NASA Ames has picked San Quentin for an important training program to manufacture a platform that will enable hundreds of science projects to be placed on a single launch vehicle during space flights.
Acting Warden Michael Martel joined NASA Ames administrators on a tour of San Quentin’s vocational machine shop. Included were Charles “Chuck” Duff, deputy center director; Adriana Cardenas, associate director of engineering who is the San Quentin liaison; Gary Martin, director of partnerships; and John Yembrick, public affairs director. They then held a signing ceremony authorizing the partnership/training program, punctuated by prisoners’ applause.
Prisoners will be taught “work that is directly germane to what this country needs done” in order to continue a cost-effective space program, said Duff.
In a recent San Quentin visit, the state’s undersecretary for California prisons, Scott Kernan, discussed such projects. He said California is working to improve partnerships with outside organizations and businesses to help fill the training void created by budget cuts. The NASA project is an example of that imitative, he said.
San Quentin’s machine shop is the only one in the California prison system with the capability of manufacturing metal projects right from the casting stage.
Metal shop instructor Richard Saenz said that NASA learned of the San Quentin potential after its student won a top prize in state fair competition in 2008. Saenz commented, “The association with NASA will allow me to train the students for today’s standards. It’s about providing opportunities for the students. I want to see them succeed. I would like to see them in society doing positive things.”
The are a maximum of 27 students enrolled in the machine shop training, and there is always a waiting list, Saenz said.
The shop’s lead man, Duane Butler, guided the guests around the shop, explaining how students become familiarized, and learn a range of complex machines used in the fabrication of various products – including a magnetic wave machine that won first prize in a recent State Fair.
The NASA Ames directors said they were amazed by the assortment of equipment prisoners had on hand to teach them the finer aspects of machining.
Michael Villanueva, who is in charge of shop safety, explained the monthly training and meetings held for students in order to receive information on hazardous materials and shop safety procedures. “Every student has to pass the safety test specific for a particular machine before operating it,” he said, “An 80-hour orientation safety program is given to each student.”
NASA Ames offers to teach prisoners highly technical and marketable skills while manufacturing the P-Pod at San Quentin. “You need to build prototypes – you need to check size and fit. These tools do an awful lot to make more possible in a shorter time frame at a much lower cost. That’s important to us,” said Duff.
The P-Pod is a space-based scientific testing platform. Although the P-Pod program at San Quentin will not produce space flight hardware, San Quentin’s P-Pod will be used for testing and accuracy of the final product.
When asked specifically about making this training available to some of the most disenfranchised people in society, Duff said that NASA Ames is trying to reverse this trend beginning at San Quentin. Duff said the objective is to find people who want to be in this high tech field and to provide them with an opportunity to gain skills that will enhance their employability. The P-Pod training program will allow prisoners to do this.
“The skills that you’re developing are useful around a wide array of employment opportunities. It’s not about where you’ve been; it’s about where we’re trying to go. This is an opportunity for people wanting to be together and going together. I got a good feeling about this,” Duff said.
NASA Ames officials said they are looking forward to coming back to San Quentin to get the program started.
Ames Aeronautical Laboratory was established in 1939 at Moffett Field, located on the border of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, south of San Francisco. NASA Ames head is Pete Worden.
—Juan Haines
Contributed to this story
Archives for July 2011
New Effort Launched To End Death Penalty
A new attempt has been launched to abolish capital punishment in California with claims it is an expensive failure.
Supporters of Senate Bill 490 include the author of a 1978 ballot initiative that greatly expanded what constituted a capital crime, and a former San Quentin warden who oversaw four executions.
Testifying before a Senate committee in support of the bill were Don Heller, who wrote the 1978 ballot measure that expanded capital punishment, and Jeanne Woodford, a former San Quentin warden and former director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Both pointed to the enormous costs of capital punishment.
If the Senate approves the bill by Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, it will be sent it to the Assembly for approval.
The Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 5-2 along party lines in favor of the bill after hearing testimony from Heller, a Sacramento attorney and former prosecutor, and Woodford, who is executive director of Death Penalty Focus, an anti-death penalty group.
Hancock told the Marin Independent Journal, “Capital punishment is an expensive failure and an example of the dysfunction of our prisons.”
The IJ cited Arthur Alarcon of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Loyola Law School professor Paula Mitchell claiming that the capital punishment system is “a multibillion-dollar fraud on California taxpayers.”
Their findings, soon to be published, estimate that California has spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. In that time, California has executed 13 prisoners, which they say equate to about $308 million per execution.
Opponents of the measure, represented at the hearing by numerous law enforcement organizations and the victims advocacy group Crime Victims United of California, said cost should not matter when punishing the worst criminals who commit heinous crimes. They also raised concerns about whether sentences would continue to be reduced and said not having a death penalty puts law enforcement officers in particular danger.
Ron Cottingham, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, said passing the bill “will put a target on the back of my members and every peace officer in California” because criminals will know they will face only “three hots and a cot” for killing an officer.
Opponents also said that the Legislature could take steps to speed up the execution process instead of abolishing the death penalty.
District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel halted California’s executions in 2006 because of complications in the lethal injection method. Subsequently, a shortage of the execution drugs further delayed carrying out death sentences.
There are currently 714 prisoners condemned to death and awaiting execution in California.
Former CDCR Chief Provides Insight into Death Penalty Issue
Editor’s Note: This is the first of two articles on the Aug. 2 interview Editor-in-Chief Michael R. Harris conducted with Jeanne Woodford, a former San Quentin warden and former chief of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Please explain where the disbanding of California’s executions stand as of right now?
Senator Loni Hancock, has introduced Senate Bill 490. If it’s passed by the Senate and Assembly that would place the initiative on the 2012 ballot. The initiative would seek to abolish the death penalty in California. It would also change the people on Death Row’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole as the harshest sentence in California.
What steps are you and your organization taking to make sure the death penalty is no longer a part of California’s landscape?
Our efforts (at Death Penalty Focus) are to educate the public about what we call “The myth about the death penalty.” Many people believe that it’s cheaper to execute people than to have them imprisoned with life without possibility of parole. \So, we really talk about those kinds of myths, including the fact that many people believe that victims deserve to have the death penalty, but in fact we have a very broken death penalty system in this state and very few people are actually executed. Of the many homicides that occur in California and around the country, very few people are prosecuted as a capital case. So, it is as people talk about, like being stuck by lightning. Very few people are prosecuted, and of those, very few are ever executed. So, it’s really a false promise to victims.
So, we really do a lot to try to educate the public about how costly the death penalty is, and that there could be better use of that money. There could be more teachers in classrooms, more police on the streets, and it would be better for public safety to have those dollars going to a much more pro-active approach to criminal justice.
What type of organization is the Death Penalty Focus and how is it supported ?
Death Penalty Focus has been around for about 20 years. It has around 50,000 members who have decided that they want to abolish the death penalty in the state. We don’t ask people’s party when they support this issue. People support it for many reasons. Some support it on moral grounds. Some support it because it’s too costly. Some support it because it’s ineffective.
There’re all kinds of reasons for supporting it, so I can say that we have a bi-partisan membership, although I don’t know that for sure.
We are a non-profit. We get some grants, but the majority of our support comes from a grassroots effort – people donating to Death Penalty Focus.
What was that process of becoming the executive director of the Death Penalty Focus like for you? Did you experience much opposition to your appointment? And if so, who?
I’ve been volunteering my time to speak out against the death penalty since I retired. So, when the executive director of Death Penalty Focus retired, after being here for many years, I was asked if I wanted to be the executive director. I think getting rid of the death penalty is critical to California for lots of reasons. It’s a very complicated issue. Those reasons include the money that I’ve talked about – the savings.
I think it’s a very horrible process for victims, going through years of litigation, having to relive these cases over and over again. It’s also, for me, how we think about punishment in our criminal justice system – believing that retribution serves anyone is really against my philosophy.
Certainly many of the crimes committed are very horrific, and we have to have a system to protect the public. But, it should be about protecting the public, not about retribution.
You were once quoted as saying that “putting people to death is not right.” When did you come to that opinion?
I’ve always been opposed to the death penalty, just from my own Catholic upbringing. As many wardens who have carried out executions – I say this to people, “When you’re in corrections, you’re not there to judge. You don’t judge whether the laws are right or wrong. You don’t judge individuals who are sentenced. Your job is to treat people as professionally as you possibly can, and to work on returning people home better people than they were when they came in.” I really try to live that philosophy.
So, from a moral perspective, I’ve always been against the death penalty. But, having been in the system and seen this from all points of view, I absolutely know it’s just wrong, when you start to look at DNA as an example. So when I satarted at San Quetin in 1978 people told me that every inmate would tell you that they are innocent.
‘It wasn’t until I left the Department of Corrections that I really thought about the impact on me personally.’
In fact, they don’t do that, as you know. People don’t run around saying, “We’re innocent.” I think we all lived with this thought that we had just this perfect system, and then here comes DNA, which is only available in about 20 percent of the cases. And, through DNA, we’ve discovered hundreds of innocent people across the nation.
So, that leaves 80 percent of cases where there is no DNA. So, what science is out there that might prove that we’re wrong about what we think about those cases? And so, with a death penalty, that’s so final, and we know that innocent people have been executed in the United States. Willingham in Texas is an example, but there are others who likely were innocent.
And, there are many cases where people actually believed they were innocent. We are a society that just cannot have a penalty that is so final that we can’t allow for the possibility that people might be innocent. Or a system that we now know cannot be perfect.
We have probably one of the best criminal justice systems in the world, but it is not perfect. So, if you’re looking at what the end result of what the criminal justice system should be, which is to protect the public, life without the possibility of parole does that.
We have very safe, secure prisons. People don’t escape, can’t escape because of the kind of prisons we have now in the United States. So, we do not need the death penalty. It does not serve us well. It doesn’t provide for a greater protection. It is costly. And, it hurts so many people in so many ways.
How did you prepare yourself for those executions? Where did you have to go mentally?
My approach to it was to practice what I called, “servant leadership,” which was really not to think about me, but to think about everybody in the process. Try to be sure that staff were okay. Many of you might have seen me just walking around the prison, walking in housing units and making sure that everybody was okay.
You get so busy worrying about everybody else that you don’t think about yourself. And, that’s really how I came through those executions.
It probably wasn’t until I left the Department of Corrections that I really thought about the impact on me personally. In talking to wardens around the country, they’re many now who oppose the death penalty. They make the same statement. On YouTube, there’s a very well-known warden, who’s now a professor at the University of Kentucky, Allen Ault. He talks about this so eloquently, about the impact of executions on him, personally.
And, there’s a video that we have here called, “A view from an executioner.” This is a Southern warden that believes he’s executed an innocent man and he talks about it. It’s just unbelievable how he talks about the impact of executions on him personally. And, he wonders out loud what his family really thinks of him – what his children think of him. These are people who are very passionate about fulfilling the laws of their state, of their country, who now look back and say, “It’s too much to ask of people, to be involved in a process like this.”
How were you able to reconcile your duty to the state with your religious belief during those times?
There are very few prisons where you can work on rehabilitation. I mean, San Quentin is like the star of the Department of Corrections. That’s because of lots of great people, like Larry Schneider that’s right there in front of you.
There’s just lots of people who worked hard to make it that way. So, it’s always been a dilemma for me – if I leave San Quentin and go somewhere else, I wouldn’t have been happy as a warden, because I really loved trying to expand programs at San Quentin and giving staff the freedom to do that. I always say, “The great thing I did was say, ‘Yes’ when people asked me if they could come to San Quentin,” and that probably was the greatest thing I did, was say, “Yes.”
Now that you are fighting for changes in the system that you once worked for, what type of feedback are you receiving from people within CDCR?
I think that it’s amazing to me, how many people are supportive. I think that people always assume that everybody that works in the Department of Corrections are pro death penalty, or pro this or pro that, but that just isn’t the case.
When you work in corrections, you learn that it isn’t your job to question sentences. And, I think lots of people believe that non-serious, non-violent people should not come to state prison – period, as an example.
‘I would encourage England to really look at the facts and implement a policy that really brings down violence because the death penalty will not help.’
But, you have to leave those opinions at the gate and come in and perform your duties without judgment and that is important for two reasons: If people went to work there and judge people for the acts they committed, it would be a pretty horrible place as well. So, you have to remember that you are not the judge.
In fact that would be my joke to the judges’ college when they came in for their tour: “I get to say something that you can’t: ‘I am not here to judge.’”
With that in mind, staff should not share their point of view. I’ve gotten e-mails from people congratulating me. When they see me, they say, “Hope you’ll be successful.” So, I’ve gotten a lot of support.
Everybody? No, not everybody. I think that there are people who misread what I do. Like in the three-judge panel, I testified against the department on behalf of the inmates, and with reason I did that. It’s because I believe it will improve public policy. When I’m passionate about something, I’m going to step up and say what’s on my mind.
Following the recent riots in England there have been proposals to bring back the death penalty. What would you say to that?
I think you have to have the facts lead you to your decision. Here in the United States, we have 16 states that don’t have the death penalty and in those states the crime rate actually is lower than it is in states with the death penalty. In our states that have the death penalty, they have the highest incidents of homicides.
So, if their purpose is to deter crime – the death penalty – that’s just a myth; it just doesn’t work that way. I’ve learned from many of you, who tell me that committing a crime is not a decision; it’s a lack of decision.
So, that’s what deters crime. It’s about how do we help prevent crime. And, we know lots of things about what prevents crime. More police on the streets prevents crime. More teachers in the classroom prevents crime. Solving crime prevents crime.
I would encourage England, any country who thinks about this, to really look at the facts and implement a policy that brings down violence because having the death penalty will not help.
Both Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris have throughout their careers said they oppose the death penalty but as state officials they will enforce the law as it stands. Your view on that?
They both have been committed to carrying out the law as it is. I think what has been helpful about both of them being elected is that they were so public and so courageous about their position, and still got elected. I hope that it will encourage others who really do believe the death penalty needs to be abolished, but are afraid to say so, will step up and say that.
I do think that the voters look to leadership, like Kamala Harris and like Gov. Brown when they think through these issues. I’ve not had the chance to speak to either one of them about this issue. I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to the governor about any issue. I have seen Kamala at different events. While I don’t know what they will do, their very presence, and their very open opinion, personal opinion about this issue, I believe will sway voters.
Because Kamala is the top cop in California and when you have the top cop saying, “The death penalty doesn’t make sense,” and she has said that in her entire career, I think that’s who voters look to for advice when thinking about these issues. Voters have voted in the death penalty – they have to vote it out. So, we hope that Senate Bill 490 will get the issue on the ballot – in front of the voters.
Our job is to educate the voters so that they will understand these issues, and that by getting rid of the death penalty, we can actually make our communities safer, our families safer because we will have the money to spend in a much more effective and appropriate way.
In the terms of costs, I think it’s important for the public to understand that we’ve spent $4 billion on the death penalty since it’s re-enacted. Thirteen people have been executed. That means that each execution cost over $300 million.
I think the voters need to understand that the Death Row at San Quentin – even if the governor stops the building of a new Death Row – so that’s an issues that still needs to be addressed – and if we continue with the death penalty, at some point, they’ll have to build a new Death Row, staff a new Death Row, and that will cost the state millions.
I think it’s important for the public to understand that public safety is met with a sentence like life without the possibility of parole, because individuals do not have the opportunity to be paroled.
They get one appeal at taxpayer expense and if they’re unsuccessful, they spend the rest of their life in prison. The public gets confused between 15 to life, 25 to life, and the sentence called life without the possibility of parole.
For an inmate on Death Row, while it takes years for them to get their appellate attorney, they do have an attorney for life, and can continue to appeal until they exhaust all the resources that are available to them, or all the issues that are available to them. Paid for by the taxpayers.
That is why we spent $4 billion, and then these cases cost millions of dollars each. We spend $4 million per year by the Supreme Court handling these cases; $12 million per year in the attorney general’s office; $30 million per year in individual counties on the death penalty; $38 million a year in defense agencies; $72 million per year in the corrections department; and $400 million for a new Death Row, if we were to. I mean, that’s a very low figure ‘cause that figure actually went up, because of the cost of construction – so if we needed a new Death Row, we would need to spend 400 million or more.
That is why, if we ended capital punishment in California, we would save $1 billion in five years – $1 billion. It is also important for people to know, for the voter to know, 46 percent of homicides go unsolved in this state. And so if you’re thinking about victims, there’re many victims waiting to know or waiting to hear, waiting for resolution of their cases.
Those cases aren’t being solved, because of a lack of resources. If some of the savings from the death penalty could be put forward to bring those cases to resolution, we would be helping victims a great deal – far more victims than are associated with capital punishment.
I think that we all should be concerned if there’s an innocent person in our prison system, no matter what their sentence is, including life without the possibility of parole. And, it is true that if you have life without possibility of parole, you only get one appeal at taxpayers expense.
But, I do think that’s why there so many projects around the state, such as the Innocence Project, and others that are there to help individuals who are able to put forward an argument that they were wrongly convicted of a crime. I know that those organizations work very hard to help individuals who may be innocent sitting inside our prison system.
I think those groups will continue to exist and probably grow as we find more and more innocent people in our prisons across the country. We’re part of a coalition. There are many groups around the state that look at different aspects of this.
While we’re involved in discussions about how different counties handle the issue of capital punishment, our primary focus is to abolish the death penalty, and to educate the public about the death penalty. By the way, a death penalty trial costs 20 times more than a life without the possibility of parole trial.
I think it’s important for the voters to understand that. Because you have two trials, one for the capital case, and then a trial to decide whether the sentence should be life without or the death penalty. And, in order to be on a jury for a capital offense, you cannot be opposed to the death penalty, so jury selection goes on far longer. Trials go on far longer, because of death penalty being on the table. Individuals facing the death penalty will have at least two attorneys. Lots of experts. There’s just lots of money spent on this issue.
What is the social benefit of trying to interact with people who have committed horrendous crimes? Is it so we understand where these compulsions come from?
I do think that people in the academic world do look at these issues, and it is something that we do need to learn a lot more about. But, because they’re on Death Row, and they’re appealing their cases, Death Row inmates are told by their attorneys, not to talk to people about many things.
So, I think that it would be hard to interview Death Row inmates and find out more about them, because that is what their attorney would be doing to attempt to mitigate the crime and be trying to save their client from being executed.
We need to learn a lot more about why, if we’re ever able to solve this issue, so I hope that our focus will be more in the prevention as we move forward as a society.
Have you received any correspondence from men and women on Death Row either supporting or condemning your appointment as the top advocate against the death penalty?
I’ve received both. When I receive a letter – because I still come into the prison – I take people on tours, so I can’t correspond with inmates, so we have to send back a form letter, letting them know that we can’t get into individual issues.
What drew you to this point in your life – being passionate about the death penalty?
I just believe that we can be better than this. And, I believe that our prison system really needs to be about rehabilitation. Certainly, there needs to be a punishment component, but I really want to be a part of changing criminal justice in the State of California, and I absolutely believe that it’s just time to end the death penalty. And, I would be honored if I could be a part of the movement that accomplishes that.
To be continued in the next issue
Seventy-four Graduate
Prisoners’ family members, volunteers, educational and corrections staff packed the San Quentin Garden Chapel to witness extraordinary achievement in an unlikely setting. Prisoners from Robert E. Burton Adult School and Patten University received awards of completion for their General Education Development, Associate of Arts Degrees and Vocational Training.
The Vietnam Veterans Group of San Quentin Color Guard initiated the annual graduation ceremony June 23 by a presention of the American flag.
“How proud your families must be of you and how you have educated yourselves,” said Acting Warden Michael Martel. “Continue learning and continue trying to achieve.”
The warden praised the prison education staff and volunteers who tirelessly devote their time and effort in bringing higher education to the men at San Quentin.
“I’ve never met a more dedicated staff that is so dedicated to your well being,” said Warden Martel.
Guests and a sea of black caps attentively listened as the keynote speaker, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, gave the commencement address.
“America lets you redefine yourself,” said Mayor Quan “Prisons too can be institutions of higher learning.”
She reported the City of Oakland has won federal funds to invest in infrastructure and will need workers to fill future construction jobs. “You need a high school diploma or a GED to get a construction job,” she noted.
Mayor Quan also urged the men paroling to Oakland to help mentor youths and be positive role models in the community. “If you’re from Oakland, I expect you to show up to one of our outreach programs.”
Between speakers, the musical group Neu Dae sang songs of inspiration and praise, entertained the crowd which reciprocated with cheers and applause.
Valedictorians were Achilles Williams, GED; Angelo Falconi, Coastline College, and Christofino Kenyatta Leal, Patten University.
“I came, I saw, and I accomplished and ripped that nemesis off my back, the ignorance that had tugged away at my self-esteem,” GED valedictorian Williams said.
Next to address the graduation audience Coast Line College valedictorian. “Here we succeed, not only as individuals, but as a community. Why? Because we learned that we need each other,” said Falconi “
Finally, valedictorian Leal told the crowd. “The more opportunities we in prison have to learn to value education and see possibilities for ourselves, the greater chance we will break the cycle of incarceration, not just for ourselves but for future generations.”
Seventy-four men received certificates and degrees at this year’s ceremony. Just two years ago, there were 157 graduates. The decline in graduates is a reflection of drastic budget cuts to prison basic education and vocational programs.
The 2011 graduating class included men from the vocational machine shop, vocational sheet metal and from the vocational landscape program, which will be eliminated this year due to the education cuts.
San Quentin is unique for programs it offers to incarcerated men and is the only prison in the state to have an on-campus college program, which is free of charge to incarcerated men. Patten University at San Quentin provides approximately 20 courses each semester in the humanities, social sciences, math, and science leading to an Associates of Arts degree in liberal arts, as well as college preparatory courses in math and English, to nearly 300 students.
In a separate ceremony the same day, five prisoners were awarded diplomas in Christian Ministries (Conceptualized Leadership Development) from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. They are Michael Adams from Wisconsin, Larry Histon from Georgia, Eddie Lee Johnson II and Garrett Martin from California, and George Lamb from New York.
Violence is The ‘Tragic Expression of Unmet Needs’
Violence is a tragic expression of unmet needs. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a program which helps us look beyond violent actions in the world to address the root causes of the violence.
The founder of NVC refers to violence as the “tragic expression of unmet needs,” whether in the form of physical violence, substance abuse, domestic violence, or emotional abuse. Needs refer to what we all need for life–air, food, water, sleep, and also to our deepest values such as love, consideration, or to matter. If, for example, we believe that others do not care about us, we may turn to drugs, alcohol or violence to deal with our unmet need to matter. NVC gives us tools for working with life’s difficulties and what they bring up in us in ways that we do not end up regretting.
NVC CONCEPTS
NVC concepts can be challenging to convey inside prison. At some point in the students’ first exposure to NVC, someone in the class will say, “We can’t talk like that here.” The “like that” being referred to is telling someone what is going on for them, using feelings and needs words and checking in with others about their feelings and needs. And yet these two components of the NVC model are very powerful gateways to recovering a nonviolent connection with ourselves and others.
As students continue to take the NVC classes, we see a deepening of their understanding of the model, increased ability to express feelings and needs, and changes in the way they engage with difficult circumstances and other people. Below are changes some of the students have experienced after taking NVC.
Prior to attending a class in NVC, the only tools for handling domestic disputes between my girlfriend and me came from my experience at home. When my parents had problems, they yelled, threw things and fought a lot. NVC has helped me see the destructive results of yelling and fighting when faced with a problem. I began to see that in relationships with women I was not respectful. My language toward them was attacking. My demeanor was violent when things did not go my way – never accepting responsibility for my actions, always blaming my girlfriend. I didn’t know how to communicate in the relationship because I didn’t consider my girlfriend’s needs to be as important as mine. No one likes to be talked to like a dog. NVC has given me tools to understand and acknowledge my needs, free myself from destructive cultural conditioning and break patterns of thinking that lead to arguments and anger. I know now that it is necessary to consider the needs of my partner, and NVC has given me tools to know how to do this. — Bobby Evans, Jr.
EMPATHY FOR ONESELF
Through taking NVC classes, I have learned how to have empathy for myself. I used to believe that everything I needed came from outside me, from someone other than myself. Once I starting taking care of myself and checking in with my feelings, needs, desires and wants, my need to be fulfilled by another diminished. This is my 16th year in prison. Finally I feel nearly fully healed and self-fulfilled. — Curtis Roberts
This class is making a difference. This week I remembered to use my tools, both my NVC tools and my spiritual tools. I work in P.I.A., and at the end of one day two tools were missing, a razor blade and a drill bit. The guards had all the guys who work in the shop standing in the yard a long time while they searched for the missing tools. In the past, I would have been really angry about that, but this time I thought to myself, “Remember to use your tools.” My NVC tool was to ask myself, “What do I need here?” I saw that what I needed was for them to find the missing tools. Then I used my spiritual tool to practice patience. I was much calmer than usual for a situation like this. I felt good about myself for remembering I can choose how to respond to what happens instead of just reacting. —Jon Cope
I started NVC Basics because it was recommended to me by one of my friends. I almost left after the third class when the giraffe and jackal puppets were introduced. My friend urged me to stick with it. I did and I was one of those guys who checked in with “I’m cool,” “Everything is okay.” I got away with it for half the semester until the teacher said, “You are not telling me anything. How does cool feel?” Then I was introduced to the empathy map, where I traveled the map on the floor as I told my story: from blame, self-criticism, deserve language, judgment to ending up (with the help of the instructors) in observation, feelings (what I was feeling and guessing what the other person might have been feeling), needs, and even eventually ending up with understanding, empathy and accountability for my thoughts, feelings and actions. I learned my boundaries were not universal, and when people acted in a way that I did not enjoy, it was not to annoy me or anger me; it was because they were meeting needs of their own.
What has NVC done for me? It has given me tools to accept myself, love myself, forgive myself, understand myself, connect with myself, communication with myself, to be aware of myself and to accept, love, forgive, understand, connect, communicate and be aware of others. —Henry Edward Frank
HOW TO GET STARTED
NVC Basics 1, Basics 2 and Next Step classes are taught on the Hill on Wednesdays, from 3-5pm in the Education Building. Sign-up sheets are posted in the Education Building and in North Block two weeks before a new series begins. The next series will start just after New Year’s.
NVC Basics and Next Step classes are taught in H-unit on Wednesday evenings, from 6:30–8:25p.m. Students can get information about and sign-up for classes in dorms 4 and 5 through Stand Up inmate program advocates. Students can also come to the registration evening the week before classes start and talk to NVC teacher(s). The next series will start just after New Year’s.
—Sharran Zeleke and John Porter are volunteers who teach non-violence classes at San Quentin.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
In her book, “The New Jim Crow,” Michelle Alexander writes, that when a prisoner is released from incarceration, he or she enters a metaphorical universe in which discrimination in nearly every aspect of economic, political, and social life is legal.
Incarceration marginalizes vast portions of the African American and Hispanic communities. It ostracizes them physically (in prisons, jails, and ghettos), then sanctions discrimination against them in employment, education, housing, voting, and public benefits, according to Alexander.
According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study, about 30 percent of released prisoners are rearrested within six months of release. Within three years, nearly 69 percent were rearrested at least once for a new crime. A small amount are rearrested for violent crimes; the vast majority are rearrested for property crimes, drug offenses and public disorder offenses.
For those released on parole, the risks of reincarceration are especially high. They may be stopped and searched (with or without their consent) for any reason. Parolees are at increased threat of arrest because their lives are governed by additional rules that do not apply to everyone else. Restrictions on their travel and behavior, such as a prohibition on associating with other felons, paying fines, remaining drug free, being employed, and meeting with parole officers, create opportunities for arrest. Violation of these special rules can land someone right back in prison.
Most ultimately return to prison, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Others are released again, only to find themselves in precisely the same circumstances they occupied before, unable to cope with the stigma of the prison label and their permanent pariah status.
Unless the laws and policies that keep ex-offenders marginalized from the mainstream society and economy are eliminated, those labeled felons will continue to cycle in and out of prison. Obtaining reform through local or state legislatures may be unlikely. Few politicians will leap at the opportunity to help people labeled criminals.
A myriad of laws, rules and regulations operate to discriminate against ex-felons and effectively prevent their reintegration into the mainstream society and economy. These restrictions amount to a form of “civic death.”
Anyone convicted of a felony is automatically ineligible for public housing assistance for at least five years. Even after the five-year period has expired, those labeled “criminals” face a lifetime of discrimination in the public and private housing markets. Housing discrimination against ex-felons (as well as suspected criminals) is legal.
People whose only crime is drug addiction or possession of a small amount of drugs could find themselves locked out of the mainstream society and economy — permanently. In 1996, President Clinton declared that public housing agencies should exercise no discretion when a tenant or guest engages in criminal activity, particularly if it is drug-related. In its final form, the act, together with the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, not only authorized public housing agencies to exclude automatically (and evict) drug offenders and other felons; it also allowed agencies to bar applicants believed to be using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol —whether or not they had been convicted of a crime.
The “no-fault” clause contained in every public housing lease requires tenants to do far more than simply pay their rent on time, keep down the noise and make sure their homes are kept in good condition. The “One Strike and You’re Out” policy requires every public housing lease to stipulate that if the tenant or any member of the tenant’s household, or any guest of the tenant, engages in any drug-related or other criminal activity on or off the premises, and then tenancy will be terminated. Prisoners returning ‘home’ are typically the poorest of the poor, lacking the ability to pay for private housing and routinely denied public housing assistance.
Every state and the District of Columbia, requires parolees to “maintain gainful employment.” Failure to do so could mean more prison time for failing to fulfill a “condition” of parole. Nearly every state allows private employers to discriminate based on past criminal convictions. In fact, employers in most states can deny jobs to people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime.
For most people coming out of prison, a criminal conviction adds to their already problematic profile. About 70 percent of offenders and ex-offenders are high school dropouts. According to at least one study, about half are functionally illiterate. Their job prospects are forever bleak.
The most severely disadvantaged applicants in the job market are ex-offenders. A criminal record — regardless of race — harms the prospects of all job applicants. The stigma of a criminal record makes employers unwilling to hire them. The jobless rate for young black male dropouts, including those incarcerated, is a staggering 65 percent.
Welfare reform legislation signed by President Clinton in 1996, ended individual entitlements to welfare and provided states with block grants. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) imposes a five-year lifetime limit on benefits and requires welfare recipients, including those who have young children and lack child care, to work in order to receive benefits.
The law also requires that states permanently bar individuals with drug-related felony convictions from receiving federally funded assistance. No exceptions are made to the felony drug ban. Accordingly, pregnant women, women raising young children, people in drug treatment or recovery, and people suffering from HIV/AIDS are ineligible for food assistance for the rest of their lives — simply because they were once caught with drugs.
However, there is another path. Rather than shaming and condemning an already deeply stigmatized group, we collectively, can embrace them — not necessarily their behavior, but them — their humanness, she says.
25th Annual Veterans’ Scholarship Ceremony Honors Area Students
Military veterans incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison continue giving to their country by awarding scholarships to local high school students.
“This highly ceremonial event reflects our respect for American values,” said Chairman Fernando Lemus of the Vietnam Veterans Group of San Quentin (VVGSQ).
High school seniors with military parents or guardians submit essays. Winners are selected by the VVGSQ Scholarship Committee.
Banquet tables were arranged in the shape of sergeant chevrons.
Flags were displayed representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Vietnam Veterans of America, and POW/MIA. The POW/MIA flag carries the message: You Are Not Forgotten.
The first award of $1,500 went to Rosa Valdés of Vanden High School in Fairfield. She plans to study biology as she works toward a degree in medicine at The University of California at Berkeley.
Valdés acknowledged the need for more positive role models for the younger generation.
“I think it’s amazing that you guys are doing this from the inside. I hope that this will get out to the community so others can participate. Thank you for all this, you guys have really made me feel good,” she added.
The second scholarship of $1,250 went to Kameryn Ray, a senior at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg. This soft-spoken, shy, winner plans to attend Xavier College in New Orleans, La.
She said she was initially apprehensive about coming inside San Quentin, she reported she was glad she did because the veterans made her feel accepted.
Her Aunt Carla commented, “I’m so proud of her. She has great goals and aspirations and I’m here to watch her succeed. She can relate to the disadvantage (of growing up in poverty), because that’s the way she grew up.”
“I look around and see the things that you guys are doing here today. I wish that society could see the things that I see here. It’s a lot different than the things I see on the television. This is why my niece was scared to come in,” she added.
The third award of $500 went to Jon Rich of Rancho Cotate High School.
Rich was valedictorian of his class. He gives his parents much credit as good role models.
His parents expressed pride at the way their son developed into a mature young man. “Maybe after he gets some college he’ll sign up to serve his country,” his father said. His mother added, “I am really proud that he is taking advantage of every opportunity.”
The Mary Manley Inspirational Scholarship Award of $1,000.00 went to Ke’Ana Coverson of Benicia High School.
Coverson’s grandfather fought in Vietnam. Her essay expressed her feelings; “I feel proud to raise my hand and say, ‘My papa is a Vietnam veteran.’ I acknowledge and thank my papa for serving our country. It feels good to watch so many people thank him. This teaches me to speak up and respect others.”
Judy Lynn Manley, VVGSQ’s Webmaster since 2005, says she came in as a volunteer after her daughter, Mary, submitted an essay that was so moving to the VVGSQ members they named an inspirational scholarship in her honor.
Lt. K. Evans has been the veterans’ group chief sponsor for two years. He said, “Their cause is good. They work out their problems and support the youths.”
As usual, this 25th annual VVGSQ scholarship awards is financed through profits from their prison food sales.
The following donated money to this cause, for the second time: Marcy Orosco, The Salvation Army, $1,000; Marilyn Murphy, theEpiscopal Diocese, $1,000
—Juan Haines contributed to this story.
Richmond Teens Offer Advice to Community
Richmond 1943
If you were mayor, what would you do to make Richmond a better place to live? That question was posed to high school students whose ideas included more jobs, focus on youth, safer neighborhoods, better schools and even a picnic for police, firefighters and the community members they serve.
“The first initiative I would take is to build more teen centers,” wrote Daniela, first-place winner in an essay contest sponsored by the San Quentin Richmond Project at Leadership Public High School. “…the centers will help the students understand the material they are learning in school, helping them get good grades; and it will help the students’ fitness and, more importantly, keep them off the streets.”
KNOW ONE ANOTHER
She added, “The second idea I want to accomplish is a picnic, as a community, where we all get a chance to impact and get to know each other. There would be fun activities for all citizens of all ages. The main part of this event is to bring out policemen, firefighters, etc., to interact with the community members.”
Finally, Daniela wrote, “I would (establish) a student recognition dinner/fundraiser for those individuals who excel in school and give Richmond a good name.”
Second-place winner Sarah said, “One way the mayor of Richmond can change the community is by making rehabilitation centers for people who get out of jail and are looking for help.”
Sarah also urged counseling for kids from broken homes and job opportunities.
There was a tie between Karina and Edger for third place.
DECREASE VIOLENCE
Karina wrote, “The first thing I would do is decrease the violence in Richmond. Additionally I would help raise money for all schools here in Richmond. Lastly, I would help make Richmond a better and nicer place to live so all people could have a voice and not be discriminated against (because of) the color of their skin, eyes, or anything else.”
Edger wrote, “I would establish a curfew for adolescents, encourage more entrepreneurs to open more businesses in Richmond, and hire qualified teachers for our public schools.”
The essays were read by a panel of Richmond citizens, including someone from the mayor’s office, a clergy person and a teacher.
Checks were awarded to the students with the highest number of points. Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, teacher Kelli Rice, Kathleen Jackson (Chief Sponsor of T.R.U.S.T), and neighborhood house of North Richmond, who all helped orchestrate the contest on the outside, presented the awards at the Leadership’s Awards Assembly, June 10, 2011.
RICHMOND PROJECT
The Richmond Project is sponsored by the San Quentin T.R.U.S.T. For more information about the Richmond Project and/or, to read the contestants complete essays, visit sanquentintrust.org.
http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/
Senate Bill (SB9) Gives Juveniles a Second Chance
Juveniles sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole could get a second chance under legislation approved by the State Senate.
Sen. Leland Yee’s bill would let courts review juveniles sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (JLWOP) after serving between 10 to 25 years in prison if the offender meets certain criteria. It passed 21-16 in June..
REDUCE SENTENCES
Senate Bill (SB9) would allow judges to reduce sentences to 25 years-to-life for offenders who show remorse and are working to be rehabilitated.
SB9 recognizes that all young people, even those serving life without parole have the capacity to change for the better, and should have access to the rehabilitative tools to do so. The bill recognizes that teenagers are still maturing, and under this act, youth sentenced to JLWOP could petition a court to review. It now goes to the Assembly, where a similar bill died last year.
275 PRISONERS
Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, says about 275 California inmates are serving life without the possibility of parole terms for crimes committed before they were 18. He says the United States is the only nation that lets children be sentenced to life without parole.
Over 2,500 prisoners are currently serving juvenile life without parole in America. According to the Huffington Post, they were convicted at age 15, 16, 17, and 18—and they will die in prison regardless of how well they live their lives while incarcerated. Many of these young prisoners have already served 10, 15, 20 years, and are now mature adults.
Program Brings Families To Visit with Prisoners
Faith based organization “Get on the Bus” assists over 1000 kids
There were smiles, hugs, and tears of joy in San Quentin’s visiting room on Father’s Day.
Most of the children who visited their fathers live hundreds of miles away in Southern California communities.
Participants proudly wore their violet “Get on the Bus” tee shirts into the visiting room to see their fathers.
The children were given this gift from a non-profit, faith-based organization called “Get on the Bus.”
Getonthebus.com unites children with their parents on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day each year in order to strengthen the family unit.
Troy Williams has been incarcerated for nearly 15 years. During that time he says he’s seen his daughter maybe five times, the last time nearly seven years ago.
This precious father-daughter moment gave Williams the opportunity to hug and talk to her face to face, which he said,…”is very different from the limited 15 minutes of talking over the telephone or the distance of a letter.”
“We think little of the actual harm we do to our families when we commit crimes,” Williams said. “In the wake of the victims I left behind, there goes my children.”
When asked why should prisoners benefit from a program like this Williams said, “It’s not about me; it’s about the children. It is said that 70 percent of children with incarcerated parents end up incarcerated themselves. What some people tend to forget is that a child lost is a victim gained. So, allowing my child to see me today and understand who I am right now strengthens her ability to build healthier relationships, relationships not base on perceptions of who her father used to be, but relationships based upon knowing who her father is today.”
In addition to San Quentin, this program assisted more than 1,000 children and their caregivers in visiting fathers incarcerated at Folsom Prison, California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, the Correctional Training Facility – Soledad, Salinas Valley State Prison, and Solano State Prison – Vacaville.