1) SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has ended contracts with three private prisons in the state. The CDCR cited a drop in the number of minimum security inmates as a reason for the move, which is expected to save the state about $15 million a year.
1) SACRAMENTO – Gov. Schwarzenegger announced plans to immediately ship an additional 2,300 inmates to private prisons out-of-state as a means of reducing overcrowding in California’s prisons. No word on what this plan will cost the state.
2) OKLAHOMA CITY – Prosecutors are investigating claims that both the former chief groundskeeper and the head chef at the governor’s mansion raped three female inmates assigned to work on the mansion’s grounds. No charges have yet been filed against either man, though both were fired Sept. 29 for violating policies.
3) CORCORAN – An attorney for the assassin of Senator Robert F. Kennedy has protested the transfer of Sirhan Sirhan from the high security prison where he has been housed to a lower security prison at Pleasant Valley in Coalinga (Fresno County). Attorney William Pepper says the move could endanger the life of his client.
Archives for November 2009
Back in the Day – Selected Stories From Back Issues of the San Quentin News
May 23, 1980 – Three cons were assaulted and stabbed in what prison authorities are calling a racially motivated attack. One suspect was nabbed, and three prison-made knives were confiscated at the scene of the incident. The prison was placed on lockdown.
July 4, 1980 – A prisoner who escaped from a minimum security area of San Quentin Prison was recaptured in Lovelock, Nevada. Donald Frank Bonita, 44, walked away from his job in the prison hobby shop June 21. The hobby shop is located just outside the main gate.
Sept. 5, 1980 – Ten shots were fired to break up a fight between seven cons on the C Section yard. Seven prisoners were treated at the prison hospital for birdshot wounds. The incident was considered nonracial.
November 14, 1980 – The San Quentin Pirates took an undefeated record into their football game with the also undefeated team from Alameda Naval Air Station, only to lose 28-4.
August 14, 1981 – A San Quentin Correctional Officer was arrested on suspicion of bringing drugs into the prison when a vial of what appeared to be cocaine was found in his car. John Taylor, 32, of Vallejo, had been employed at the prison for 11 months.
November 13, 1981 – Joan Baez, Norton Buffalo, Nightfood and High Noon appeared at the annual Bike Show held Nov. 8 on the lower yard. Approximately 30 bikes were on view for the show. Another 25 bikes and a parts truck were turned away at the main gate for various reasons. (Update Oct. 2009: Norton Buffalo, long-time harmonica player for the Steve Miller Band, passed away after a battle with cancer.)
It Was An Epic Day
I want to express my appreciation in thanks to the Men in Blue responsible for the Avon Walk in San Quentin. The perseverance necessary to make it happen was epic. I have only a small understanding of the hurdles thrown at you and cannot truly imagine how difficult it was at times.
Thank you for your resilience and determination, for keeping on track and for reaching your ultimate goal. You are all a fine testimony to the fact that much can be accomplished in life despite significant obstacles.
I am proud to have walked with men with bad hips, new hips, bad knees and men with canes. Men who never exercise and men with whom I could barely keep up with! I saw what a group effort can do where an individual can only dream.
The experience was profound and deeply moving and one that will stay with me always.
I urge you to keep this indomitable spirit alive and to stay on this path of strength, hope and faith. I am honored to have been a part of it and I thank you.
With deep respect,
Helen
A walker in pink
What Programs Mean
I am serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in Pelican Bay. This means I will spend my whole term on a Level IV yard. I have been here since 2006. Since then we have lost almost all our programs on B Yard, and we have been on a segregated, modified lockdown since February of this year.
Violence has plagued this yard since 2008. We have no education classes, no chapel, no Arts in Corrections anymore, and they are firing teachers. Northerners and Blacks come out on odd days. Southerners, Whites and Others come out on even days. No one can get contact visiting on B Yard.
I only have an F number, but I really hope we will have some changes that come soon. If we had more programs and activities maybe the violence would decrease. Sitting idle in a cell for hours b reeds anger and violence. Segregating us by race and gang affiliation is just increasing the tension. Things seem hopeless up here.
I spent 10 months in San Quentin in Reception. Walking around that prison from time to time while I was there I could see how much a prison like that has to offer. When I left I knew I would never see a place like that again. I wish all prisons could offer rehabilitation like San Quentin. Also, being from San Francisco it was nice to be close to home.
I hope change comes soon. Things are not looking bright on these Level IV yards.
Philip L. Sands #F 11335
Pelican Bay State Prison