North Block’s cleanliness needs the cooperation of its inmate population and staff alike. Last month, the Men’s Advisory Counsel (Mac) handed out a flyer asking for everyone’s cooperation in upgrading this housing unit’s cleanliness. The flyer pointed out specifics that, if put in practice, will result in having a cleaner and healthier living environment for all.
Although cleaning materials are in short supply, North Block porters’ performance is above average, most residents agree. They sweep and mop all tiers twice on Second and Third Watch. Trashcans are located on the front and back of each tier, workers collect trash regularly and keep water fountains clean. Also, they mop and disinfect showering areas three times, seven days a week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. As of mid-July, the first tier is free of trash and the floor shines.
A few of the 800 inmates spit on the walls and throw trash over the tiers. Basic sanitation and disease prevention requires that to stop.
On the other hand, the solution to the other part of the problem is out of North Block’s occupants’ reach: The upper and lower catwalks, especially above the officers’ station, are covered with dust, trash and bird droppings, and all windows are dusty.
In upcoming weeks, the Vocational Janitorial Services instructor is scheduled to conduct inspections of North Block. Following the inspections, she said, recommendations will be made, if necessary, to bring this housing unit within compliance of cleanliness expectations.
THE CORDOBA RIGHTS
You are being placed above the rest
You have the right to smile, to wink at me, to blow me kisses, and to remain silent; any words you whisper, can and will be used against you in a court of love.
You have the right to be represented in said court by a man who loves you.
If there is no such man in your life right now, however, I will appoint myself to represent you, accuse you, judge you, and sentence you to perpetual happiness, for your kindness, for your loving heart, and for your uncommon beauty.
You will be given a fair chance to testify on your own behalf, and when you do, you must expose your heart, your whole heart and pour out nothing but your heart.
My judgment is final. If convicted, which is almost a certainty, you will remain, forever, standing on a pedestal, built like a pyramid of hearts, for all the world to see.
You will be anointed with sweet smelling oils, extracted from the most beautiful red Colombian roses; you will be covered with kisses from my lips, while you hold a picture of me close to your heart so that everyone will see us as a symbol of romance.
Searching for a Soccer Coach… Anybody Have a Candidate?
BY WILLIAM CÓRDOBA and JORGE HEREDIA
As the soccer World Cup (the biggest sporting event in the world) gets ready to kick off on June 11 in South Africa, soccer fever is rampant all over the globe.
Meanwhile, here in San Quentin soccer players would like to resume the soccer program that has been on recess, so to speak, since April of 2008 when the volunteer coach resigned for personal reasons.
An attempt to find a new volunteer coach was made through the Internet and with the help of a few prison employees and the Recreation Coordinator, but the attempt was fruitless. It seems like no one is interested in taking the task without a financial incentive.
Inmate Pascacio, a member of the prison’s soccer team, said that someone in the outside community wants to donate soccer equipment to the prison but won’t do it until a volunteer coach takes control of the team. And those who like soccer ask that a better effort be made to reactivate San Quentin’s soccer program.
Prior to April of 2008 the prison’s soccer team played against teams from the Bay Area on weekends. Also, there was equipment for all players and there were two time slots to play soccer during the week. There is no such thing now.
We spoke with the Recreation Coordinator about soccer in San Quentin. His attitude appeared to be that of someone who wants to better this situation. Still, he didn’t tell us anything different from what we had gathered from other sources for this story.
To tell the truth, since April of 2008, soccer has not been getting the same amount of attention from the Recreation Department than other sports practiced in San Quentin. Perhaps it’s because soccer is not such a popular sport in the U.S. or because the majority of those who practice it here are foreign nationals. Who knows? But if in fact, there is a degree of indifference towards soccer, we pray that it be left behind and that we move on to find a solution to this problem.
After all, regardless of who may practice this sport behind these walls, soccer is a positive way of recreation that unites many cultures. That’s the main reason it is the number one sport in the world
Juguemos Futbol
POR W. CÓRDOBA Y J. HEREDIA
A medida que se aproxima el inicio del mundial de fútbol en junio 11 en Sudáfrica, la fiebre futbolística se propaga por todo el planeta.
Mientras tanto aquí en San Quintín los jugadores de fútbol siguen pidiendo que se reanude el programa de fútbol, cual fue suspendido en abril del 2008, tras el renuncio del entrenador voluntario debido a razones de origen personal.
Al parecer se ha intentado obtener los servicios de un nuevo entrenador voluntario a través de la Internet, con la ayuda de varios empleados de la prisión, y con la intervención del coordinador de recreación del penal, pero dicho intento no ha dado frutos. Nadie esta interesado en entrenar el equipo sin que se le ofrezca un incentivo económico.
Stephen Pascacio, quien ha sido miembro del equipo por cinco años, dijo que el conoce a alguien en las afueras de la prisión que quiere donar implementos para el equipo pero que no lo hará hasta que el equipo tenga entrenador. Y los amantes del fútbol piden que se haga un mejor esfuerzo para revivir el programa de fútbol en San Quintín.
Antes de abril del 2008, nuestro equipo jugaba partidos contra equipos del área de la Bahía los fines de semana, también teníamos implementos para todos los miembros del equipo, y teníamos dos horarios para jugar y entrenar a la seman Hoy tales cosas no existen.
Nosotros hablamos con el coordinador de recreación acerca del fútbol en San Quintín. Su actitud parece ser la actitud de una persona quien quiere mejorar esta situación. No obstante, él no nos dijo nada diferente de lo que nos han dicho otras personas referente a este tema.
La verdad es que desde abril del 2008 el fútbol no recibe la misma atención que se le da a otros deportes en esta prisión. Tal vez porque el fútbol no es un deporte popular en este país, o porque la mayoría de los que lo practican aquí son extranjeros. ¿Quien sabrá? No sabemos. Pero si en realidad existe algún grado de indiferencia hacia este deporte en San Quintín, rogamos que lo dejemos atrás y que nos dirijamos en dirección a la solución de este problem Después de todo, no debe de importar quienes practican el fútbol tras las paredes de esta prisión. Lo que debe de importar es que el fútbol es una forma sana de recreación que une a muchas culturas. Esa es una de las razones que el fútbol es el deporte numero uno del mundo.
Both Sides of the Fencecan
Fences are made of different heights and materials, for different purposes. There are picket fences, back yard fences, construction site fences, park fences and electric fences, just to name five. In the once prosperous state of California, however, the two most notorious types of fences are those erected to keep people out of the country and to keep people in prison.
Because of California’s draconian sentencing laws, those who are sent to prison and those who cross our borders illegally end up having one thing in common: they get to the other side of the fence for a long stay. In the case of those who are sent to prison, though, the length of their stay is often in disproportion with their offense, especially of those who are sentenced to life under the Three Strikes law.
This is my second time here at San Quentin (I was here from 1999 to 2001. then transferred out). I’ve heard of the impact of the Three Strikes sentencing law, but this time around I’m seeing it and feeling it, as I’ve run into so many convicts who have been struck out (some of them I’ve seen go home a few times from here and from other prisons). And although I know these men are not angels – neither am I – I believe it’s unfair for anyone to spend the rest of his life in prison for an offense for which he otherwise would have been sentenced to a couple of years.
So where is the problem, and what’s the solution? I think that if we change and have better control of our behavior, especially when we get out of prison, legislators will have less reason to get carried away and enact exaggerated sentencing laws that, as we’ve seen, don’t pay off. I’m no scholar but, as I see it, the roots of the problem and the roots of its solution are on both sides of the fence.