San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

El Equipo Profesional Deltas de SF Juegan Fútbol en la Prisión

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Por primera vez miembros de un equipo profesional de fútbol visitan la prisión de San Quentin para ofrecer una clínica de fútbol y dirigir un partido entre jugadores de la prision.

El dueño del equipo Deltas, el gerente general, entrenadores y jugadores activos, Cristian Portilla y Tyler Gibson, se presentaron con entusiasmo a los equipos de San Quentin.

Tyler Gibson, Marco Dos Santos, Chris Brown and Todd "The Champ" Donivant

Tyler Gibson, Marco Dos Santos, Chris Brown and Todd “The Champ” Donivant

Brandon Hidalgo, capitan del equipo de los Jovenes, comentó “es un honor tenerlos aquí”.

Miembros del equipo Delta dirigieron los dos equipos. Marc Dos Santos, director técnico de los Veteranos acomodó una alineación de 4-4-2, en tanto Andrea Di Pietrantonio, utilizó una alineación de 3-4-3. Los delanteros Hidalgo, Delgado y el “güero” Montez estuvieron al frente de la ofensiva.

Entrenadores del equipo Delta llevaron a cabo una serie de ejercicios de calentamiento en un campo de fútbol que en su mayor parte es tierra.

Gavin Robinson, jugador del equipo de los Veteranos, comentó “esta es la primera vez que jugadores profesionales vienen a entrenarnos. por 10 años he esperado este momento”.

Chris Brown, entrenador de porteros del equipo Deltas, se encargo del calentamiento de los  dos porteros, Moses Fuentes y Marco Villa, lo cual fué vital debido a que el partido culminaría en una serie de tiros penales.

Dos Santos, con un acento entre portugués y frances, mencionó “Estamos comprometidos con ustedes, así que daremos lo mejor de nosotros”.

Brian Andrés Helmick, fundador y CEO del equipo Deltas, comentó “Los deportes profesionales no fueron creados para ser un negocio, sino como una forma para unir a la comunidad y el fútbol es precisamente lo que hace.

Deltas es el equipo de fútbol profesional mas reciente en el area de la bahía desde que se formaron los Earthquakes de San Jose en 1974. Los Deltas se encuentran en la segunda posición en la Liga de Soccer de Norte America (NASL) con una puntuación de 23-6-2-5 (puntos-ganados-perdidos-empates).

De acuerdo a Helmick, el éxito repentino de los Deltas se debe a su diversidad, humildad y  responsabilidad como atletas profesionales dedicados a unir a sus comunidades, “Somos personas humildes y excelentes jugadores a la vez”.

En el minuto 13 Taré “Cancún” Beltranchuc anotó el primer gol del partido gracias a la asistencia de Todd Dunivant, gerente general de los Deltas. Dunivant fue cinco veces campeón  con los Earthquakes de San Jose y los Galaxy de los Angeles en la liga MLS.

La habilidad de Dunivant en el campo de juego dió ventaja a los Veteranos. Dunivant y Beltranchuc se juntaron para realizar una triangulación que culminó con la segunda anotación de los Veteranos, por parte de Carlos “Venado” en el minuto 18 poniendo el marcador a 2-0 al término del primer tiempo.

Di Pietrantonio expresó, “Los veteranos solo se defienden, no atacan. El entrenador de los Veteranos, Dos Santos, le quita la diversion al partido con su sistema defensivo”.

Las recomendaciones de Pietrantonio hacia su equipo después del primer tiempo fué de que se dieran cuenta que el equipo de los Veteranos se concentra mucho en el medio del campo y descuidan las orillas. “Juguemos por las bandas”, dijo Pietrantonio.

En el minuto 49, Cesar Delgado del equipo de los Jóvenes anotó el primer gol de los Jóvenes, aumentando así el ánimo de sus compañeros.

Con tan solo dos minutos para terminar el encuentro los Jóvenes anotaron el segundo gol debido a su incansable presión.

El enfrentamiento terminó con un empate a dos goles por equipo. Cabe mencionar que al equipo de los Veteranos se les anuló un gol polémico en los últimos segundos del partido. No habiendo tiempos extras se procedió a determinar al ganador con una serie de penaltis.

El jugador estrella, Beltanchuc del equipo de los veteranos, anotó facilmente el primer tiro penal.

El tiro de Luis Díaz Lopez paso muy retirado de la portería defendida por Marco Villa: 1/0

Jesus “Morelia” Lopez, falló el primer penal por los Veteranos. En tanto, Cesar Delgado falló el segundo tiro penal por los Jóvenes. 1-0/0-0.

Julio Martinez del equipo de los Veteranos amplio la ventaja al anotar. Posteriormente, Hidalgo del equipo de los Jóvenes anotó su tiro penal: 1-0-1/0-0-1.

El Veterano Le “Lamsuy” Lam erró su tiro penal, en tanto que Adrian el “Güero” Montez anotó su penal, emparejando el marcador a dos goles por equipo.

Carlos Meza túvo en su botines la posible victoria, pero su tiro fue bloqueado por el portero Moses Fuentes. La responsabilidad y presión cayo en Jose “Magina” Mendoza del equipo de los Jóvenes, quien anotó el gol del triunfo para los Jóvenes.

Villa comentó, “Vi venir el balón tan despacio que estaba seguro que lo detendría. Me confié demasiado”.

La ayuda del ex-jugador profesional Dunivant, no fue suficiente para el equipo de los veteranos, ya que los Jóvenes se llevaron el triunfo con un marcador global de 5-4.

San Francisco Deltas plays fútbol on a prison yard

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For the first time in memory, professional soccer club members visited San Quentin Prison for a clinic and game with about two dozen incarcerated players.

The owner, general manager, several coaches and active players Cristian Portilla and Tyler Gibson for the San Francisco Deltas greeted the San Quentin squads.

“It’s an honor to have them with us,” said Brandon Hidalgo, The Youngsters’ team captain.

Delta members coached both teams. Head coach Marc Dos Santos put the OG’s into a 4-4-2 formation. Assistant coach Andrea Di Pietrantonio took charge of The Youngsters with a 3-4-3, with strikers Hidalgo, Cesar Delgado and Adrian “Güero” Montez leading the attack.

Members of Delta ran drills and barked orders on the prison’s mainly dirt field in warm-ups.

“This is the first time that we had professionals come and coach us,” said OG player Gavin Robinson. “I’ve been waiting for this for 10 years.”

Among the visiting club on June 27 was Chris Brown, the Delta goalie coach, whose pre-game drills would prove to be crucial for both opposing goalkeepers, Moses Fuentes and Marco Villa, in a match that hinged on penalty kicks.

“We are committed, and will give our best to you guys,” said Dos Santos with a heavy Portuguese/French accent.

“Professional sports was never meant to be a business but a way of bringing the community together, under one umbrella,” said Delta founder and CEO Brian Andrés Helmick, a belief that he said is lacking in professional sports, “Fútbol does that.”

Delta is the newest Bay Area professional expansion team since San Jose Earthquakes was formed in 1974. They are second in North American Soccer League (NASL) this season at 23-6-2-5 (points-wins-loses-ties).

Their rapid success stems from diversity, humility and their responsibility as professional athletes to be one with their community, according to Helmick, “We’re humble bad asses.”

In minute 13, Taré “Cancun” Beltranchuc scored off an assist from Delta GM Todd Dunivant, a 22-year retiree and five time MLS champion with the San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy.

Dunivant’s presence on the field seemed unfair as the OGs’ Carlos “Venado” Ramirez, on a Beltranchuc assist, scored in minute 18. It was 2-0 at the half.    

“They (OGs) just defend!” exclaimed Di Pietrantonio. “Their coach (Dos Santos) takes the fun away from soccer!”

Di Pietrantonio’s halftime speech was aimed at beating the OG’s clogged middle. “Take the ball wide,” he said.

In the 49th minute, four minutes into the second half, Youngster Cesar Delgado scored, which tilted the momentum toward The Youngsters. Their relentless pressure resulted in an additional goal by Hidalgo with two minutes left in regulation.

The match ended in a 2-2 tie after an extra time goal was disqualified. Instead, both teams selected shooters for penalty kicks.

Beltranchuc, the OGs’ star-player, scored easily.

Luis Diaz-Lopez’s shot was nowhere near the goal: 1/0.                       

Jesús “Morelia” Lopez, like Diaz-Lopez, missed.

Cesar Delgado’s shot was wide-left by inches. 1-0/0-0.

Julio Martinez, OG, scored.

Youngster’s Hidalgo, scored with authority: 1-0-1/0-0-1.

OGs’ Le “Lamsuy” Lam missed, while Adrian “Güero” Montez scored: 1-0-1-0/0-0-1-1.   

Carlos Meza’s shot for the lead and possible win was blocked, leaving the match in the legs of Youngster José “Magina” Mendoza. He scored on goalkeeper Villa. 1-0-1-0-0/0-0-1-1-1. 

“The ball came so slow that I was sure I was going to stop it,” said Villa. “My confidence got the best of me.”    

The professional play by Dunivant was not enough help for the OGs. The youngster stripped away the OG’s lead to win 5-4.

San Quentin’s own quiet hero

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Nigel Poor, one of three members of a unique prison podcast, Ear Hustle, received an award dedicated to honoring public servants.

The Jefferson Award for Public Service is given weekly to one person for his or her behind-the-scenes work in the community. In Poor’s case, her work is behind the walls of San Quentin State Prison.

“I was shocked,” Poor said when she was notified by the selection committee. “It’s feels great, but I’m usually shy about things like that.”

Poor, a Bay Area resident, artist and art history professor at California State University Sacramento, began her public service in the summer of 2011. She taught art history for the Prison University Project at San Quentin. In class, she emphasized the importance of photography and how photographs are powerful because even just one photo can tell an endless number of stories to different onlookers.

She also found among the men an endless number of stories and wanted to help get those stories to the outside world. So, shortly after her summer class ended, she helped produce the San Quentin Prison Report (SQPR), a radio program currently broadcast on KALW 91.7 fm.

The high quality of the work the men were producing behind the walls in the old SQ library was finally making waves, a process that Poor was instrumental in bringing about.

“If we didn’t have her, the radio program wouldn’t be what it is today,” said Tommy “Shakur” Ross, an SQPR journalist.    

Now, with the rise of Ear Hustle, she is more committed than ever to continuing her work with incarcerated men.

“People in prison can be productive citizens,” Poor said. “They can work with people who are not (incarcerated) and show that they can really work together.”

“Volunteers are the ones on the frontlines for public safety,” said Earlonne Woods, a co-creator/host of Ear Hustle, referring to Poor’s commitment to his success on the inside.

When KPIX Channel 5 reporter Juliette Goodrich and camerawoman Jennifer Mistrot got wind of the prison podcasts, they went inside the prison to cover the story.

Mistrot was impressed with the work that Poor was helping to produce. She was so impressed that she submitted Poor’s name for the Jefferson Award. Mistrot came back again, this time with reporter Sharon Chin, for yet another success story.                 

Nigel Poor is San Quentin’s quiet hero. 

DDS Morley’s heartfelt goodbye after 19 years at SQ

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‘The dental department is going to lose a wonderful dentist’

Making people smile is something Jerry Morley is good at; it is something he does for a living. He is not a therapist, and he does not work in a pharmacy. He is San Quentin’s longtime dentist, and he is retiring at the end of this month.

The 69-year-old dentist, whose hands are hardly idle, has worked for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for the past 20 years. He spent 19 of those years at San Quentin, where he became known as Death Row’s dentist because his dental chair was often occupied by condemned men. 

Over the years Dr. Morley has also gained a reputation among the prison’s general population for not being like typical CDCR dentists who Edgar Salazar, a prisoner serving life for a 1995 murder, describes as “evil tooth fairies” who are “stingy with the gauze.”

Although numerous prisoners share Salazar’s sentiment, Dr. Morley is in a different category.

“I’d like to dispel the rumor that all we do is ‘pull’ teeth,” said Dr. Morley, with pen in hand and eyes roaming over a patient’s chart. “We fix and adjust partials and dentures, conduct annual examinations and do fillings.”

He and his colleagues do a wide spectrum of work under CDCR policies and procedures, but their efforts are often undermined by the stigma their patients attach to the healthcare providers.

“He leaves us better than he found us”

Even though Dr. Morley has pulled his share of teeth over the years, he has also “put some back,” said patient Rodney Baylas, who smiles with confidence because of the partial denture he received.

It is common at San Quentin to see toothless men. Many have a long history of drug use, which often results in the loss of teeth. In addition, prison can be a violent place, so you never know whether an individual got popped in the mouth. Regardless of why people lost a tooth, Dr. Morley has given their smiles back to plenty of them.     

“He leaves us better than he found us,” said Richard Tully, a man who has been on Death Row for more than two decades. “The words ‘going to the dentist’ normally generate feelings of fear and dread, but the extremely sharp and unkind instruments are wielded with skill and gentleness when in Dr. Morley’s hands,” Tully added.

The high praise he receives from most of his patients is mirrored by his colleagues, who benefit from having Dr. Morley around because he increases the quality of their own work. Soon they will miss that benefit. 

“I’ve learned so much from Dr. Morley,” said S. Cooley, one of six San Quentin dental providers. “He has made me a better dentist,” 

Debbie Vasquez Green, a longtime dental assistant who recently retired, expressed similar feelings: “The dental department is going to lose a wonderful dentist.”

Dr. Morley started his dental career in 1973, after graduating from dental school at Creighton University. The same year he joined the U.S. Navy, where he served as captain before retiring in 1996. Only then did he join CDCR at Valley State Prison for Women in the Central Valley before making the Bay Area his home and the people of San Quentin his extended family.

The doctor’s departure is “going to be a sad day for us and great day for him,” said fellow colleague Dr. Eifert.

George Greenwood, a nine-year patient of Dr. Morley, said that the veteran dentist made him feel like he was more than a prison number.

“His care is of the utmost professional quality,” said Ali R. Muhammad, whose past dental experiences both outside and inside prison walls were traumatic. Bottom line, Dr. Morley cares, and people like him “are hard to come by.”

“I don’t make any distinctions about my patients,” Dr. Morley said. “I treat them with their best interest at heart.”

For prisoner James Benson, that makes all the difference because, according to him, healthcare in prison lacks “care.”

It might seem unbelievable that someone could have the type of impact that Dr. Morley has had, but the people who have had bad experiences with dentists while incarcerated know when a gem is in their presence.

“I’d like to think that people will miss you for the work you have done,” Dr. Morley said.

The people at San Quentin are those people.

Writers take guests on emotional journey

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Stories by incarcerated writers swept members of the outside community into a world behind prison walls.

Sponsored by the William James Association’s Prison Arts Project, the reading was an opportunity for the incarcerated writers of San Quentin to share their work. Many of their stories articulated personal struggles within the criminal justice system and challenged the social stigma of incarceration, while others were imaginative expressions through spoken word or fiction.

Nearly 60 guests arrived to listen to the readings by members of Zoe Mullery’s creative writing class Brothers in Pen. Mullery has been teaching the class for 17 years, and this was the 11th annual public reading.

“I came here three to four years ago, and it was a real transforming experience,” said Tammy Cabading, who sat in the front row in the small performance space just beyond the Lower Yard in San Quentin. “It helped me understand my ignorance concerning criminal justice,” she added after hearing all 21 stories on Nov. 12.

“I love how the stories are really, really deep,” said guest and comedy writer Mike Larsen, who has written for the mid-’90s sitcoms Ellen, The Drew Carey Show and Real Time With Bill Maher. “Some of the guys are great writers and could very well be professionals if they weren’t here (in prison).”

Larsen has been visiting the creative writing class for about a year and is writing the “forward” for the “Brothers in Pen” next anthology.

For second-time guest Jennifer Zilliac, prison was always a traumatic place due to a painful, personal experience in childhood, but readings like the one on Nov. 12 have helped her overcome her fear.

“Listening to the writers was so moving; so much humanity was expressed. I feel really connected with the incarcerated here,” she said.   

Bringing together collective experiences, these readings helped the audience challenge common beliefs about prison and extend an ear to forgotten Americans, bringing forth what Mullery calls “the best form of love.” The readings allow the public to learn and consider issues in the criminal justice system from the experts – the prisoner himself, the man who lives it, and lives to tell it through writing.

“Wisdom comes from people who have hit rock bottom,” said Mullery’s sister and faithful supporter, Jennifer Martin.

The guests listened to stories of transformation, made possible through the art of writing. These stories often stay within prison walls, but many of the citizen participants left the event committed to relaying these stories to the outside world, to a society where most Americans don’t hear such stories and may not understand the realities of the prison system.

Darly Wells, an artist who attended the reading, said she was inspired by the writers of San Quentin. Wells’ exhibit Viral, now in San Francisco, explores how modern technology may increase information about police brutality but has not yet contributed to changing the policies and culture surrounding police misconduct.

Wells attended the reading in search of “inside voices” to enrich her exhibit and was particularly drawn to the pieces Stopping Animals, by Rahsaan Thomas, and What Do You Stand For, by Thedo “Noble” Butler.

“I’m going to follow up on these guys,” Wells said.

All the stories will be published in the sixth and latest anthology, which Mullery hopes she will no longer have to sell out of the back seat of her car. The new anthology can be ordered online by early 2017. See www.brothersinpen.wordpress.com

A fútbol battle of the ages on the Lower Yard

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Prison provides the opportunity for Latinos to seek friendship with their fellow inmates through a shared interest. At San Quentin State Prison, this usually means finding them on a soccer field.

On the Lower Yard, incarcerated soccer players recently held a match against the Hermanos Unidos (United Brothers) – a team of all college students attending the University of California at Berkeley. The match was their third in a year.

The outside players were Latino as well and came from similar, if not the same, neighborhoods as the San Quentin team. Because of midterms and final exams, however, they could only field a squad of six players.

Eager to play and to even the field, everyone agreed to split into teams based on age. The dividing line was 40 years. It was the youngsters against the OGs (older guys.)

With the back drop of cloud-covered Mt. Tamalpais and a soft, wet, newly green field, the Hermanos completed their 10-man team by picking up four inside players.

Before the game began, youngster Alfredo Figuroa said he hoped his fellow Hermanos would “not die” from exhaustion.

OG Tare “Cancun” Beltranchuc, an inside player, said, “We’re going to have to play smart. We’re slow and have to compensate with wisdom.”

The average age for the youngsters was about 22 years old.

The OGs were all well past 40 years of age — with 65 being the oldest.

But age was not a factor as Jesús “Morelia” Lopez scored the game’s first goal off an assist from Beltranchuc in minute 30: 1-0 the older guys.

Near the first half’s end, only two Hermanos players remained in the game: Victor Gonzalez and Edwardo “Lalo” Ayala. It was starting to look like Figuroa’s plan to “not die,” was not working.

It was going to take more than energy to topple the veteran team.         

And energy it was, as the youngsters kept coming and coming, until 22-year-old Brandon Higalgo, a young man from Mexico City, hurdled over a pile of bodies for a goal in the 43rd minute. The match was even: 1-1.

In the second half the OGs showed no signs of fatigue and played with the same vigor and determination, matching the youngsters stride for stride.

Arturo “Turi” Abalos and Jose “Niero” Viera in minutes 51 and 59 scored the first two second-half goals, giving the OGs a 3-1 advantage.

At this point, an OG victory seemed inevitable. Even with the inside help, the Hermanos would not get their first victory.

As the OGs were determined to win, they sent a message of “earning your keep on the field” to the youngsters.     

But in minute 62, youngster Manny Torres responded to the OG’s message by scoring a goal. With the game winding down and in extra time, Cesar Delgado of San Quentin slipped in a goal, tying the match in the 93rd minute. The game ended seconds later.

It was time for penalty kicks.

Up for the first of five attempts was Lopez for the OGs who scored, putting his team up a goal: OGs 4-3.

Ayala for the youngsters: goal, 4-4.

Jose Melendez, OGs: miss, 4-4.

Hidalgo, youngsters: miss, 4-4.

Alexi Ruiz, OGs: goal, 5-4

Lionel Hernandez, youngsters: miss, 5-4    

Beltranchuc, OGs: miss, 5-4

Torres, youngsters: goal, 5-5

Juan Espinoza, OGs: miss, 5-5

The game fell on the shoulders of Delgado, who scored the game-tying goal, and he did not miss his mark, giving the brothers from Berkeley their first win on San Quentin soil. The final score was 6-5 youngsters. The game was one to remember and one that could not be won “without them,” said Uriel Saldivar, referring to the young men on the inside.

SQ soccer aces turn back Berkeley…again

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By Eddie Herena

On a late October morning, 20 young men from the surrounding Bay Area dressed in black T-shirts and black shorts, marched down into a prison for a soccer match that had been planned for months.

Stepping onto San Quentin’s Field of Dreams was a new experience for all but one member of the student organization, Hermanos Unidos (United Brothers), located on UC Berkeley’s campus.

Nevertheless, Daniel Moreno, Hermanos Community Chair, was hoping to redeem his team from a defeat they suffered in early May.

“We trained for this game. “The last time we got roasted,” said Moreno. A thrashing similar to the loss Germany handed to Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final match, 7-0. In May, Moreno’s team was defeated by a nameless San Quentin soccer team, 9-2. The Hermanos were on a quest for victory.

In the 10th minute striker Lionel Hernandez of San Quentin pushed pass two defenders and blasted the ball into the upper left corner of the net beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.

It was one-nil. 

The Hermanos struck back five minutes later. Striker Sergio Gonzales forced the ball through the defense for the equalizer.

The match was 1-1 in what seemed like the beginning of a high scoring match. However, the match remained even for the remainder of the first half.

If their defense had held up, it looked like Moreno and the Hermanos could be in stride to accomplish what they set out for: a victory. All they needed was a little offense.

But in the second half of the game, it got a little ugly for the brothers from Berkeley. The home team was able to spread the Hermanos’ defense with more touch-pass-plays — a strategy the home team used to get the first goal. The strategy got away from them until 10 minutes into the second half.

The results were game-changing as the brothers from San Quentin scored repeatedly. The second San Quentin goal came from Don “Jihad” Spence’s header in minute 55. He scored off a corner-kick assist from teammate Tare “Cancun” Beltranchuc. That goal was followed three minutes later by Jose Melendez, who scored on a Jesus “Morelia” Lopez pass from the midfield. The final San Quentin goal came from Oscar “Flaco” Aguilar. Aguilar scored off a ball that bounced off his chest, to his right foot that he sent to the back of the net, putting the match out of reach for the Hermanos. However, the Hermanos scored one more goal off the leg of Ignacio “Nacho” Franco in the final and 90th minute, ending the game at 4-2 for San Quentin.

In spite of their loss, the Hermanos Unidos student organization said they left winners.

“A lot of us come from low-income families and are affected by mass incarceration. He added that coming into the institution is a way of showing their support and doing work to better our community.

The Hermanos Unidos organization originated at UC Berkeley in 1989 as a means for Latino students to confide in each other on campus grounds — to “create a family away from home,” explained Moreno.

Hermanos Unidos are now located in 14 other universities through out California and are even reaching out to local high school students, encouraging the value of education. The organization is about empowering the next generation through education in an effort to promote academic excellence, social networking and community service, according to Moreno. 

There are way too many Latino men and women incarcerated, compared to those enrolled in colleges and universities, says Moreno. “Our purpose is not to forget where we come from,” he added, referring to why they came inside the prison.

TRUST Spanish Anger Management Graduation

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The first TRUST-sponsored Spanish-speaking anger management graduation was held in San Quentin’s Catholic chapel. The ceremony is one of only a few programs exclusively dedicated to the Spanish speakers at San Quentin.
The celebration was nothing like the average self-help graduation that numerous groups put on within the walled city. There was no food, no drinks, and no deluge of musical performances or acceptance speeches. Instead, a soft, soothing prayer by retired probation officer (and outside sponsor and instructor) Erich Plate Montes filled the surrounding space as he and his co-instructor, Arnold Chaves, D. Ed., joined hands in circle fashion with their graduating class.
The calm, quiet atmosphere created by the chapel’s vacant pews, an altar, and relief sculpture of Christ’s crucified body — symbols that normally contribute to the church’s serenity — was analogous to what the men learned during the 12-week course curriculum.
The program was geared to help the men learn “acceptable ways of expressing anger by gaining a better understanding of self,” said Chaves. The men also learned “stress tips” like the “3-second rule,” a self-talk strategy designed to challenge a decision before an action. The program also focused on the importance of communicating and understanding “war words versus win words,” added Chaves.
But the peace and tranquility that both the chapel and Montes’ prayer provided at the ceremony’s start was quickly filled with laughter and smiles as the men, both young and old from different parts of Latin America, relished their accomplishments.
Pablo Ramirez from Guerrero, Mexico, who is currently serving a 34-to-life sentence for attempted murder, said, “I learned that there are four different styles of communication: aggressive, assertive, passive and passive-aggressive. I was passive. I let people walk all over me. I held in my feelings until one day, I exploded.” Ramirez finished by saying, “Through the program I now better understand what caused me to commit the crime that led me to prison.”
Toward the ceremony’s end, Chaves reminded the men of the importance of effective communication and said, “Remember the story of the little girl and her father.” As it was told, a girl had two big, shiny red apples that her little hands could barely manage. Her father asked for one and before she gave one over, she bit into both, whereupon she was quickly criticized for being a greedy spoiled brat. Turns out, all she wanted was to give her father the sweetest one. Effective communication is key and an important concept the 19 graduates learned in the program.
Graduate Manuel Murillo has spent 30 years behind California prison walls — the last three at San Quentin. During these three years, he has been involved in more programs at San Quentin than he was able to during the 27 years he spent at other prisons. And yet, though he learned much through the 12-week process, he thinks there’s still a problem. “There are a limited number of programs offered to the Spanish-speaking community,” Murillo said. “I learned enough English to get involved in other programs, but the rest of the Spanish speakers are left out.”
There’s no doubt that the program was a tremendous help to the graduating men. But given the considerable percentage of the prison population whose first language is not English, the shortage of programs for them creates great difficulty when they have to face the Board of Prison Terms with little to no self-help programming.
These 19 graduates were “hungry to learn” said Chaves. And they gained the tools to “process anger before anger turns violent,” added Miguel Saldana, another incarcerated graduate striving to be a better person and ultimately, a freed one, in a pro-programming institution that has yet to break the language barrier.

Renown Photographer Shares Life Stories at SQ

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Pictures help people to understand and appreciate others, a noted Black photographer said in a recent visit to San Quentin State Prison.
David Johnson said his black and white photos of San Francisco kids playing hop-scotch or young people dancing the night away not only portray the beauty of his medium, but were “designed to enlighten the world about the beauty of our people.”
The beauty of his medium also entails a powerful message: a racially segregated Black and White America. He grew up in the “very segregated South,” where “the life of the Black man was fields and chain gangs,” Johnson said in a Feb. 17 interview.
He spent most of his teenage years in Jacksonville, Fla.
At the age of 6, he witnessed a woman’s murder and his parents were imprisoned for the killing. Another trauma was learning they were not his biological parents.
One day while working for the local grocer, Johnson saw a magazine ad offering a free camera to anyone who sold a certain number of subscriptions. He won the camera and has been looking through a lens ever since.
Seeing little chance for his future in the South, he moved to California and attended the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, class of `46, becoming the first Black student of the late Ansel Adams, a giant in the history of photography.
Johnson’s wife, journalist Jacqueline Annette Sue, wrote the book about his life, titled “A Dream Begun So Long Ago,” which contains many of the photographs from his long career. Summarizing his philosophy, he said, “Dreams are not made of proper words, but of images.”
It tells the story of Johnson growing up in the Great Depression, serving in the Navy during World War II and pursuing a career of photographing images of “how it was,” in the streets of San Francisco in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s.
This was Johnson’s second visit to San Quentin. His first visit was 20 years ago, when he attempted to help a former prisoner after meeting him at a church service. That ended badly, with the man going back to prison.
At one point he pulled out a sheet of paper with some of his thoughts, including:
“You learn to build all your roads on today, because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans…
“Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers, you learn that you really can endure, that you are really strong, and you really do have worth.”
David Johnson’s photography book is available locally at Barnes and Noble, The Depot, Mill Valley or from www.davidsjohnsonphotography.com

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