He drove and flew hours to reach Coalinga, and then went on to other prisons. Although he worked out of Tucson, he traveled the prison circuit mentoring prisoners on how to change their lives.
As a kid, Fernando wandered the streets in Arizona, like many other youngsters, trying to find a place in life. Like many others, he made bad choices that got him into trouble. He became involved with drugs, and eventually succumbed to being a heroin addict. This lifestyle led him in and out of Arizona prisons for 15 years.
Fernando struggled with school, as most kids do when they wander the streets and with little or no formal education. He continued to make bad choices, but inside he knew he wanted a better life, but he just didn’t know where to turn.
He found his way to the Amity Foundation in 1985, where he found people with love for the less fortunate. He says the very embodiment of Amity’s belief is that each of us is our brother’s and sister’s keepers. That convinced him he could abandon his criminal past and contribute positively to society.
Many of us looked to him as a mentor and a good friend.
“Fernando introduced me to a new way of living,” Courtney Hammond, a former gang member, said in an interview with the Tucson Citizen. “He taught me that I didn’t have to be violent.”
After the negative start to his life, Fernando joined Amity’s substance abuse program. Fernando and founder Naya Arbiter began traveling to various prisons on behalf of Amity. It was obvious to everyone that Nano’s heart was with the inmates. He lived and taught that actions speak louder than words.
Arbiter is an internationally known leader in the field of rehabilitation for people suffering from addiction. As a participant in the White House Conference on a Drug-Free America, Arbiter was one of only 125 national experts the president selected to attend the conference.
Nano and Arbiter co-wrote much of Amity’s curriculum. The two took Amity’s work to prisons throughout Arizona, New Mexico and California. Now Amity has expanded to China..
Nano worked inside and outside the prison with treatment programs such as AA and NA.
“Without Fernando, I’d probably still be in jail,” Michelle Espinosa, one of the many he helped, told the Tucson newspaper.
Amity has long been a pioneer of drug treatment programs. Nano and Amity tried things that others did not do. Fernando knew that primarily, Amity is about families. With a strong faith in God and intense desire to help, he prayed all the time. He prayed before meals, walks, and stopped beside the road to pray. He prayed for men and women to change their thinking, and life.
Fernando wanted to show anyone who would listen that there was a better way, according to Arbiter.. She also said, “He was one of the most unusual people I have ever met.”
Nano claimed that he didn’t like pets, although his story of a childhood pet cat called Percy belied those remarks. He was a complex man who only wanted to help people. He didn’t like social events, but he planned some incredible ones.
Once while working in the San Diego area, Naya said Fernando had a feeling they were needed at Donovan Prison. It was Halloween and after five hours, they finally arrived to find that he was correct. There had been some difficulty that needed attention and they were able to quickly take care of it. He always told people in trouble they were better than they realized.
Here are excerpts from The Amity Philosophy, which Nano applied to his life:
Our philosophy is based on the belief that life is an apprenticeship to the truth…Nothing is at last sacred but he integrity of our minds. We must press on, for nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm…No person is an island unto himself. Each of us must consciously participate in our own evolution, helping ourselves and reaching out to each other…As long as we willingly accept ourselves, we will continue to grow and develop our potentialities.”
Mendez, 52, went to Amity in 1985 to seek treatment for addiction to heroin. Within a year, he had received his GED and stayed on as a counselor.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 8
- Next Page »