KESHUN TATE

Looking Back into S.Q.’s Legacy

April 3, 2012 by KESHUN TATE

This is the second in a series of articles on San Quentin history.

The Rich History of California’s Oldest Prison

After California became a state, executions were carried out in individual counties, usually by hanging.

On February 14, 1872, Capital Punishment was entered into the California Penal Code.

San Quentin was chosen to be the exclusive site for execution in 1893. The first execution within the walls of San Quentin was on March 3, 1893. Hanging from the end of the rope was 60-year-old California native Jose Gabriel.

SWIFT PUNISHMENT

There’s no doubt San Quentin has a rich history. Most prisoners who are locked within the walls of San Quentin have no idea what has gone on here before they were born. San Quentin is not as infamous as it was in the 1800s, yet it is still a prison that is designated for executions. Sitting on Death Row are some of the state’s most dangerous criminals.
Punishment in the early years was swift. It only took three months and four days after Jose received the sentence for murder before it was carried out. The first triple execution was conducted on Oct. 3, 1893.

The chief physician would step up on a foot stool and put a stethoscope over the condemned person’s heart to let the hangmen know when the heart stopped beating. The person would not be cut down until the doctor pronounced the condemned dead. Chief Physician Dr. Leo Stanly wrote that witnessing a hanging was a hellish experience.

If the body was not claimed within 24 hours, a medical school claimed it for student study.

The first woman to hang in San Quentin was on Nov. 21, 1941. There was no more hanging in San Quentin after 1942.

The gas chamber, equipped with two chairs, was activated in 1938. A prisoner who helped build the gas chamber ended up years later being executed in it.

All those who were on the list for execution went to the gas chamber. Four women have been executed in San Quentin. The last woman to die in the gas chamber was on Aug. 8, 1962. During Warden Clinton Duffy’s term 1940-52, he witnessed executions by rope and by gas.

LETHAL INJECTION

In recent years, executions were conducted with lethal injections. Court challenges have repeatedly delayed California executions, but they continue in a few other states.

Of the 409 people executed in San Quentin, over half were white. Not everyone executed in San Quentin committed a murder.

In this era the average prison sentence was two years; not many had over five years.

The general population wore clothing with vertical stripes; horizontal were assigned to the more dangerous convicts. Stripes were abolished in 1913 because they were considered demeaning to the prisoners.

PRISON GROWTH

The prison has transformed from 40 prisoners in a boat anchored on the shore San Quentin grew to be a prison holding over 6,000 inmates. The educational program has excelled to the point where those who wish to do so can get a college degree. Because of the many programs and opportunities San Quentin has to offer, the men in blue from all over California who want to become better people work hard to get here. If a prisoner feels he has been mistreated, he can file a grievance. If the grievance is found to be true, the staff will face disciplinary action.

Today prisoners are not given lashes for rules infractions but instead can lose their good time credits, moving their release date back.

Today, because of the federal courts, medical care for inmates is much better than it was in the 1890s. In the infant days of San Quentin, nothing was done about overcrowding but in 2011 the federal government ordered California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reduce its population.

INSPECTIONS

On Jan. 19, 1858, inspection teams found that 120 of 500 inmates were barefoot, food was not up to standard and cells were unsanitary and overcrowded. California Gov. Weller took the keys to San Quentin from Warden McCauley, but on May 13, 1859 they were given back to him mainly because of the support he had from the residents of Marin County, who approved the harsh treatment of inmates.

The brick industry picked back up, road gangs were put back to work and strict discipline continued as it was before the governor took over. People complained because prison laborers worked for a third of what hard working, law-abiding citizens were paid. The prisoners rebelled by trying to escape, a feat close to impossible due to the wall that was built.

STATE GETS CONTROL

In April 1860, the state gained back control of San Quentin and has kept it up to present time.

The state continued to upgrade the prison conditions. Warden Josiah Ames abolished the whipping post that had been used to whip prisoners for over 25 years.

In 1864 prisoners were given time off for good behavior. In 1868, the first school was started. It met once a week after service in the chapel.

Factories were moved inside the walls and inmates were contracted out for labor.

San Quentin State Prison: 161 Years of Prison History

February 2, 2012 by KESHUN TATE

San Quentin is an historical landmark and one of the best-known locations in the world.
It derived its name from an Indian chief who in 1824 lost an intense battle against Mexican soldiers on the area San Quentin Prison now sits.
After California became a state in the wake of the Gold Rush, capital punishment was adopted in 1851. Initially prisoners slept in a barge anchored in the bay, working in the daytime to build the cellblocks where they would later be locked up.
The Spanish-style entrance building was completed in 1854. Women were incarcerated in the old San Quentin Hospital building from 1856 until 1933. Also serving time with the women was a 13-year-old girl. A state hearing document recorded that guards shared women’s quarters and operated a bar on the prison grounds. There was one case of a woman becoming pregnant.
Capital punishment was implemented into the California Criminal Practice Act of 1851. This was the era when gold fever struck the hearts and minds of those who wanted to get rich quick. Along with this fever came a lot of crime. With no state prison, an investor was hired to operate the prison.
The first people to hold the lease were General James Madison Estell and General Mariano G. Vallejo, the former Mexican governor of California. A 13-year-old merchant vessel named Waban was converted to a barge to hold 40 prisoners. Conditions were so harsh that some inmates jumped into the bay with their chains on to attempt escape.
San Quentin was chosen as the location for a prison because of its proximity to the booming city of San Francisco. California paid $10,000 to Benjamin Buckelew for the property. Before the prisoners arrived, General Estell bought up all the needed land to build the prison.
The first building the prisoners built housed their guards. At that time, many prisoners escaped to nearby Mt. Tamalpais. If a prisoner was captured, he would receive 100 to 150 lashes along with a ball and chain. Lashes were also given out for rule infractions; the amount of lashes would vary according to the seriousness of the infraction. To replace the inmates who escaped, the prison paid $1 a mile for sheriffs to bring prisoners back to San Quentin.
Estell and three investors formed San Francisco Manufacturing Company, using prisoners for labor. The company provided bricks for the buildings at a high price. Estell even sold pardons to inmates. During this time, escapes became a major issue for the prison. Marin County residents claimed that there was a band of outlaws living on Mt. Tamalpais and pilfering nearby communities.
The original prison had 48 cells above the guards quarters. Each cells had a hole in the door. When a prisoner put his nose in it to get some fresh air the cell would become dark.
After numerous complaints and an inspection, the state took over San Quentin on June 1, 1855. This is when prisoners built a wall around the prison using prison-made bricks.
Bricks were a strong source of income for the prison, but when the economy fell so did the demand for bricks. Within a six-month period, the Prison Directors cost the state so much money that the commissioners were forced to ask Estell to take back the prison under a new contract. Because of bad health, Estell passed the keys to John McCauley. McCauley would cut cost by denying inmates necessities along with serving them bad food.

S.Q. News Editor Harry O Departs

October 1, 2011 by KESHUN TATE

After 23½ years in federal and state prisons, Michael R. Harris was released from San Quentin State Prison on Oct. 11, 2011. He has been active in numerous self-help organizations and was a leader in resurrecting the San Quentin News 3 ½ years ago.
Without going into the details of your case, can you tell me what happened?
I became accustomed to surviving on the hard streets of Los Angeles at a young age. I made a lot of money in the drug business. When I opened my eyes to all of the lives I had helped to destroy, it was too late. To this day, I’m still haunted about some of the things I’ve done. I started creating businesses in the community with the intent to help people, hoping this would remove some of the dirt I had done. When I became a so-called “legit businessman” I learned how to carry myself accordingly – ultimately I gained a sense of purpose. Then one day I found myself in handcuffs because I failed at processing a situation correctly.
Did you say that when you were first arrested you reverted back to the street hustler mentality of the past?
Yes, my attitude and demeanor was largely due to the mindset I had adopted while being housed in the notorious Los Angeles County Jail. It was easy for me to revert back into that street mentality.
Harris, once known as Harry O. on the streets of Los Angeles and in the music world, received 25 years to life for attempted murder and drug-related charges.
How would you describe your mindset when you started your 25-to-life sentence?
My ego was so strong that it wouldn’t allow me to see the reality. When I arrived at San Quentin for the first time back in 1988, I was still a beast.
When I arrived at Quentin, at that time it was a Level-IV. The atmosphere was intense and violent. I was still an ego-driven person due to all of the unfinished business that I left on the streets. My physical body was behind walls, but my mind was still in society. I was constantly thinking beyond prison. When San Quentin changed to a Level-II two years later, I was transferred to the newly opened Pelican Bay Level-IV prison, where I did 18 months. After that I was transferred to various other state institutions: Tehachapi, Lancaster and Soledad, than back to San Quentin in 2005.
Harris, who was once the puppeteer of a vast empire, found himself reduced to working as a porter at San Quentin. Harris was later assigned to clean the showers, a position he could have opted out of, but on his own chose to retain for over two years – an experience that he says, helped humble him.
What happened to help you see change?
It was natural for me to see that being locked up in a cage was unnatural. It took 15 years into my life sentence for me to really start seeing life from a different perspective. When you’re looking at things differently, they start to look different. And, I also learned how to respond differently as well.
I sold drugs because it was an easy way out. In retrospect, it took eight years of soul searching to realize that the choices I made were actually weak choices. I was conditioned to think the way I did. I started re-conditioning my brain by reading books about people, some whom came from like circumstances and made a positive contribution to humanity. After reading these types of books and experiencing their lives vicariously, I became ashamed of the person that I had once been. Today I believe that real power comes from patience, perseverance and finding true meaning in your life.
Was that really you? I’m referring to that beast.
That’s a good question. The best way to explain it is to say I had a split personality. One personality protected the other. I was conditioned to act a certain way when exposed to certain environments or situations in the past. With a lot of hard work, I was able to liberate myself from the negative conditioning and allow the true me to emerge. I am no longer that beast, thank God.
How have you grown spiritually?
In 1996 a food poisoning incident caused me to suffer a serious form of paralysis. While recovering in a prison hospital and unable to move, I had a spiritual awaking that caused me to have a conversation with my Creator. I have always been a spiritual person. In this conversation, I said, “If you allow me to live, I will change my life completely.”
When I got off the bus at San Quentin (the second time) I told myself I was going to go home from here. I immediately started looking for groups and programs to involve myself in. The first program I signed up for was T.R.U.S.T., which stands for Teaching Responsible Utilizing Sociological Training. For the last 15 years, I have been making choices that would move me closer to becoming a better person.
How do you believe the groups helped you in regards to dealing with the Parole Board?
The groups helped me to be honest. Before I stepped into the boardroom, groups like T.R.U.S.T., Keeping It Real, and V.O.E.G. (Victims Offenders Educational Group) helped me to be able to connect with the real reason why I was in prison – realizing that prison had become my reality. Looking at the part I played in the crime, I embraced the fact that it was me who put me in prison. I accepted the fact that the world I knew was no more.
The groups also helped me relate to how learned conditioning was implemented into my lifestyle. Groups enabled me to be in front of a crowd of individuals and say I am not a big shot. I am now able to listen to feedback objectively. I went through groups because they were a good tool to get what I wanted, not to mention they were a requirement for lifers. Yet by going through them, I got more than what I expected; I found my authentic self.
Is there any one person who has had an impact on your growth and development within the last 23 years of incarceration?
No. I believe my growth has been impacted or influenced if you will by a number of people and situations in many ways. I have also learned a great deal from negative things. Some people only look at the positive things for growth but I have learned from the negative things as well. One is learning how not to repeat those negative mistakes from the totality of the experience and examination that one goes through, if you do the work looking at all sides.
What are you planning on doing upon your release?
Plans are plans but what I’m passionate about doing is connecting with like-minded people, specifically young people who are poised to ultimately make some of the same mistakes that I have made in the past; by presenting myself as an example of why that’s not such a great idea. Just as important is connecting with people who are in the solutionary business as opposed to just focusing on the problems at hand and not actually elevating to the solutions that are needed, throughout this nation’s disenfranchised communities.
Is there any book in the making?
There are a few. One is called The Hearing, which is being designed in a memoir-type style. It utilizes the parole board as a vehicle to revisit my life experiences before and throughout my incarceration. Lessons and skills learned coupled with my rehabilitation efforts with a lens towards the entire California phenomenon for the last three decades. In terms of how urban neighborhoods cope with crime, lack of education, lack of opportunities due to poor economic training and access; coupled with how our present justice systems dispenses punishment. The other book is titled Mentorship by Like- Minded People, (about) individuals who have come from the same mind-set and or backgrounds, who have done the work on themselves and now use their past experiences to connect the dots for others. Motherland 2035 is a short story that I introduced recently in the Brothers in Pen series. The group’s new release, Six Cubic Feet, explores the past, present, and a bright future for Africa that I plan to develop into a complete novel. The third is called The Music Masters and my last one is called Doing Your Time.
Are there closing remarks you would like to leave with us?
If you don’t know how to process, it will affect the decisions you make. Two thoughts I would like to put out there: One of the keys, in my opinion, is to become your “best you,” not some one else’s version of what your best you should be. Learn to be OK with your best you; period. And the other thing would be to learn the difference between “Love & Respect,” which means different things to different people, but for me, I have found sometimes it’s pretty easy to love somebody today and not love them tomorrow. But one would be hard pressed to respect a person one day and not the next, so I prefer respect.

Tuesday morning about seven o’clock, Oct 11, 2011, Michael Harris departed San Quentin and was met at the gate by two federal marshals.