Archives for May 2009

How do we measure the value of a program designed to help inmates? Which programs are effective and produce results that can be quantified? Which programs should be kept and which should be discarded? These are valid questions that have taken on more significance in the wake of the ongoing and escalating violence in Oakland.
An understandable and emotional response to the slaying of four Oakland police officers has been a demand for a revision of the parole system to make it harder for inmates to be paroled and for even tougher sentencing of felons. This reaction urges that we throw away those who have committed crimes forever.
Van Jones, President Obama’s advisor on green technology wrote in his book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems“…the green economy must do more than reclaim thrown-away stuff. It must also reclaim thrown-away lives and thrown-away places. And it must reclaim the thrown –away values that insist we are all members of one human family, with sacred obligations to each other.”
Self-help programs and groups at S.Q. are reclaiming thrown away lives and people. This is a sacred duty and the essence of the green movement. Those of us who have been broken and restored to wholeness through the efforts of volunteers and the training and teaching of programs constitute a vital force whose value is recognized by Jones and others. Jones said to us in his talk at S.Q., “San Quentin can take healing and recovery to a different level.”
“Sometimes a breakdown is what is required before you can have a breakthrough. The country is going through a breakdown, it can lead to a breakthrough,” Jones said.
Jones argued that it is useful to “talk to people who have walked through the process of recovery. Sometimes it’s not easy, not always a straight line.”
Ancient teachers of Kabbalah also recognized the value of brokenness. They recognized that the depth of failure was also a path to reach our inner core of strength and holiness.
One such teacher said, “There is nothing more whole than a broken heart.”
A Hebrew poet wrote, “Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Before we throw away any program we need to consider the value of a person it may have helped. It is true that some programs duplicate areas covered in other programs. But each program has its own tone and character and may be more effective in communicating to certain individuals than others.
Different classes may provide the moment a person needs to have that breakthrough moment. S.Q. is characterized by a remarkably low incidence of violence. This may be due in part to the availability of self-help programs and the positive outlets they provide for inmates to share feelings and experiences, vent and receive feedback.
Self-help programs have a positive effect on maintaining a peaceful environment on this mainline. These same programs may also reduce violence in our communities.
Inmates in reception center housing who will return to Oakland and other Bay Area communities torn by violence need access to self-help programs. Programs need to be expanded and made available to more of the population. Lives may be saved if a young man is given a future and hope through a group or program.
Self-help programs are not like American car companies, businesses with products that not enough people want to buy. Many programs have to limit participation because there are more inmates who want to participate than they can accommodate.
We urge that before any program is discarded or a human being is thrown away, the value of the life it may restore to wholeness be part of the calculation. The lives it may save by preventing violence are of inestimable worth.

San Quentin officials are moving ahead with plans for a pilot program that would enable parolees to leave the prison with a driver’s license or state identification card in their possession. Most certainly prison administrators are to be applauded for getting behind such a widely beneficial project.
The pilot program will closely mirror one that’s already underway in three other California prisons. Still left to be ironed out are the details of how payment will be made for the $27.00 driver’s license and the $23.00 state identification card, the cost of which will be borne by the inmates themselves. There is a possibility that parolees may be able to have the fee subtracted from their $200.00 gate money.
In order to gauge interest among inmates for the program, a recent survey was taken of H-Unit Stand Up Program participants, and the results of the survey revealed an overwhelmingly positive response and interest.
In these gloomy economic times where programs are much more likely to be cut than initiated, the birth of such a hugely inmate-beneficial program is truly a welcome breath of fresh air. Anyone who has ever paroled from a prison without at the least a state identification card knows just how much of a blessing such a program would be for us, the inmate population.
Two thumbs up to the administrators who have contributed their time and energies to make this program possible!

The sound of live music could soon make a return to the H Unit yard under a plan tentatively approved by H Unit Capt. S. Donahue. Details of the plan are still being worked out, but could allow for live music performances every other week through the summer.
At a recent informal meeting with the Men’s Advisory Council (MAC) members, Capt. Donahue was introduced as the new H Unit captain, and Associate Warden J. Lawson was also introduced in his new role as H Unit A.W.. Lieutenant M.D. Thompson has resumed his post on 3rd watch.
Residents of H Unit should note that MAC bulletin boards have been installed in each dorm and will be continually up-dated with information affecting S.Q. inmates. Dorm residents are encouraged to contact their dorm MAC reps with any problems they seek help with. Their concerns will be brought to the attention of the full MAC.
 

1. SACRAMENTO, CA. —The California Department of Corrections has submitted a 42-page plan to resume the execution of prisoners at San Quentin State Prison. Public hearings on the plan are scheduled for June 30. Executions have been on hold since US. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that California’s lethal injection procedures are “broken” in 2007.
2. MAYNARDVILLE, Tenn.—Former death row inmate freed after spending more than two decades in prison. His release came after a Supreme Court ruling granting a new trial after DNA tests revealed inconsistencies in the prosecutions case.
3. HARTFORD, Conn.— Connecticut’s House of Representatives voted on a bill to eliminate the state’s death penalty. If the bill wins, the death penalty will be replaced with offenders receiving life sentence without chance of parole.
4. WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court will review whether sentencing Juvenile offenders to life sentences is cruel and unusual punishment. The court will hear the cases of two Florida men who were sentenced at young ages to life in prison in the fall term.
5. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Former Jail official was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after being convicted of using excessive force on inmates in two separate jail facilities. Five other jail officials were also entered guilty pleas in the beatings.
6. BOSTON, Mass.—Legislation to limit access to criminal records of offenders released from prison has been filed by Gov. Deval Patrick. The measure will make it easier for ex-offenders to find housing and employment after incarceration.
7. McALESTER, Okla.—Donald Lee Gilson, 48, was executed May 14. Gilson was convicted of killing his girlfriend’s 8-year old son, but proclaimed innocence up to the time of his execution.
8. ATMORE, Alabama — Willie McNair, 44 was executed May 14 at Holman Prison. He was the fourth person executed in the state this year.
9. AUSTIN, Texas — Texas death row prisoner has been charged for smuggling cell phones into the prison where he is housed. 30-year-old Richard Lee Tabler caused a statewide lock down while officials looked for the cell phones.
10. FARGO, North Dakota— Journalist Roxana Saberi, 32, was released from an Iranian prison where she was serving an eight year sentence after being convicted of spying for the U.S. government last month. Her release comes after pressure for the Obama administration demanding her release.
11. NEW YORK CITY, NY— A Rikers Island inmate has contracted the swine flu. The inmate came into contact with more than 70 other inmates who were screened for the illness, none of them have the flu.