San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

POETRY

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By EDDIE GRIFFIN

Journalism Guild Writer
They invite your impropriety
They’re so glad that you could come
They ignore your many addictions
And they knew that you’d succumb
Tragic hero of rural crisis
On your back many towns have grown
Do you know your intrinsic value
Can’t you see the seeds they’ve sown
Seeds fertilized in ignorance
And strewn throughout the state
Watered with demagoguery
Now they consummate your fate
Can you see now what you’ve lost
Can you glean the distraction
Without knowledge of self
There is no basis for action

How to Get Your Bill Passed: Find a Sponsor

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An analysis conducted by the San Jose Mercury News demonstrates that sponsored bills are far more likely to become law than bills without sponsors.
Sponsored bills made up 60 percent of the legislation passed in the 2007-08 legislative session. Almost half of the 1,883 sponsored bills became law.
The portion of non-sponsored bills introduced by elected officials shows a marked disparity and appears to favor private rather than public interests, according to the report.
Lobbyists write bills, shop for willing lawmakers to introduce them, and line up support. This is the path of sponsored bills, stealthy but favored inside the state Capitol.
The fortification of the lobbyists’ status beside the Legislature’s two governing houses – the Assembly and Senate – has been known as California’s “Third House.” Lobbyists function almost as a shadow legislature today, the newspaper concluded.
The report stated that “when an interest group writes a bill, only its interest is represented.”
Former state Senator Tom McClintock, the only legislator who did not author a single sponsored bill, was quoted as saying that “It’s a general rule that sponsors are bureaucracies seeking more power, or companies seeking more money.”

Brown Card Volunteers Are Still Upbeat

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The history of Brown Card Volunteers is murky at best, but their contributions to us are most palpable.
In a recent interview with Marin Literacy’s educators Sue, Carolyn and Nan of PROJECT REACH, I was afforded a unique perspective into thoughts and wishes of these most capable academic professionals. When asked what, if any, obstacles they may have faced in the course of performing their duties, I was told that “obstacles were minimal, the officers staffed in the education department were most accommodating.”
These women expressed a desire to assist inmates in their transition back into society with the suitable skills necessary for job placement, social integration, and the elevation of personal esteem.
Nan informed me that the effects of recent economic issues have had negligible impact on the program, being that resources came from Marin Literacy. Also, that barring some emergency, they make every effort to attend all scheduled classes. Nan enjoys spending time.helping others and she learns as her students learn.
Once one of her students told her that his main motivation in enrolling in the program was a promise his son made to him, and that was that if he (the inmate) got his GED that he (the son) would make positive changes in his own life. Afterward, Carolyn said that shows that changing lives inside affects those outside.
When I spoke with Sue she was eager to convey her passion for helping others saying “I like to extend my teaching experiences to the benefit of those in need.”
In addition to other duties these volunteers must undergo annual training regarding institutional concerns such as safety, contact with inmates and other staff responsibilities.
We may well wonder what it is that compels someone to give selflessly her or his time and patience for the benefit of others. Sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it would be an apt description.
These women, among other men and women, have taken the mere idea of rehabilitation from abstraction to reality here at San Quentin.

3-Striker Group Forming

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A San Quentin group is working to provide support for inmates facing life imprisonment under the Three-Strikes law.
The group is currently taking a poll to ascertain whether an activity group of their own would better serve their interests.
To date there has not been much consideration of the unique circumstances under which they serve their life sentences. For example, unlike other Lifers:
• They are denied time reduction for good conduct.
• They cannot apply for parole until they have served 25 years.
• They are ineligible for psychological assessments to measure suitability for eventual integration into society.
• They lack comprehensive rehabilitation plans/criteria such as the “Matrix.” Three Strikers are left with no milestones and little is expected of them.
The absence of such vital resources to Strikers has had the effect of increasing the sense of hopelessness in these men, rendering them unwilling and unmotivated to participate in any endeavor conducive to bringing about meaningful change in their condition.
For example, Three-Strikers make up roughly two-thirds of the Lifer population in San Quentin, but represent a statistically insignificant proportion of the membership in the various activity and/or therapeutic community groups here.
This is a troubling trend and one that should be remedied with utmost expediency.San Quentin has nurtured some of the most innovative and enduring programs and activity groups in the state, and could glean much benefit from fostering one aimed at improving the condition of an otherwise forgotten – though increasing – segment of the population.

The Ins and Outs Of New Building

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Operations at San Quentin’s new Central Health Services Building (CHSB), have been under way for several months now. There are five floors in the new structure, which facilitates different classes of inmates. The main entrance on the third level accommodates general population inmates, among others. It is also where the library is located.
The first level accommodates dental and Receiving and Release (R&R), second level handles psyciatric patients and the fourth level has a crisis unit. The fifth floor is occupied by staff only, both medical and correctional officers. Appointment ducats are issued to the inmates for tests and exams.
Inmates enter at CHSB’s main lobby where they check in at the reception desk manned by CDCR staff. Once the inmate is checked in by the desk officer, he is instructed to wait in the lobby .The desk officer asks for the inmates I.D. card and returns it at the completion of the visit.
There is special emphasis on security in the new facility due to the nature of differing classes of inmate patients. Thus, there is a healthy presence of CDCR officers always maintained in the facility.
Certain cases are still referred to outside facilities.
There will be more in upcoming issues of the San Quentin News concerning the efficacy of the new facility as information is made available.

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