Juan Haines

NEWS BRIEFS: All Over the U.S.

May 10, 2020 by Juan Haines

Alabama — Since September 2019, the state’s parole board denied 92% of people who sought release from prison, according to a report by ACLU, Smart Justice. In 2018, the report found 4,239 people were released on parole — 2,291 were released in 2019.

Virginia — Two bills designed to prevent corrections officials from strip-searching anyone under 18 and stop the practice of banning visitors who refuse a strip search passed the state Senate unanimously last January, The Virginian-Pilot reports. The legislation comes after a series of stories revealed that corrections officials had strip-searched an 8-year-old girl, several women during their periods and an 83-year-old man, among others.

Colorado — A vote last January has cleared the way for the state to repeal its death penalty, The Intelligencer Feed reports. Colorado is one of four states where the death penalty is currently under an official moratorium issued by a governor.

New York — The Manhattan District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Program agreed to toss out Rafael Ruiz’s 1987 conviction for sexually assaulting a woman in East Harlem, ABC7NY reports. On April 29, 2009, he walked out of Orleans Correctional Facility. Newly tested DNA evidence did not place him at the crime scene or as the assailant. Ruiz had been eligible for parole since August 28, 1992, but every time he appeared, he refused to admit his guilt to a crime he did not commit.

New Mexico — Private health care provider, Corizon Health is refusing to comply with a court order to release settlements it made with prisoners who sued the company alleging poor care, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Baltimore — Corrections officials plan to convert the Brockbridge Correctional Facility into a “comprehensive prerelease, reentry, and workforce development facility” for both men and women, The Washington Post reports. Corrections leaders say it will offer programs to get people on the right track as they leave prison, with a focus on job training, education and family mediation.

Arizona —The Ninth Circuit refused to reverse a contempt order against the Arizona Department of Corrections for failing to improve its prison healthcare. Corizon Health failed to improve the system’s inadequate staffing, substandard care and indifference to prisoners with severe mental health problems at 10 state-run prisons system, Courthouse News Service reports.

Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine announced last January that the state would delay four executions originally set for this year as the state searches for a solution to problems with its lethal injection execution methods, Scene & Heard reports.

Idaho — State corrections officials announced a $28 million per year contract with CoreCivic to house 1,000-plus prisoners in Colorado due to a shortage of Idaho prison beds, reports the Post Register.

Connecticut — Department of Corrections use of prolonged solitary confinement could inflict psychological torture on inmates, a United Nations human rights expert said in February. “These practices trigger and exacerbate psychological suffering, in particular in inmates who may have experienced previous trauma or have mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities,” the expert said. “The severe and often irreparable psychological and physical consequences of solitary confinement and social exclusion are well documented and can range from progressively severe forms of anxiety, stress and depression to cognitive impairment and suicidal tendencies.”

Florida — The State Senate on Feb. 26 endorsed a measure granting more discretion to judges when handing down sentences in drug-related convictions, the Washington Examiner reports.

Youth Coaches Told Why They Are So Important

May 10, 2020 by Juan Haines

A team of prisoners met with youth coaches from the San Francisco Bay Area in San Quentin’s Protestant Chapel on Feb. 28. They talked about young people’s understanding of masculinity and the role coaches play in their lives.

Coaching4Life aims to show coaches how to maximize the impact they have on young athletes.

“We believe that youth coaches are the most influential people in their lives,” said Coaching4Life facilitator Brandon Terrell. “You may think that it’s the job of the parents, but 20 million kids are growing up without a father. I’m one of them.” He added, “Sports are in the perfect position to show young boys how to serve others and be committed to a cause bigger than themselves.”

Terrell went on to say that 92% of high school dropouts didn’t play sports, while 95% of Fortune 500 executives played high school sports and gave credit to their sports experience for their successes in life.

Coaching4Life was a one-day workshop that discussed how the definition of “man” changed since childhood, the wide range of teachings that coaches impart on youth, how to teach masculinity and “The Man Box.” The workshop also focused on defining success.

“I loved growing up in The Man Box,” Ronald Carter said. “I got picked first.”

Carter talked about the respect he gained by putting on the “tough guy” persona and how being called the wrong name, like sissy or chump, was serious business.

“If you call me one of those names, I’d go off. I’d want to fight,” Carter said. “Those names take us out of the box.”

Carter went on to talk about how maturity shifted his perspective about masculinity. Today, he says, he’s on a mission to help younger athletes.

“Show me the man you honor, and I’ll show you the man you want to be,” Carter said.

The workshop participants formed small groups to discuss each topic.

Some participants defined success as “being able to ask for help without being ashamed or to say that I love my family.” Others, “setting goals and seeing them through,” “being a positive influence,” “being happy and in a healthy relationship,” and understanding that “coaches are teachers and kids are sponges,” as well as, “coaches are authority figures that young athletes look up to.”

Kevin Sample, one of the facilitators, talked about the time coaches spend with young athletes.

“Each day my mother got 10 minutes with me, that same day my coach got four hours,” Sample said. “So, having coaches that teach life skills is important.”

Sample talked about how young kids pay attention to athletes and model the behavior they see.

He then challenged the audience to connect with the children in order “to change the world,” adding, “Our biggest problem is that we hide our brokenness from children.”

What is success? he asked. “Remember that children just don’t know— help our kids, heal their brokenness.”

The Coaching4Life facilitators have 266 years combined incarceration experience—the youngest, Juan Navarro, 33 years old, has been incarcerated for nine years.

“Nothing like this is happening in any other prison,” said Dwight Kennedy. “The volunteers could be doing something different, but they choose to come and do this.”

Bay Area Teachers Gain New Insights

May 10, 2020 by Juan Haines

On an early Wednesday morning, a green bus with silver trim rolled into California’s oldest prison. Prisoners filed out to begin serving time. Later that same day at the same institution, educators and school supervisors from outside the prison arrived to talk to incarcerated students and their inside-the-wall teachers.

The March 4 Teacher’s Forum hosted interested San Francisco Bay Area educators in San Quentin State Prison’s Protestant Chapel. Could these educators learn something from the experience of incarcerated men that would help them stop students on the outside from dropping out of school and winding up in prison?

The participants followed the Restorative Justice Circle process.

“The circle process is a place for community sharing, listening to understand, not to respond,” said Tommy “Shakur” Ross. “Circles are for a story sharing process.”

The prisoners spoke about why they dropped out of school. Their stories highlighted childhood trauma, sexual abuse, the death of a parent, drug dependent parents, substance abuse, gang membership and gang violence.

The prisoners talked about their home life, about growing up without mentors or adult supervision, as well as about their relationships with their schools and teachers. They talked about the trouble they got into, the consequences of being labeled as troublemakers, and the school’s use of detention or being sent out of the classroom. These experiences, they said, led to confusion and missed opportunities for teaching and learning.

The solutions, they said, could come from restorative justice and culturally responsive ideas.

“Listening to a student with a low learning self-esteem is a plus,” said De’Angelo Prince, 20, about what could have kept him in school. “Schools on the outside need to do more listening and trying to understand a student to figure out where they need help at—meet them where they’re at. If we do that people would graduate and go to college.”

Prince is a student in San Quentin’s adult education program. He also participates in several self-help programs offered at the prison, including a writing workshop geared toward serving at-risk youth, a program that focuses on younger prisoners and the violence prevention program No More Tears.

William Feather teaches high school in Mendocino County Jail.

“I was never told that I could get a good education in a safe place,” Feather said. “Sometimes homes are a hard environment. There has to be a buy-in; the question is how do we grab the kids?”

Feather then told the “Two Wolves” Native American folklore.

Everyone has two hungry wolves that live inside him or her. One fights and is disruptive to the world, while the other is calm and understanding.

“The one that wins is the one that we feed,” Feather said.

J. Pertilli, principal for Helms Middle School in San Pablo. said that her school conducts listening circles with eight students at a time to find out what they need and what shuts them down.

Pertilli said that hearing similar stories from her students and the prisoners validates “to do whatever it takes, not to remove a student from class. You have to have compassion to teach.” Referring to the prisoners, she added, “These guys reminded me [that] what I’m doing is valued.”

Zach Whelan, executive director of Project Avary, serves children of incarcerated parents.

“The thing that sits with me is that there is a need for more welcoming,” Whelan said. “A lot of guys shared that in schools they felt unwelcomed, which led to something else.” He added, “Showing up in whatever space we’re at does not cost a lot of money. It’s an attitude.”

One school administrator talked about the school’s inability to tackle some social problems and how those social problems show up as behavioral problems by the time the student gets into middle school.

“One day the kid is happy, the next they shut down,” said Oscar Espinosa, after talking about a childhood trauma. He alerted the teachers that they should pay attention to sudden changes in the demeanor of students.

Robert Russell, 54, is a teacher’s aide in San Quentin’s adult education program.

He said he explains the value of education to incarcerated students “in a way they can understand. It’s amazing how much of an impact that has on men.”

“Being seen and heard and having someone to talk to is important,” Russell said as he brushed back his greying brown hair and told his story.

Emerald Kemp-Aikens, a 25 year-old African American, listened to Russell talk about growing up in a home full of outlaws and family members going in and out of prison. Russell said school was far from his mind as he ran the streets with a childhood friend. Fifteen years later, he said, they met up in prison.

Aikens perked up and said, “I remember one day coming home and seeing a curtain in the kitchen. I pulled it back and saw this man that I’ve never seen before. He was cooking crack, so I left and went to a friend’s house to play ball. It was 15 years later that I saw the same friend in prison. I wasn’t thinking about school or anything like that. I only was thinking [about] having fun and doing what I want to do. There weren’t any consequences, because my mom was more like a friend than a mother—she pretty much let me do what I wanted to do.”

Aikens is currently in the education department studying for his GED, as well as computer literacy and yoga. He also is a member of the San Quentin Warriors basketball team.

“The programs take a lot of stress off me,” Aikens said, adding, “When I’m dribbling the ball, I’m in a whole other place.”

He said that he’s looking forward to getting out of prison by year’s end and is “determined to make it in the world” with a lot of support from his extended family.

William Tolbert, who was a student in the education department, said, “I didn’t learn to read until I came to prison on this jolt at age 37. If the teachers can take anything from this—it’s ‘communication.’” Tolbert is currently enrolled in the prison’s college program.

Peer educator Freddie Cole commented, “This is so important for people on the streets to hear, so that we don’t spend billions on prisons and instead spend more in schools.”

Mary Roberts, of San Francisco Unified School District, said, “I believe in my heart…that oppression is caused by not giving people the resources they need. That’s prevalent in schools.”

Whelan closed out the forum by saying, “In America today, we need to begin our days like this, with a check in and a check out, so that we can prevent the roadblocks to learning.”

San Quentin News Editor-in-Chief Marcus “Wali” Henderson added, “Teachers on the outside, you’re on the ground floor. The world needs to hear our voices, because kids are ending up here.” Referring to the prisoners, he said, “The men in blue are in a place where we can share and not be judged.”

America stagnated by “compounding moral debts”

March 16, 2020 by Juan Haines

Two essays that appeared in The Atlantic magazine set up Ta-Nehisi Coates as a voice for African-Americans. He wrote The Case for Reparations in 2014 and in 2015, he produced Letter to My Son.

In The Case for Reparations Coates cites, “Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy.”

Coates argues, “Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” In the article, Coates uses the in-depth history of Clyde Ross, a real person, to support the case for reparations.

In Letter to My Son, excerpted before publication of Between the World and Me, Coates tells his 15-year-old,

“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.” The father cites his own life and compelling evidence to say that African-Americans live under a deliberately inflicted state of violence.

Since the publication of those works, there has been little movement to push for the US to consider its “moral debt” to the descendants of slaves. Since 2015, police have killed hundreds of African-Americans either wrongly or mistakenly, yet no laws were broken in doing so.

Coates’ latest focus on African-Americans combines all of his historical knowledge in, The Water Dancer (2019), a novel full of magical realism.

The historical fiction is set during the oppressive time of US slavery. The protagonist, Hiram, struggles against what it means to have a father and brother who are white, yet his darkened skin enslaves him. In the midst of subjugation, he has his eyes on a slave woman that his White uncle owns.

Coates uses his scholarly knowledge about the Underground Railroad, fugitive slave laws and the abolitionists as fodder to set up various dramas that his characters must navigate. In doing so, Coates created a world different from reality, while at the same time a believable world based on American history.

The following narration describes the feelings involved in Hiram’s enslavement. He fo- cuses most acutely on the sepa- ration from his family, another parallel to incarceration.

To sell a child right from under his mother, you must know that mother only in the thinnest way possible. To strip a man down, condemn him to be beaten, flayed alive, then anointed with salt water, you cannot feel him the way you feel your own. You cannot see yourself in him, lest your hand be stayed, and your hand must never be stayed, because the moment it is, the Tasked will see that you see them, and thus see yourself.

The following passage points to Hiram’s acceptance of the conditions that created his stark reality as well as his detachment from humanity: Slavery is everyday longing, is being born into a world of forbidden victuals and tantalizing untouchables—the land around you, the clothes you hem, the biscuits you bake.

Coates is able to capture Hiram’s docility and hopelessness that comes with slavery, which also is a condition shared with the incarcerated and rehabilitated: So many of us who went, went with dignity and respect. And it occurred to me how absurd it was to cling to morality when surrounded by people who had none.

Coates uses Hiram’s memory to recall events in great detail as a literary device to drive the novel’s plot, which translates to “freedom by any means

necessary.”
The Water Dancer is the product of Coates’ thinking in all of his works—that African Americans are integrated to all of US history, not just segregated segments that seem irrelevant today.

The story is a remarkably poignant exploration of oppression that has happened and can’t be changed. In The Water Dancer, Coates explores the possibility of what can be changed by using historical fiction and magical realism as a guide.

Prison Truth: The Story of the San Quentin News

February 20, 2020 by Juan Haines

Veteran journalist Ted Koppel got it right when he said William J. Drummond proves to be the right person to tell the tale of San Quentin News (SQN). Drummond’s credibility as the storyteller comes from his long and eventful career as a journalist, UC Berkeley journalism professor and his once or twice a week venture inside the SQN newsroom office for more than eight years to mentor incarcerated journalists.

Prison Truth: The Story of the San Quentin News, (2020) is a detailed account of the journey that led to SQN becoming a first-rate prisoner produced newspaper. The newspaper was reborn in 2008 after a 20-year hiatus. Maverick warden Robert Ayers, Jr. wanted to break down the rumor mill and give prisoners trustworthy information about life at the Q.

Since then, SQN has been honored with an award for “extraordinary journalism” by the Society of Professional Journalists and written about by at least five major newspapers.

Drummond began his own relationship with SQN in mid- 2012 by holding a college class in the newsroom. Since then more than 80 of his students have helped incarcerated journalists develop and structure their stories before handing them over to the more than half- dozen advisers. At SQN, the advisers, who are professional journalists, do the final editing and proofing and have done so since its 2008 resurgence.

Drummond has witnessed the monthly paper go to press in spite of major limitations:

no internet access, slow access to outside sources, no smart phones and a literal wall that keeps the staffers away from the community. Drummond notes, “What is lacking in convenience is made up for with grit and determination.”

Much of the grit and determination came from SQN’s third editor in chief, the late Arnulfo Timoteo Garcia, who frequently spoke about how Federal Judge Thelton Hender- son impacted him. After Henderson had visited San Quentin in the summer of 2010, he urged Garcia to invite as many people as possible to come inside San Quentin to see the rehabilitative efforts of the prisoners.

Garcia followed that advice by inviting judges, district attorneys, county sheriffs, state and federal lawmakers to at- tend and participate in San Quentin forums— we’ve now had more than two dozen of them—where prisoners talk about their incarceration experience, rehabilitative efforts and reentry plans.

The forums, modeled after restorative justice circles, give the outside public safety officials an authentic and intimate view of prisons and its occupants.

As a direct result of the forums, San Francisco district attorneys created a Formerly Incarcerated Advisory Board. Newly elected District Attorney Chesa Boudin said that he intends to keep the board.

Prison Truth examines the advantages of having stories told by people directly affected by incarceration. The resulting news narratives are from the vantage point of embedded re- porters.

One of the newspaper’s original mandates is to scrutinize programs designed for rehabilitation.

“Accountability interviews,” ones in which incarcerated people talk about what they did to land in prison, appear regularly. The stories not only teach by example, they reveal the resilience of the human spirit. For prisoners who are committed to rehabilitation, the articles serve as guides.

Prison officials recognize these benefits so it’s not surprising that the newspaper and its staff writers have gained the support of an assortment of public safety officials.

Drummond asks, “Are the inmate staff’s efforts journal- ism? The question he poses is bold, because traditionally, journalism has been viewed as impartial and objective with- out an advocacy role. So, if it isn’t traditional journalism, is what we are doing worth it? He concludes in the affirmative: “I believe journalism is an effective tool for rehabilitating people in prison…Journalism places an additional burden on writers: What they write must be accurate, true, and above all fair.”

I can attest to Drummond’s claim. I have learned that when incarcerated people read stories about redemption, recovery and returning to the community, they are inspired to do the same.

I have heard free people talk about the ways that articles in SQN have changed their own incarcerated loved ones. I’ve also heard free people talk about how heartening it is, for the first time, to read positive words about their sons, fathers, brothers, husbands and boyfriends.

I have witnessed children reunite with parents and incarcerated men drop gangs, dope and bad behavior after taking advantage of available programs to reunite with their families. So, is what we do good journalism?

Prison Truth gives readers the chance to answer this question.

Prison University Project’s Annual Open Mic

February 20, 2020 by Juan Haines

The Friday after Christmas, two former San Quentin residents returned to a jam-packed Catholic Chapel to mingle with old friends and perform at the Prison University Project’s (PUP) Annual Open Mic.

“Be encouraged to write your own reality in the sense that if you want freedom and liberation, you have to find it in the confines that you have and let that open the gates for you,” Antwan “Banks” Williams said after returning to San Quentin 64 days after getting out.

Williams was joined by Eric “Maserati-E” Abercrombie, who got out of prison about a month before Williams did, said, “Everything I do going forward, I do it for you. The change in my life affects you. We will spread this like wild fires. We’re changing the culture from in here.”

First Watch Producer Jesse Rose hosted the event. The program opened with Gregory “White Eagle” Coates on wood flute, Timothy Young on classical guitar, Courtney Rein on violin and accompanied by Mark Kinney on keyboard.

Brian Asey and Dre’Quinn Johnson showed a short film they produced, Teaching & Learning PUP Style. PUP students talked about the impact that an educational opportunity gave them. Teachers talked about the power of education.

Poetry, spoken word and personal essays dominated the event and the comedy routines got lots of laughs.

James Jenkins’ routine on passing gas rolled the audience the most.

“Don’t go in the cell with James,” he said about the ru- mors about himself. “He’ll gas you out.”

Raphael “Nephew” Bankston rapped about life from an incarcerated person’s perspective with Tim Young strumming his guitar as accompaniment.

It’s kind of hard to see what we see, but the sun you see is the sun I see.

I see oppression and empathy being abused.

Stu Ross read an excerpt from his novel, Going Bad Doesn’t Make Men Less Attractive.

When the barefooted Ronell “Roach” Draper took the stage, he said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe this doesn’t make sense, but I understand that’s a barbed wire fence.”

(Back) Eric “Maserati-E” Anbercrombie, Philippi “Kels” Kelly, Antwan “Banks” Williams, Thanh Tran, (front) Aaron Taylor and George Mesro El-Cole

Nevertheless, the audience seemed to enjoy the humorous performance as there was generous laughter and applause as he walked off the stage.

Harold Banks read a poem, From Grape to Raisin. It’s interestingly about shifting narrative, beginning from the perspective of a child, then a mother and then a father. The poem is about the source of happiness and love and the cycle of life.

Standing with his back to the audience, Timothy “T- Bone” Hicks read “I am a Human Being.” He said that it was inspired by PUP teachers who were determined to get the students out of their cells for class.

Philippi “Kels” Kelly and Steve “Rhashiyd” Zinnamon performed a hip-hop rap that spoke truth to power from “unlikely” characters.

Andrew Grazzeny read a personal essay about his years of incarceration.

“I sleep because it is too painful to live. The sunrises and forces one more day. I find myself caught in life, like in a rip tide. I never learned to stop struggling.”

Isaiah Love read Carrots, Coffee & Eggs, an inspirational poem about self-confidence, reaching one’s potential and living one’s dreams. “It’s what I fall back on when I too in- spire to build to create,” Love said.

Wade read My Penal Reality, which described his experience in Pelican Bay Prison.

He wrote the piece more than 12 years ago as a “pretty angry” person, but “calm came over me,” he said.

Brandon Terrell gave a mo- tivational and self-confidence performance, Believe.

“If you believe deeply that there is no failure, then your belief would come true,” Terrell told the audience. He walked up and down the chapel aisle, encouraging the audience to believe in themselves and that everyone should believe in their destiny, believe that they would be successful and get out of prison.

Will Bondurant San Quentin PUP teacher Alex Naeve

Aaron “Showtime” Taylor performed a comedy routine that left the audience rolling in laughter as he played guitar and sang parody about being on a halal diet and eating “state bologna sandwiches.”

Andrew Wadsworth read a poem, 16 Bars, as Aaron Taylor accompanied him on guitar.

A spoken word piece, 16 Bars, addressed Wadsworth’s turbulent life that began going bad at 16 years old. He talked about becoming a dope dealer, running the streets and living a negative life. The narrative shifts to understanding what it means to be accountable for one’s actions and realizing that the meaning of life is love, not hustling, stealing and violating other people’s rights.

Steve “Rashiyd” Zinnamon AKA “RawLMNO” performming a hip-hop rap

Anthony “Habib” Watkins read Fatherless Child. The poem was about understand- ing the power of education and literacy as well as living honor- ably and respectfully.

Richard Lathan read two poems. The first addressed the way people communicate through their actions:

Is there a way to speak with- out opening your mouth?

A young woman, who lost her life, inspired the second poem.

Gerry Sanchez Muratalla and Berny Marroquin entertained the audience with Spanish music. Muratalla’s guitar brought hand clapping and whooping with some people dancing in the aisle and a standing ovation.

Deavon Torrence read a poem, You Made It. It was about being successful and overcoming obstacles of discrimination in a racist criminal justice system.

• Raiveon “Ray Ray” Wooden read a poem about finding self-confidence while being persecuted.

• Derry “Brotha Dee” Brown’s Dancing to Praise God had the audience standing and clapping.

• George Mesro El-Cole read a fantasy piece that was extremely descriptive.

• Thanh Tran performed a hip-hop piece about moving forward in life.

Semester ends with a Christmas celebration

February 20, 2020 by Juan Haines

On the Friday before Christmas, Silent Night played as San Quentin students, their tutors and guests made their way into a classroom filled with the holiday spirit. It was to celebrate the year’s educational successes.

Six red stockings draped the classroom’s whiteboard. Below it, Santa’s tiny sled rode a golden tinsel as if it were snow. In front of the white board, two tiny Christ- mas trees sat on a table with gifts all around them.

“The End of the Semester Celebration at Christmas may mean something different to each of us,” James Metters said. “But, coming together is something we all can do.”

Metters is one of the peer- to-peer tutors in the Academic Peer Education Program (APEP). About eight years ago, the program began to support incarcerated students pursuing a GED. Also, at the event were peer educators, Rodney Baylis, Terry Hall, Raiveon “Ray-Ray” Wooden, Derry “Brotha-D” Brown and Floyd Collins.

“I’ve never been here on a Friday night,” said Diane Kahn, one of APEP’s outside facilitators. “I get more inspiration from the work you men do inside San Quentin than from people on the outside.”

The classroom was set up with its chairs placed in a semi-circle, like a flat amphi- theater with the head of the class as the stage.

The tutors and guests joined to perform Dad Ruins the Christmas Spirit.

The skit was a spinoff from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It’s a story about parents struggling to let their children know Santa Claus’s real identity. The skit honored parents as Santa Claus and paid tribute to the season of giving.

Metters, Brown, and Wooden played their parts while APEP volunteers Eugenia Maluf and Joanna Cornejo played supporting roles.

After the skit, Metters and Karen Yoder, another APEP volunteer, led everyone in Christmas carols, with Joy to the World getting the most gusto.

Then a Spanish band played Christmas songs, including I Want to Wish You a Merry Christmas in English and Spanish.

“I’m humbled to be here and to work with some wonderful people,” said Collins, who explained that working with ESL (English as a Second Language) allowed him to build a bond. “I speak to the guys in broken Spanish.

“I want to bring joy, even though it’s not easy to do here.”

After caroling, the students, tutors and guests played board games, mingled and talked about future educational opportunities.

“This started off as an end of the year celebration about the students and teachers get- ting together,” Baylis said. “But, after all was done, it was really about the true meaning of Christmas when we’re so far away from family. That’s why we’ve done it for the last seven years.”

The following San Francisco Bay area volunteers came to the celebration in support of the APEP tutors and students: Tammy Cabading, Joanna Cornejo, Rich Donick, Diane Kahn, Eugenia Maluf, Connie Merron, Madison Niesyn and Karen Yoder.

Eleven years later – SQ Cares stands strong with cancer survivors

February 13, 2020 by Juan Haines

Hundreds of San Quentin residents contributed $5 each, while other prisoners produced art to raise more than $8,000 for a local woman’s center. The fundraiser was a part of the 11th Annual San Quentin CARES: Walk for a Cure (SQ CARES) that occurred on Oct. 11 and 12.

“I am hugely honored and grateful that you’ve chosen Oakland Woman’s Resource Center,” said chairperson, Penni Hudis at the check presentation in San Quentin’s Protestant Chapel. “It’s a special place and has been around 33 years to serve all port of breast cancer, people are touched. It’s a vehicle that allows you to contribute. I came for the walk and once I met you I found so much care immediately from you.”

Rousse said that he’s open for any kind of art, visual or written, “People are enthusiastic and want to hear from you.”

The last art show raised more than $1,000, and all of the money goes to the Oakland Woman’s Resource Center, said SQ CARES volunteer Samantha Feld.

“I was overwhelmed by the stories and hard work of the men to support the broader community,” Feld said. “My commitment deepened in 2015 when I lost my mom to breast cancer. This has been a special way for me to honor her and connect with others to share loss and grief.”

The original idea for a walk and fundraiser in- side San Quentin occurred in 2009 after a prisoner watched the Avon Walk Against Breast Cancer on television.

“I brought it to Laura Bowman, who was Community Partnership Manager at that time. We wrote a letter to the warden who approved it—to date we raised about $70,000,” said Stephen Pascasio,

Kim Bailey, there from the beginning, said then Chief Medical Officer, Elena Tootell, was “full on board with the idea of raising money and having a two-day walk inside San Quentin.”

Feld and San Quentin resident Edmond Richardson hosted the check presentation ceremony.

The presentation began with a rap performance by James Metters, Michael Kirkpatrick, Derry “Bro- tha-D” Brown, and Raiveon “Ray-Ray” Wooden.

“We can beat it this year – victory’s here – SQ’s got the plan,” were lines that brought the audience to their feet with applause. “We are on a mission to defeat this disease – to all the loved ones who’ve passed away, we celebrate you on this day.”

Volunteer Kim Bailey’s mother and sister passed away from cancer within a few months of each other.

Bailey told the audience about bringing her mother to one of the SQ CARES walks, but she was only able to sit in a chair. Several men sat with her to talk, Bailey said.

“All she talked about was that experience for the rest of her life,” Bailey said, which motivated her to get involved with SQ CARES.

The event ended with an invitation for those in the audience to come to the stage to share their personal experiences with cancer.

SQ Inside Committee Members: Stephen Pascasio, Tien Pham, Carlos Meza, John Levin, Alvin Timbol, Jim Kitlas, Son Nguyen, Edmond Richardson, Ronell Draper, Rafael Bankston, Terry Hall, Hieu Thai and Christopher Khalifah.

SQ Outside Committee Members: Shannon Gordhamer, Kim Bailey, Chris Bailey, Samantha Feld.

Two dozen graduated from violence prevention program

February 13, 2020 by Juan Haines

No More Tears graduates and volunteers with Alameda DA Nancy O’Malley

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley joined Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson on a trip inside San Quentin to watch about two dozen incarcerated men graduate from a violence prevention program.

“What I see at this graduation is more than what we ask for in our citizens out there,” O’Malley told the graduates of No More Tears. “You have dug deep to understand your life. Most people don’t do that. It would be easy for you to have stayed on the yard, but it takes courage to come in here and do the work and be change agents.”

The theme of the graduation was “Living A Courageous Life.”

“Change doesn’t start and stop,” Dwight Kennedy, one of the incarcerated facilitators told the graduates. “When you begin your change into this courageous life, it’s a lifelong process. When you go back to your housing unit and talk to your cellie or your family, you have to share what you’ve learned here.”

Alameda DA Nancy O’Malley, volunteers and graduates at the Muslim Chapel

Carson added, “I can’t talk to people on the streets, like you can. That is the fundamental difference in what you do here.”

Lonnie Morris, the lead incarcerated facilitator, addressed the graduates.

“Everybody has shown their vulnerability,” Morris said. “That takes courage. Every man in this room has shared their story and have torn down barriers—from that we have developed empathy. As human beings, we want to personify. Living a courageous life is to leave negativity behind, and be someone different with core values that respect all human beings. We say No More Tears for a reason.”

DeAngelo Hardin-Prince, the youngest of the graduates, aid, “I learned about triggers when I got in this class. It helped me deal with people on the yard—it helped me a lot.”

O’Malley talked about what she learned from listening to people impacted by the crimi- nal justice system. The reason she said was to find a program that would solve “what is hurt- ing our community.”

O’Malley came up with Developing Impacted Lives (DIL). The program reaches out to the youth to supply them employment, housing and educational opportuni- ties.

“We have 18 certified DIL Peer Support Specialists, and we are working on a second class of certified specialists,” O’Malley said. “The people getting out of prison and going through this training have a zero percent recidivism rate.”

She added, “I will be happy to greet you when you come home, and I will even offer you a job.”

Sheri Mendoza, an outside supporter, said, “I believe in the program, and I believe in you. I don’t have to know you to believe in you.”

Andrew Wadsworth and Linda Heiderer read poems inspired by the program.

Hamisi X. “Ski” Spears ended the graduation with a, Spoken Word performance that got a standing ovation and had the audience joining in by repeating U-N-I-T-Y.

NEWS BRIEFS

January 7, 2020 by Juan Haines

Washington, D.C. — Gallup reports that for the first time in 34 years, a majority of Americans would rather sentence a murderer to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole than the sentence of death. The 60% to 36% difference for life imprisonment marks a shift from the past two decades, when Americans were mostly divided in their views on how to punish murderers.

Arizona — Prison officials must give clear guidelines about what prisoners can read, according to a U.S. District Judge ruling, The Washington Post reports. The guidelines must have a “bright-line” regarding permissible reading material prisoners may possess before February 2020. The order comes from a 2015 lawsuit filed by Prison Legal News, a project of the Human Rights Defense Center, when prison officials didn’t deliver four issues of the monthly journal to its incarcerated subscribers because the content in those issues was deemed “sexually explicit,” according to court documents.

Indiana — Jay Vermillion received $425,000 as part of a settlement because prison officials kept in him in isolation for 23 to 24 hours a day, CNN reports. Under state law, a person can spend a maximum of 30 days in restrictive status housing, also known as solitary confinement or segregation. Then the individual’s status must be reviewed. Vermillion’s lawsuit claimed that prison officials sentenced him to a year of disciplinary segregation, despite the law.

Lucasville, Ohio — The execution of 69-year-old Alva Campbell was called off Nov. 6 after the executioners could not find a vein to insert the IV that delivers lethal drugs. It was only the third time in modern U.S. history that an execution attempt was halted after the process had begun, reports Stock Daily Dish.

USA – The misapplication of forensic science contributed to 45% of wrongful convictions in the United States proven through DNA evidence, The Innocence Project reports. False or misleading forensic evidence was a contributing factor in 24% of all wrongful convictions nationally, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

USA – Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 121,718 people in 2017, representing 8.2% of the total state and federal prison population, The Sentencing Project reports. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 39%. However, the private prison population reached its peak in 2012 with 137,220 people. Decreasing use of private prisons make these latest overall population numbers the lowest since 2006 when the population was 113,791.

USA – The number of people serving life sentences in U.S. prisons is at an all-time high, The Sentencing Project reports. Nearly 162,000 people are serving life sentences – one of every nine people in prison. An additional 44,311 individuals are serving sentences of 50 years or more, otherwise known as virtual life sentences.

Washington – Tarra Simmons, of Bremerton, who in 2017 won a Supreme Court fight to sit for the state bar exam, despite her prior criminal conviction, plans to announce her candidacy for the state House, Northwest News Network reports. Simmons is seeking to become the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the Washington Legislature, at least in modern times.