The San Quentin A’s baseball team spilt a double header with the visiting Club Mexico who traveled from Stockton to do battle for its third year. Club Mexico dominated the first game winning 10-5, but the A’s smoked Club Mexico in the late afternoon contest 6-1. Club Mexico’s center-fielder Gino Ballardo started the first game by smashing a blazing homerun over the left field gate. Ballardo jog leisurely around the bases to let the A’s know they came to play. “I was just thinking I must really love baseball to be standing in the … [Read more...] about Club Mexico baseball team spilt double headerm
Young offenders learn expression through poetry
For nearly 15 years New Earth, a nonprofit organization, has served incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth throughout Southern California. New Earth provides youth offenders in juvenile halls, group homes and probation camps with a support system and mentorship program. The organization also has a reentry center that caters to the needs of youths ages 13-25 upon their release. “Our first program was just really a poetry program,” Harry Grammer, founder of New Earth, told the San Quentin News. “We wanted to give opportunities to young … [Read more...] about Young offenders learn expression through poetry
An iconic world leader remembered: Nelson Mandela at 100 years
Waking up to the police knocking loudly at the door, an arrest warrant presented, the house searched and then being dragged off in front of his wife and kids, so began Nelson Mandela’s 27-year prison sentence for treason. The late president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. Mandela was a freedom fighter whose words and actions have influenced millions of lives, a country and the world’s criminal justice system. “It was this desire for the freedom of my people to live their lives … [Read more...] about An iconic world leader remembered: Nelson Mandela at 100 years
Transforming former inmates
From the prison to the streets, the transformation of a man. That’s the subject of “A Man Like Me” – a play created by four former prisoners taking advantage of “The Dads Back!” Academy. The academy is a reentry organization, run by Friends Outside Los Angeles County (FOLA), using theater to reintegrate parolees and formerly incarcerated men back into society. The arts program is run in partnership with the TheatreWorkers Project, which provides theater workshops called “Moving Forward” twice a month, mostly in Southern California. This … [Read more...] about Transforming former inmates
Raising awareness of California’s ‘Life Without’ policies
More than 100 advocates, family members and friends chanted, “Drop LWOP, drop LWOP, commute all 5,000!” at an Oakland town hall on March 24, denouncing California’s use of life without parole sentences, also known as LWOP. The California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) hosted the event to educate the general public and raise awareness about the state’s LWOP policies. California has approximately 5,000 prisoners serving life sentences without the chance for parole, according to the CCWP press release. “We believe that all people in … [Read more...] about Raising awareness of California’s ‘Life Without’ policies
San Quentin baseball season opens as Elliot Smith retires
San Quentin opened its 2018 baseball season with both joy and sadness. San Quentin’s A’s defeated the visiting San Francisco Mission 11-8. But the retirement of long-time sponsor Elliot Smith was bittersweet for the free and incarcerated ballplayers. “Elliot carried this program for a long time,” said A’s sponsor, Steve Reichardt. “It’s tough seeing him walking off this field for the last time.” Smith, 75, started volunteering in San Quentin in 1995 and all the memories of those past seasons rushed through his mind as he threw out the … [Read more...] about San Quentin baseball season opens as Elliot Smith retires
Father and his sons minister through football
To the Jackson family, it’s about God, fatherhood and football. The three men will get in the mud – literally – to minister to San Quentin prisoners competing in flag football. For the past eight years, Andre, Antoine and their father, Pastor Wayne Jackson, have volunteered to come to the prison as a team called the “Chosen” to take on San Quentin’s flag football team, the All-Madden. The teams are evenly matched. “...although they have made a mistake in life, it doesn’t have to define their future” The Jackson men would stand on San … [Read more...] about Father and his sons minister through football
Valley State Prison holds inaugural YOP graduation
Valley State Prison (Chowchilla) celebrated a milestone earlier this year when it hosted its inaugural Youth Offender Program (YOP) graduation. The ceremony recognized 97 young prisoners who lived up to their commitments to complete various rehabilitative programs. The graduates successfully reached their goals of earning high school diplomas or general education diplomas (GED), learning vocation trades or enrolling into college courses, according to the prison press release. The young offenders personally selected the goals that they … [Read more...] about Valley State Prison holds inaugural YOP graduation
Folsom’s Insight Garden Project helps women connect back to nature
California women prisoners are learning to go “green” as they gain skills in garden design and environmental education through the award-winning Insight Garden Program (IGP). Folsom Women’s Facility (FWF) and Central California Women’s Facility (also known as Chowchilla) have been added to the IGP’s long list of prisons that are finding rehabilitation through connecting with nature. “Folsom was officially the first garden we’ve ever built in a women’s facility,” said Beth Waitkus, who founded the program at San Quentin in 2002. “It was a … [Read more...] about Folsom’s Insight Garden Project helps women connect back to nature
Girls of color overlooked in the school to prison pipeline
Girls of color, particularly Black girls, often are overlooked in conversations about the school-to-prison pipeline, making them more likely to be labeled early on as criminals. According to research and reports, one in four American girls will experience sexual violence by the age of 18. But, for Black and Brown girls, traumatic experiences of sexual violence often lead them to the juvenile justice system, the sexual abuse-to-prison pipeline. 25 percent of millennial-age American men think asking a woman who is not a romantic partner to go … [Read more...] about Girls of color overlooked in the school to prison pipeline