San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Archives for December 2013

Children of Incarcerated Parents Get Visit From Sesame Street’s Elmo

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On Nov. 14, San Quentin’s visiting room became a place of hugs and fun for the children of incarcerated parents in San Quentin when Sesame Street’s Elmo came to play.
“I think it’s wonderful, the department being involved in rehabilitation,” said Warden Kevin D. Chappell. “This is the first time an event of this magnitude has occurred that reaches out to incarcerated men and children. I’m excited that Centerforce and Sesame Street chose us to launch this event.”
Carol F. Burton, Executive Director of Centerforce, explained that she teamed up with Sesame Street to develop a method for incarcerated parents to stay in touch with their children after noting how children’s behavior is affected because they do not understand incarceration.
Through the collaboration, the team created an advice sheet called, Tips for Incarcerated Parents that gives incarcerated parents specific ways to tell their children about prison and how to help their child adjust to their circumstances.
“California is a pilot state for the project. If we can get greater support and financial backing of course, we’ll go to every prison with at least one event to announce the material,” said Burton.
When inmate Gerald Salas was asked about his daughter, Aviana he said, “I’m sitting in the cell one day thinking about her when I received notice that a Sesame Street program for 3-8 year olds was coming to San Quentin.”
He contacted his mother and wife and told them about the program. Aviana was 8 months old when Gerald started doing time. “The first time she came to see me in prison; I had tears in my eyes. It left me with mixed emotion,” he said. Salas said, “She never asked why I’m in prison, but she knows that I am somewhere I should not be.” His wife was extremely upset when he started this prison term. She knew that he would be missing being part of her every day life, but he believes the tool kit provided by Sesame Street, Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration has given them a new approach to handling Aviana’s questions.
Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration is designed to:

  • Support, comfort, and reduce anxiety, sadness, and confusion that young children may experience during the incarceration of a parent
  • Provide at-home caregivers with strategies, tips, and age-appropriate language they can use to help communicate with their children about incarceration
  • Inform incarcerated parents themselves that they can parent from anywhere, and provide them with simple parenting tips highlighting the importance of communication.

His wife’s sometimes has to explain to Aviana that Daddy’s at a place where he has work to do all the time. “Often times she’ll be sad or I have to tell her that Daddy is coming home soon, but this program has given my wife and me new tips on how to explain my separation from her. She’s too young to understand what’s really going on,” he said.
As Aviana played with Elmo, kissing and hugging him, she looked into her father’s eyes and said, “Daddy I love you.”
Nearly 2.7 million children have a parent in state or federal prison, according to Centerforce, yet few resources exist to support young children and families with this life changing circumstance.
Centerforce began in 1972 by establishing a visitors’ center at San Quentin State Prison and now has a center at all California state prisons.
Serving children and families is central to Centerforce through its LIFE Project, which provided mentors to children of incarcerated parents and parenting/family reunification programs at San Quentin, Santa Rita Jail and in Contra Costa County. www.centerforce.org.
About Centerforce:
Centerforce is a California-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for individuals, families, and communities impacted by incarceration. For over 40 years, Centerforce has been a national leader in providing groundbreaking, evidence-based programs to incarcerated people and their loved-ones.
Centerforce is one of few agencies in the U.S. to offer a continuum of transformative services during incarceration, reentry and after release.

Dr. John Cranshaw Leaves S.Q. For Rehabilitation Hospital

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For the past five years, Dr. John Cranshaw has administered his experience and knowledge treating prisoners inside San Quentin.
In 1990, the federal court became involved with California’s prison overcrowding issue when Coleman v. Brown, was filed. Coleman claimed the state inadequately treats mental illnesses. Plata v. Brown later followed the Coleman case in 2001, claiming sub par medical care. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the combined cases in Coleman/Plata v. Brown and determined because of overcrowding, California prisons’ health care delivery system violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Constitution, and to correct the deficiencies, the inmate prison population had to be reduced to 137.5 percent of designed capacity.
Dr. Cranshaw came into the prison system in light of Court’s order to bring the prison system’s medical care delivery system to constitutional levels.
Well liked and respected by his patients, Dr. Cranshaw, has been into medicine for more than 20 years. He is leaving San Quentin to work at the Long Term Acute Rehabilitation Hospital in Kentfield, designed for people who have just gotten out of the Intensive Care Unit and or Surgery.

“The biggest downside I see about the [medical] setup now is access”

In a medical examination room, sated with a backbone replica, charts, diagrams, and other informative medical bits and pieces of information, Dr. Cranshaw sat at a neatly arranged workstation, going over one of the 13 to 14 medical files he will review and evaluate this workday.
Cranshaw said the new position in Kentfield would allow him to spend more time with his family. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had a lot of time to spend with my family. My new job will give me more day-time off, something we need.”
“When I started working at San Quentin, I worked in the modular trailers on the side of North Block,” said Cranshaw. “I preferred the trailers because it was an easier and faster way to see patients.”
When asked if there were any disadvantages working in the new facility as opposed to the modular trailer set up, Cranshaw said, “The biggest downside I see about the [medical] setup now is access. A patient here has to fill out a sick-call slip, call out ‘man down,’ etc. before they are in a position to receive treatment. The delay can sometimes be a problem.”
Seeing a doctor outside of prison is easier said Cranshaw. “A patient can go to a clinic, see any doctor they choose. If they aren’t satisfied there, they can always go to another hospital or clinic.”
Paul L. said, “Dr. Cranshaw is one of the most thorough, caring doctors I’ve met since my incarceration. Every time I sat with Cranshaw, it was no different from any doctor I’ve dealt with out in the free world. He heard me out and dealt with the problem.”
According to Cranshaw, about 40 percent of the prison population is infected with Hep-C. He stressed that prevention is important and everyone should be careful. “The medical problems I see here at San Quentin are about the same as those patients I see on the outside. The patients here, for the most part all want help for their ailments or medical conditions, etc.” Cranshaw said for the most part, prisoner patients want what people on the outside want, treatment for their medical issues.
Terminal cancer patient Bill Lambie said, “Dr. Cranshaw, Chief Medical Officer Dr. [E.] Tootell, and San Quentin’s medical staff has been more than gracious to me. I am dying of cancer, and they have done everything in their power to help me with my situation. My family and I are grateful.”
Lambie was granted a compassionate release by California State Parole Commissioners in July, but a San Bernardino judge refused to sign the release papers. (See Lambie’s story on page 1).
Raphael Calix said, “Dr. Cranshaw represented hope. His style of treating the ailment was to listen and to show me how much he cared. I felt really comfortable around him.”
Working at San Quentin was Cranshaw’s first time in a prison. He said his experience here has been educational. Cranshaw said the medical staff, his colleagues at San Quentin, are a great bunch of people. He enjoyed working with them and will miss them and his patients.
San Quentin’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. E. Tootell said, “We will miss Dr. Cranshaw and his contributions during his service here.”
Cranshaw also spent many Saturdays on his own time, volunteering as a sponsor for “No More Tears,” a non-violence group held in San Quentin’s Interfaith Chapel.
According to JulianGlenn “Luke” Padgett, one of Cranshaws’s previous patients here at San Quentin, “When I saw Dr. Cranshaw during an examination, I was impressed by how thorough he was, and the attention he gave me during my visits to the clinic. I only wish I could have seen him for all my appointments. He will be missed for sure.”

Explaining Our Principal Roles

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The Men’s Advisory Council (MAC) is a group of inmates elected by the general inmate population at San Quentin. They act in an advisory capacity while communicating on issues of common interest to prison administrators and inmates.
One of the MAC’s principal goals is developing a working relationship between inmates and staff to improve the living conditions for San Quentin inmates.
The MAC serves a dual purpose, both equally important. The first is to provide inmates of San Quentin with representation and a voice in administrative deliberations and decisions affecting the welfare and best interest of all inmates. The second is to provide the Warden with a means to communicate administrative actions, and the reason for such action, with the general inmate population.

Remembrance

On Oct. 16, two members of the inmate community died. One inmate resided in the West Block Housing Unit and the other inmate resided in the North Block Housing Unit. The MAC wants to acknowledge and recognize the exhaustive efforts of the North Block supervisory staff, medical staff, correctional staff and the emergency responding staff (Med 1) in attempting to save the life of the North Block inmate, who later died. Unfortunately, the inmate residing in West Block had expired by the time potential help arrived.

Recognition

The following people exemplified the value of human life by attempting to save a prisoner:
North Block Staff Correctional Sergeant J. Van Blarcom, Correctional Officers R. Broyles, D. Chrystaline, J. Hannah; Medical Staff TTA’s C. Goodwin, M. Soumahoro, H. Carneiro; Med 1 Crew Members Captain J. Cerini, inmates D. Edgerly, C. Salavar, M. Krohn, A. Gibbs, F. Castro, and special acknowledgement to the automated “AED Defibrillator” (an electronic device that applies an electric shock to restore the rhythm of a fibrillating heart).
I, along with MAC executive secretary N. Thoa, and a number of other inmates, personally witnessed these responders performing CPR. Sweat was rolling from their faces as they relayed (trading places) one after another, in their tireless efforts to revive the inmate.
Prison can be a cold place, and most often incarcerated people are made to feel unloved, unvalued, inferior, disrespected and forgotten. But on that day, I was blessed to see correctional staff, inmates, and medical staff work together feverishly trying to save the life of that inmate.

Property Crimes Continue To Decline, According to FBI

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Although violent crime in the U.S. slightly increased in 2012, property crime continues a 10-year decline, according to the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) numbers.
“While the violent crime rate remained virtually unchanged when compared to the 2011 rate, the property crime rate declined 1.6 percent,” according to FBI data.
The FBI publishes and compiles statistics on arrest and offense data for its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Law enforcement agencies from around the U.S. voluntarily provide the information.
“A total of 18,290 city, county, state, university, college, tribal, and federal agencies participated in the UCR program in 2012,” reports the FBI.
The data includes reports on murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, non-negligent manslaughter, and property crimes like burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Nationally, the FBI reported that law enforcement agencies made about 12.2 million arrests. Traffic violations were not included.
According to the FBI, there were an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes in 2012. Crimes of murder and non-negligent manslaughter increased 1.1 percent; forcible rape was up 0.2 percent; and aggravated assault up 1.1 percent; while robberies declined by 0.1 percent.
During the same year, nationwide, there were 8.9 million property crimes, the FBI reported.
“The estimated number of burglaries declined 3.7 percent in 2012 when compared to the 2011 figure,” the FBI reported, adding, “The estimated number of larceny-thefts remained unchanged, and motor vehicle thefts increased 0.6 percent.”
It was reported that, collectively, property crime victims, not including arson, “suffered losses calculated at $15.5 billion in 2012.”

United Nations Human Rights Committee Reviews U.S. Disenfranchisement Laws

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A September 2013 report on United States disenfranchisement laws, their history, rationale, and the disproportionate impact they have on minorities has been submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
A coalition representing several non-profit, civil rights organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union, and The Sentencing Project, authored the report.
“The Committee expressed concern that the country’s felony disenfranchisement practices have ‘significant racial implications,’” the report said.
According to the report, felony convictions have an unequal impact on African Americans and other groups of minorities with similar felony convictions.
Such laws that disenfranchise (deny voting rights to) American citizens, due to felony convictions, have existed since the founding of the United States, the report said.
“These laws were born out of the concept of a punitive criminal justice system – those convicted of a crime had violated social norms, and, therefore, had proven themselves unfit to participate in the political process,” it was reported.

Amendment

Disenfranchisement laws have been used, with an array of other methods, “to circumvent the requirements of the Fifteenth Amendment,” which is supposed to forestall states from preventing individuals from voting based on “previous condition of servitude,” among other criteria, the report said.
According to the report, at one time there were “fears over the ‘purity of the ballot box’ and concern that allowing certain current or even former inmates to vote would ‘pervert’ the political process.”

supporters

The coalition’s report said supporters of disenfranchisement laws suggest that, “if allowed to vote, individuals with felony convictions would constitute a cohesive voting bloc, which would distort criminal law.”
The Supreme Court, however, has said that “’fencing out’ from the franchise a sector of the population because of the way they may vote is constitutionally impermissible.”
During the twentieth century, perceptions about criminal behavior have slowly changed. We now recognize the possibility to rehabilitate inmates, and the ability to reintegrate them into society once they are released.
“In the past fifteen years there has been a general trend toward liberalization of felony disenfranchisement laws,” the report said. “Proponents of felony disenfranchisement argue that such laws may deter crime, though disenfranchisement has not been shown to actually accomplish the goal of deterrence.”

laws

The report went on to say that these laws “extend punishment beyond the walls of the prison,” for persons who are on parole or probation, and for those who have completed their sentences.
According to the coalition’s report, there are 5.85 million American adults who are unable to vote due to disenfranchisement laws. Of that number, only 25 percent are in prison.
Public opinion surveys, according to the report’s conclusion, show that “eight of every ten Americans support the restoration of voting rights to persons convicted of felonies who are no longer under state supervision.”
Several recommendations were submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee:

  1. That the U.S. Government publicly support the automatic restoration of voting rights to citizens upon their release from incarceration for felony convictions.
  2. That the U.S. Government investigate the disproportionate impact of felony disenfranchisement laws on minority populations and issue a report of its findings.
  3. That the U.S. Government encourage states to inform criminal defendants of the voting rights implication of an arrest or felony conviction and to provide information on voting rights restoration process upon release from prison and/or completion of criminal sentences.

Recapping Years of Accomplishments

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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.

Death Row Inmate Responds To David Carpenter’s Article

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I am a Death Row inmate responding to the letter you published by Marco A. Davidson, about inmate Carpenter. I don’t understand how you would acknowledge such animosity, let alone publish in your paper. On page 18, it specifically says, “Please do not use offensive language. Articles that are newsworthy that will encourage and help the prison populace are welcomed.”
I don’t see in anyway how this person’s article made it to your paper. Especially when it spewed nothing but insults and what he perceived to be the truth. Rather than you do your homework, you just publish it.
Here’s my rebuttal to that letter.
I want it to be clear, I am in no way sticking up, defending, or condoning what David Carpenter did or didn’t do. I am objecting to this guy’s attitude towards another human being.
This person has no respect for another human being by calling another person an animal. He has no respect for humans period. To point out another person’s physical infirmities, mocking him for his personal characteristics which he has no control is like mocking someone in a wheelchair who’s deaf, blind, etc.
One day this guy is going to get out and people higher on the totem pole are going to look down on him. They are going to judge him for being a convict. He will be looked at like nothing more than a menace to society for having been in prison. By his vindictive attitude, what is he going to do?
Let me drive my point home, who knows if David Carpenter or the David Carpenters in all prisoners and all Death Rows is redeemed or not. But, the Marco Davidson’s of the world and their attitudes forecloses the possibility of redemption, not just for Carpenter but for the writers of the letter.
We live in an environment that is very invalidating. We are not defined by the changes we have made or the men we have become, but by the crimes for which we have been incarcerated, or the file in which someone looks in. This goes for all of us, especially us men on Death Row.
Everyone has a story. No one wakes up one morning and just decides they want to be a murder, robber, carjacker, rapist, thief, etc. I know redemption is possible because I have seen it up close and personal. I have seen guys help those I need. I have seen guys mourn for a family member or friend who has past. I have seen guys mourn and get angry because of the attack of 9/11. There are those who are sorry for their crimes, get education, and take self-help groups to learn and better themselves. These things are never told or advertised. You know why, because they don’t do it for the publicity, parole hearings or to earn some certificates. They do it for themselves, to become the best people they can. They want to show that the best way we can that they are sorry for the things they have done.
In closing, I truly hope that the people who see Marco Davidson as society’s waste; don’t have to encounter people like himself. Give him compassion and redemption that he is not willing to give.

$500 Million on the Table

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Counties Vie for Share of Realignment Funds

California’s plan to reduce its overcrowded prisons by shifting the responsibility for low-level offenders from the state to county governments has created competition for the more than $500 million allocated for the plan.

Orange and Sonoma Counties plan to build new jails.

Orange County is asking for $80 million, out of $240 million reserved for larger counties, to expand one of its jails.

Sonoma is a smaller county. It has already received $36 million, and is asking for an additional $24 million to build a new 160-bed detention and probation facility.

The new facility would combine minimum-security housing and halfway house-type lodging for offenders transitioning out of jail under alternative sentencing methods or for those sentenced to probation. It would be the first of its kind in California, according to the Press Democrat.

The plan would result in a hefty, ongoing financial commitment for the county. The jail expansion comes as national crime rates are on a historic downward trend. The Press Democrat reports that the county’s jail system has yet to hit its maximum capacity as 1,156 out of 1,476 available beds were occupied on Oct.13.

Some problems regarding the Orange County plan are coming from Irvine city officials.

According to the Voice of Orange County, city officials are “troubled” by the county’s expansion plan, noting a pending lawsuit about a nearby housing development. To ease concerns, Orange County officials say the expansion would be limited to 384 beds. These officials expect to learn in January whether Orange County will receive the grant.

Orange County law enforcement officials say the new jail facility is another tool to reduce crime, ease the burden on courts, and help avoid the prospect of jail overcrowding.

“I worry,” said Chairman Shawn Nelson. “The state doesn’t love us as much as I wish they did. It seems like they’re looking for reasons to not favor us, and I don’t want to give them one.”

The construction cost is about $200,000 per inmate, reports the Voice of Orange County.

$44.7 Million Needed for New Jail Focused on Rehabilitation

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Stanislaus County will need $40 million in state funds to create a new jail focused on the rehabilitation and education of inmates.
Sheriff’s Department officials say it will take up to $44.7 million to fund the jail’s new infrastructure, with $4.7 million coming from local funds. The proposed jail will include vocational and transitional education programs to integrate inmates back into society, according to a report by the Modesto Bee.
“We want to give them tools and resources needed to be successful and not reoffend,” Sheriff Adam Christianson told the Bee.
If county supervisors seek state funding and their proposal is approved in January, the new jail could be completed by 2018.
The services would be focused on job-skill acquisition training, education/rehabilitation programs and addiction/mental health services. All of these programs are to help lower level inmates fit back into society more productively, according to the Bee.
The new jail project, called REACT (RE-Entry and Enhanced Alternative to Custodial Training) would be constructed near the Public Safety Center on Hackett Road in Stanislaus, the Bee reported.
Personnel from the downtown jail will staff the new 288-bed center, according to Christianson. Combined with other expansion projects, the new complex would allow the Stanislaus County to house an additional 444 inmates, the Bee reported.
The new jail is consistent with California’s plan to reduce its prison population by shifting the state’s responsibility for lower-level offenders to county governments, according to the Bee.

Michael Endres Finds Many Ways to Do His Time

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In prison, there are many ways to pass time. Staying busy is one way to redirect the boredom of incarceration into something that leads to peace of mind. There is one person at San Quentin who exemplifies utilizing hard work and a strong resolve to overcome the dullness and din of a prison setting. Michael Endres is that person.
Endres is serving time as a “second-striker” and received a seven-to-life sentence. He has been incarcerated for fifteen years. Beginning his time at Calipatria State Prison and CSP-Ironwood in southern California, Endres arrived at San Quentin eight years ago.
“As ironic as it may sound, I was glad to come to San Quentin where there are so many more programs to occupy your time. I can’t sit around doing nothing; it just don’t make sense to me,” said Endres.
Endres spends some of his time searching for projects around the prison that need attention, such as cleaning, polishing, buffing, carrying, lifting, recycling, delivering, painting, and unloading. The list is long. He recently painted and laid tile, remodeling the upper yard shack adjacent to the main canteen. From trimming windows, detailing baseboards, and laying an intricate tiled floor, Endres can restore any dull location into something brighter.
Endres worked for several years with no pay number and has never complained. He is a “firm believer in God” who he said has always provided for him. When Endres’s new supervisor learned he did not have a pay number, he sought to establish one. Endres would like to be able to use the small amount of money he might make to send pictures to his elderly mother who he hopes to care for after his return to society.

“There’s more to keeping something looking good than what meets the eye”

“I recently became interested in the old, brass fire hydrants scattered all around the inside of San Quentin. They looked very old, some weighing more than one hundred pounds,” said Endres.
San Quentin’s firehouse personnel and maintenance supervisors don’t have records revealing when the hydrants were installed, but a consensus based on photos and stories date them at about 60 to seventy years old.
San Quentin’s fire hydrants are solid brass. Most of them were dull in color; lacking the original luster they had decades ago when they were put into service. Endres wanted to restore the hydrants to their original appearance, or as close as he could get to that appearance.
Endres sought permission to have them removed from their mountings in order to clean them properly. He spent long hours using a lot of good ol’ elbow grease to bring out the original, bright patina from the historic fireplugs.
“There is always work to be found around San Quentin,” said Endres. “I spent this past summer painting the north chow hall wall and the beams under the old canopy that covers the upper yard, the canteen façade, and the yellow caution lines along the upper yard drainage system.”
Every now and then, Endres seeks help from friends to lend a hand. “Joseph Thureson and K. Augustine have often assisted me.”
Endres also maintains the solid brass memorial plaque located in San Quentin’s plaza area near the inside front entrance gate. “There’s more to keeping something looking good than what meets the eye,” said Endres. “I know that memorial means a lot to many people. Visitors entering San Quentin should be able to see that memorial in its pristine state—the way it was intended. I do what I can to keep it that way.”
Some people call Endres a habitual volunteer. Endres calls it, “Staying busy,” with a smile.

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