San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

San Quentin’s big transition as non-designated facility

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San Quentin State Prison’s transition from a General Population (GP) facility to a non-designated programming facility has uncovered old prejudices and uncommon collaborations.

San Quentin back in the day

The inmate response to the new housing designation is as diverse as the prison population.

Most inmates have been indifferent to the inflow of newcomers, while others have been cautious and alert.

Some prisoners transferred out of San Quentin because they did not want to deal with the unknown.

Few inmates, and administrators, could predict what was going to happen when GP inmates and Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) inmates were united into one community.

“Some people that are here at San Quentin are old-timers, and they have a hard time changing their perspective about people,” said Anthony A., a former gang member, “I think it’s because the past is all they have.”

Most of the new arrivals are former gang members who decided to make a change in their lives’ direction; their decision is also making a difference in the prison.

Although the majority of the population remains race and gang segregated, the newcomers have formed a multicultural group of prisoners.

“What to outsiders looks like sheer depravity is understood to preserve order, and protect the group,” Prison University Project says Jody Lewen of the in the Spring 2018 Newsletter Volume 13, No.1

“Whenever someone shows up off the bus, we try to embrace them because whether people are active or drop-outs from a gang—everyone is uncomfortable when they arrive,” Michael R. said. “I want to give these guys the opportunity I didn’t have when I first came to prison.”

San Quentin offers the same opportunities and programs as before but as a non-designated programming facility, there is zero tolerance for prison politics and gang activity.

“We are creating a system where the inmate is treated as an individual”

“I decided to drop out of the gang because I didn’t want to catch a life sentence,” said Sergio C., a former Bay Area gang member. “My supposed homeboys told me I had to stab somebody and get caught with the knife. I think my life is worth more than those kinds of friends.”

Many of the new arrivals say that in order to prove their loyalty, gang members are expected to do things that could earn them extra prison time, in some cases even a life sentence.

“I thought a lot about what I wanted for myself before I decided to step away from the gang lifestyle,” Michael R. said. “When I talked to my wife and my children, I knew I couldn’t do this prison stuff anymore.”

Michael, Anthony and others are helping steer new arrivals into programs, education, and introspection.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has received some criticism for its shift in housing policies that to outsiders seems arbitrary.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

Earlier this year, the CDCR outlined its methods to curb prison-gang influence and promote rehabilitation through the implementation of non-designated programming facilities and Restrictive Custody General Population (RCGP) yards.

“These non-designated yards are the long-needed solution to our problems,” Sergio C. said. “Before, I was too busy trying to keep up with yard politics and fighting for our fair share of state property, so I didn’t focus on preparing for release and staying out, I ended up coming back.”

In April, Scott Kernan, Secretary of the CDCR, wrote in the Secretary’s Corner that significant criminal justice reforms that provide incentives for rehabilitation have also given the department an opportunity to expect more from offenders.

“We are creating a system where the inmate is treated as an individual, and with that change we have to expect conformance to behavioral standards just like in the community,” Kernan wrote.

Most of the new arrivals at San Quentin are taking advantage of the available opportunities.

“I’ve never seen a prison like this,” said Mario, a Hispanic from southern California, who decided to stay. “I was planning to leave because of what my homies might think, but then I thought I better get my life in order instead of worrying about what others think.”

Restorative Justice’s role in the #metoo movement

SQ Health Care program sets the bar

Reflexiones de un Hombre sobre mujeres

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Portrait of Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson

Portrait of Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson

“Las mujeres maduran más pronto que los hombres” esto es algo que escuche con frecuencia al ir creciendo. Cuando reflexiono acerca de mi niñez y de los hombres con quien me he asociado, es fácil de darme cuenta de la veracidad  de este comentario.

Recuerdo a  mujeres que han tenido que criar a sus hijos por si solas y me preguntaba  dónde estaba el padre en ese momento.

¿Amaban estos padres a sus hijos? ¿Dejaron estas mujeres a sus esposos por abusadores así como mi madre dejo a mi padre? Quizás sus hijos terminarían como yo en prisión.

Es un hecho que mis propios hijos se hagan las mismas preguntas que me hice acerca de la ausencia de mi padre. Por lo consiguiente, al comenzar mis 21 años en prisión, no me considero diferente a  otros hombres.

Cuando miro alrededor de la yarda de San Quentin, no me sorprendo al mirar esas figuras paternas  que buscaba al ir creciendo. Hay un gran número de hombres de avanzada edad detrás de estos muros de la prisión, y muchos de ellos han estado encarcelados por 20, 30, o hasta 40 años.

Cuando estuve en la prisión estatal de centinela desde el año 2001 al 2007, me di cuenta de una familia de cuatro: dos hijos, un padre, y un tío con sentencias de vida por  seguir un sistema de creencias que los llevo a la prisión.

Ahora hay una afluencia (flujo) de gente joven llegando a la prisión. Muchos de ellos ni siquiera habían nacido cuando yo comencé mi sentencia en prisión. ¿Le echo la culpa a mi generación por no haber sido lo suficientemente responsable para romper este ciclo de prisión?   

Por un tiempo creí en el engaño de las pandillas, ahora  me avergüenzo de decir que seguí ese mismo sistema de creencias erróneas. 

Se me hace difícil no culpar a mi generación anterior; sin embargo, prefiero encontrar una solución para que logremos tomar responsabilidad por nuestras acciones y de esa forma o de alguna otra forma romper este ciclo de encarcelamiento.

No obstante, a mí me tomo mucho tiempo para madurar mi forma de pensar y apreciar la vida, espero que a los hombres que conozco y que se hacen llamar verdaderos hombres se den cuenta del peso enorme que le hemos impuesto a las mujeres maravillosas de nuestras vidas.

Amo y respeto a las mujeres fuertes que conozco; sin embargo, me doy cuenta que tengo una obligación como hombre y como padre para guiar a la generación de jóvenes a un futuro mejor.

Mi responsabilidad es ayudar a los hombres a madurar un poco más rápido de lo que yo madure, de lo contrario perderemos la batalla el encarcelamiento generacional.                                                                                                                                                   –Traduccion por Tare Beltranchuc Y Marco Villa         

                                                                           

Libertad condicional ya possible

Alternativa para sancionar la violencia doméstica

Un legado de Comunicación Noviolenta

A chance to change is always welcomed

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Arnulfo with Bonaru, John Wilkerson and Aly Tamboura in the Print Shop in 2011

Arnulfo with Bonaru, John Wilkerson and Aly Tamboura in the Print Shop in 2011

At age 18, I was arrested and sent to Deuel Vocational Institution in 1992. Prisoners called it Tracy or “The Gladiator School.”

It was my first time in prison. I didn’t know anyone there. I was scared.

The established prisoners came up to me and asked, “Where you from? What’s your name? What gang you in?”

Although I answered every question, I didn’t really fit in anywhere, and I felt like I had to.

Since then, I’ve been to many prisons and hung out with different people. And, at every new prison, I was asked the same questions all over again, “Where you from? What’s your name? What gang you in?”

I hated answering those questions because it made me feel combative, and it categorized me.

I arrived at San Quentin in December 2007 from Soledad with a group of men reluctant to come here.

No one asked us those kinds of questions when we got here, but the San Quentin prisoners who were here when the Soledad bus arrived didn’t give us a strong welcome.

ICE reported “24,476 of the 185,507 inmates in the federal Bureau of Prisons system were not citizens…” THE NEW YORK TIMES Dec. 21, 2017

One of the men who accompanied me from Soledad was Juan Haines, now San Quentin News Senior Editor.

Juan had that same uncomfortable feeling I had, but we didn’t know why.

Juan recalled, “When I first got to San Quentin, my cellie was stand-offish. I was looked at like an invader of a place where people wanted to protect something that I was unaware of. The most common comment was, ‘These three-strikers are going to ruin everything we worked for.’”

We were shunned and confused and didn’t know why.

During my 11 years at San Quentin, the men from Soledad and those who came after us eventually became acclimated to “The San Quentin Culture.”

It’s a culture strongly tied to rehabilitation, family and community. It’s a culture that seeks to change how free society sees prisoners.

Richard “Bonaru” Richardson

Richard “Bonaru” Richardson

But now San Quentin is changing. It’s turning from a general population institution to a “Non-designated Program Facility,” and accepting any prisoner who wants to program.

The Director of the Division of Adult Institutions, Kathleen Allison, gave this explanation in a memorandum dated Oct. 27, 2017: “As a non-designated program, it is the expectation that all inmates will program together and comply with integrative housing expectations regardless of prior GP (General Population) or Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) programming or level designation.”

This new designation has made significant changes in the prevailing environment, which had been quite peaceful and subdued for the past decade or so. The record will show that there is more tension now.

Many prisoners were upset because they didn’t want to mix with guys who came from Sensitive Needs Yards. Some people transferred to other institutions, but for the most part, most of us asked, so what?

As the former Sensitive Needs Yard prisoners arrived here at San Quentin, I noticed the distance and separation immediately.

I sensed that same chilly reception toward the new arrivals that I had encountered when I came to San Quentin in 2007.

I never did like “us against them” feelings, so the first chance I got, I spoke to the new arrivals and welcomed them to San Quentin.

What I found out was that the only reason why some of them ended up on a Sensitive Needs Yard was because they didn’t want to be gang members anymore.

Richard S. came to San Quentin as an ex-gang member and was the only one to arrive in his situation.

“Coming to San Quentin was something nonexistent coming from Los Angeles,” said Richard S. “But after experiencing the programs and doing an inventory of my life, I realized how immature and dysfunctional my life has been.

“Today I have a purpose and a voice and a love for myself that never existed before.”

They listened as I gave them a pitch about the value of engaging with the many rehabilitation programs available at San Quentin. Some of them who were interested in knowing more visited me in the newsroom to get more information.

Just because I didn’t go to a Sensitive Needs Yard doesn’t change the fact that their story is no different from mine.

If they want to join in strengthening San Quentin’s culture of rehabilitation, they deserve our support and encouragement. The “Sensitive Needs Yard” stamp on a man’s record should not be another strike against him.

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/
http://sanquentinnews.com/the-100th-edition-san-quentin-news/

8th Day of Peace celebration held on SQ’s Lower Yard

Digital Divide Explained

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Which game do your prefer, SCRABBLE or SUDOKU?

One works like the world you know. One operates like the digital cloud. The digital cloud is just another way of describing content that is stored in databases and accessible on the internet. The cloud changes how we use digital content and interact with each other.

More than a third of millennial say that if a man compliments a woman’s looks it is harassment, according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18.

These two games function quite differently and demonstrate rival methods of organization. SCRABBLE uses wooden tiles with letters for players to spell words, beginning at the center of the board, placing new tiles alongside those already on the board. 

FATE v. WISDOM

SUDOKU uses an 81-space square grid divided into nine boxes each containing nine spaces. Some of the spaces contain numbers and with these given numbers, a player must fill in the empty spaces. Each box, column and row must contain the numbers 1-9, just as the whole game must have nine of each number. 

In SCRABBLE, players must wait their turn and keep score. SCRABBLE usually has two to four players.

In SUDOKU, players can begin anywhere and go anywhere in the game. They don’t have to follow any particular order. The sequence matters less and less. While usually played alone, SUDOKU could have any number of players all playing at the same time.

The digital cloud works like SUDOKU — entirely non-sequentially.

Cloud-based music streaming services like SPOTIFY or APPLE MUSIC give users access to vast libraries of songs, on demand, without waiting for a radio station to play them. No one waits for CDs to come by mail these days. 

If you want to listen to Beyoncé, just go to a cloud-based service. Like SUDOKU, you can start anywhere and decide to listen to all her music (whole game), her individual albums (rows) or only her number one songs (columns). In the digital cloud, the choices are yours.

“if y’all think I did it…just give me a lawyer, dawg, ‘cause this is not what’s up.”  Warren Demesme said during police questioning.  The Louisiana Supreme Court held that this reference was too ambiguous to count as a request for counsel.  REASON Magazine, January 2018

Movies and shows work like that, too. Users of streaming services stored in the cloud, like NETFLIX or HBO GO, can just select a show and start to watch it. They can even binge-watch a whole season. You don’t have to wait for a week or even watch the shows in order, like with broadcast TV.

If you want to prepare for life in the digital world, then play SUDOKU.

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

Queeny King performs at SQ

San Francisco Opera debuts at San Quentin

Some incarcerated support Kaepernick

450 Former Military Warriors Honored on Veteran’s Day

RISK LITERACY: WOODBLOCK FORTUNA & SAPIENTIA

Reflecting on being a mother and parent

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“Women mature faster than men” is something I heard often while growing up. When I reflect on my childhood and the men I have associated with, it was easy to see how true that statement is. 

I remember women who had to raise their children on their own and I wondered where the fathers were during that time.

Portrait of Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson

Portrait of Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson

Did they love their children? Did these women leave their husbands as my mother did because of abuse? Perhaps they ended up like me, in prison.

It is a fact that my children wondered the same thing I did about my absent father. I am no different from the next man as I begin my 21st year in prison.

When I glance across San Quentin’s prison yard, I am not surprised to see those father figures that I searched for while growing up.

There is a large number of aging men behind these prison walls, and many of them have been incarcerated for 20, 30 or even 40 years.

When I was in Centinela State Prison from 2001 to 2007, I watched a family of four — two sons, a father, and an uncle, all with life sentences — continuing to follow a false belief system that landed them in prison. 

Now, there is an influx of young men coming to prison. Many of them were not even born when I began my prison sentence.

Do I blame my generation for not being responsible enough to break this prison cycle?

I once believed the deceptions about gangs, and I am ashamed to say I followed that same belief system that was not right. 

I find it hard not to blame the generation before me; however, I would rather find a solution so that we can be responsible for our own actions and somehow, some way, break this cycle of incarceration.

Although it has taken me a long time to mature my way of thinking and appreciate life, I hope the so-called men I know can now bear the burden we put on the wonderful women in our lives.

I love and respect the strong women I know; however, I must realize that I have a duty as a man and father to help guide the younger generation to a better future.

My responsibility is to help men mature a little faster than I have over the years, or else the battle against generational incarceration will be lost. 

https://sanquentinnews.com/redeveloping-broken-relationships-restorative-justice/

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ

8th Day of Peace celebration held on SQ’s Lower Yard

One man’s journey with the revitalized newspaper

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In June 2016, I became the editor-in-chief of San Quentin News.

I never thought I would be editor-in-chief of anything, but being able to work with San Quentin News staff gave me the courage to move forward.

John Wilkerson, the print shop instructor when San Quentin News was revived in 2008, taught me how to better myself. He is the reason why I believe in being independent instead of dependent.

Former San Quentin News Instructor John Wilkerson

Former San Quentin News Instructor John Wilkerson

When I began working in the print shop, I was hesitant because of the stories floating around about a guy who chopped his fingers in a paper cutter.

As I walked around the old printing press machines that were scattered throughout the shop, it seemed as if the cutter was staring me down like fresh meat.

The cutter had this “Caution” tape on it as if it was a crime scene.

When Wilkerson took the tape off and turned on the cutter, everybody in the shop stopped what they were doing because it sounded like a jet engine exploded.

When the blade hit the table, the ground shook.

One day Wilkerson guided me over to the cutter and said, “I’m going to show you how the paper cutter works.”

As he was explaining to me what to do and what not to do, he was also telling me about the guy who chopped his fingers up and pointed to the spot where the blood stained the area.

He stepped back from the cutter and said “start cutting.” I was so scared that I couldn’t remember anything he said after “blood shot over there.”

But despite the many hours and days of building up the courage to cut paper, before long I was cutting every paper in the shop.

San Quentin News Adviser William Drummond

San Quentin News Adviser William Drummond

While helping Wilkerson print the San Quentin newspapers, the phone rang. He looked at me and said, “Watch the paper and make sure it don’t get jammed in the machine.”

I knew how important this job was, so I was a little nervous. When the paper jammed in the machine my heart stopped. I could see Wilkerson look up from behind his desk at me because the machine makes this loud noise, like a car crash, before it cuts off.

San Quentin News Adviser Yukari Kane

San Quentin News Adviser
Yukari Kane

I froze and was confused; he gave me this long look as if to say, “Well, fix it.” I began replicating what I had watched Wilkerson do so often. Before long, I had the machine back up and running.

When I overcame those barriers of doubting myself, I felt the strength of being able to achieve something I never thought was possible.

Another skill I learned came from Aly Tamboura.

He taught me how to lay out and design the San Quentin newspaper using Adobe Creative Suite 3. When they transferred him to an out-of-state prison, I had to remember what he taught me and put it to good use.

Designing and laying out the newspaper can be very tedious and overwhelming at times, but one thing you learn in prison is how to be patient … even when everyone on the staff wants to change their story a day before the newspaper gets printed.

San Quentin News Adviser John Eagan

San Quentin News Adviser John Eagan (center).

It can be very difficult trying to publish a monthly newspaper behind bars, especially when there are people with the power of authority who do not want us to succeed.

When the San Quentin News was suspended for 45 days in 2014 for something that should not have happened, we realized the importance of our job.

On Aug. 1, 2017, San Quentin was locked down for 20 days. When we resumed our normal schedule, the San Quentin News room had been searched and almost everything was confiscated, including our computers.

For two months, the San Quentin News worked to produce a newspaper with only one computer and we still managed to produce the next issue on time.

Overcoming obstacles isn’t new to San Quentin News because we have always found ways to achieve our goal for the greater good.

Our goal is to report on rehabilitative efforts to increase public safety and achieve social justice.

I always listen to the San Quentin News advisers when they have advice to offer. My biggest challenge now is to gather up everything I have learned from Arnulfo Garcia, Kenny Brydon, Michael Harris, Malik Harris and Aly Tamboura and offer it to the prison population, where they can benefit from what San Quentin News can provide.

The disappointment of Proposition 57

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Conversations about Prop 57 were once a hot topic around San Quentin’s prison yard. Now it’s a disappointing whisper.

For decades a lot of prisoners around California have worked hard to rehabilitate themselves, hoping that one day they would be recognized and rewarded for their growth and change.

That hope has slowly disappeared as the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) continues to roll out its proposed emergency regulations for Prop 57.

These emergency regulations seem to offer some prisoners less hope to continue their rehabilitative efforts and little incentive to change.

R. Thomas was arrested in Los Angeles in 2000 and sentenced to 55-years-to-life in 2003. Thomas found out that his minimum eligibility parole date (MEPD) changed from 2055 to 2049.

Thomas stated, “I’ve earned an additional 35 years in gun enhancements on my sentence for doing wrong. I hoped Prop 57 would allow me a path to earn that much back for doing right, but the way it’s being implemented doesn’t help me at all. It’s not an incentive for me to continue bettering myself, but I’ll still continue to do good for God’s sake and society’s.”

In 2007, C. Daron Jr., from Los Angeles, was also sentenced to 55-years-to-life. CDCR reduced his MEPD from 2060 to 2046. Although long-term offenders receive more time off their sentences than short-term offenders, it doesn’t make a difference because their sentences are too long.

“Some may think, ‘Wow that’s a 14 year reduction,’” Daron Jr. said. “But at the age of 51, that would make me only eligible for parole consideration at 80 years old in 2046. That date is also tentative. Prop 57 in its current interpretation excluding substantive reduction in Three Strike cases is wholly ineffective.” 

Even though W. Boatwright was sentenced to 7 years, 8 months in 2012, he only received a little over a month off his sentence for good behavior.

K. Smith was sentenced to 19 years and had 6 months reduced from his April 2025 early possible release date (EPRD). C. Sims, like some prisoners, only received 19 days off his EPRD.

CDCR emergency regulations are adding more confusion to an already disproportionate and complex sentencing scheme in California.

“To have actual substantive reform of California’s current sentencing structure, the state legislature has to be involved in a nonpartisan effort. Politics have to be placed to the side so that substantive reform can be revised into the current laws, which are draconian in nature,” Daron Jr.  said.

Californians United for a Responsible Budget submitted a memo dated March 27, 2017, quoting expert Jim Austin, who recommended that there should be “retroactive and sustained changes to expand Good Time Credits so that prisoners receive credit they have already earned.”

Retroactive good time credits will give the chance to go home early to those prisoners who have taken it upon themselves to change their lives before they were offered any incentives.

As of now, CDCR is applying credits only toward the time an inmate has remaining on his or her sentence and not for the prior good conduct or rehabilitative programs a prisoners achieved while incarcerated.

CDCR Secretary Scott Kernan, however, stated that applying credits retroactively “would disadvantage those inmates who could not have known that the rules would change in 2017.”

In other words, before the draft regulations were written, inmates who did not take the initiative to participate in programs have gained an advantage over the men and women who took responsibility and accountability for their rehabilitation efforts by programming.

The intent of Prop 57 is to enhance public safety, improve rehabilitation, and give CDCR the authority to award credits “earned” for good behavior and other programs.

However, CDCR has made it so that a person who commits a crime today will earn more credits and be released sooner than someone who has decades of rehabilitative growth.

The opportunity to put a wedge behind the revolving door of recidivism and embrace public safety by granting credits to those prisoners who have actually prepared themselves for society has been squandered.

Mom's name in a tattoo

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When I first came to prison, I didn’t know what to expect. And, like many people who have never been behind these walls, I believed everything I heard or saw on TV.

I believed prisons were filled with nothing but violent and vindictive predators. By spending time in more than 10 different prisons around the state, this belief was dispelled. 

One of my early discoveries was that many convicts really love their mothers. They proudly proclaim it with that famous tattoo inscribed on their body somewhere, depicting a bright red heart, with Mom engraved in the middle.

I’m even guilty of tattooing my mom’s name, Barbara Bracy, on my body in two different places. To be more specific, I have eight mothers’ names tattooed on me, and I love every one of them.

After escaping an abusive relationship, my mom struggled to raise five troubled boys and one upset girl all by herself. She made sure we had a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.

Although we have all been to jail at one time or another, my mom made sure she was there for every one of us, every time.

I grew up disrespecting women. When I came to the realization that I was hurting the people who cared for me the most, I was ashamed and disappointed in myself. My mom raised me better than that.

I ended up in prison because I did not listen to my mom. When I was arrested, the first letter I received was from my mom. The first person I called from the county jail was my mom. My first CARE package was from my mom. When I was in need, my mom would be the first person to ask, “Do you need anything?” And, I did. I needed more than I was willing to admit. But, most importantly, all I wanted was her love.

CDCR’s Answer to Mental Issues and Suicide

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Dr. Timothy Belavich answered San Quentin News questions last December about the delivery of health care services to prisoners. Dr. Belavich was formerly acting director of the Division of Health Care Services and deputy director of the Statewide Mental Health Program. He is now employed by Los Angeles County. In previous editions San Quentin News reported his views on the Coleman lawsuit and custody and prison culture. This edition focuses on Suicide and Use of Force. Transgender Special Needs will appear next month.
By Dr. Timothy Belavich
Contributing Writer
Q. Tell us specifically about the programs and policies that have been implemented to reduce the suicide rate.
A. Education for staff, patients and families is an important piece of any suicide prevention program. Suicide prevention posters are located in every institution. Custody staff carries pocket cards that identify suicide warning signs and risk factors. We have created workbooks for inmates placed in restricted housing, and we have disseminated informational pamphlets for inmates and their families and friends. In addition, every institution has an assigned suicide prevention coordinator who is required to attend the Men’s Advisory Council and Inmate Family Council in order to provide education about suicide prevention and to answer questions about mental health concerns.
In order to try to reduce the suicide rate in Administrative Segregation Units (ASU), CDCR increased the frequency of welfare checks in all administrative segregation units and initiated the use of intake cells (cells that have been designed to be suicide-resistant) in ASU. CDCR also developed a workbook for all inmates placed in ASU, and purchased hand-cranked radios for inmate’s use while in ASU. The workbooks and radios were distributed because it was recognized that initial placement in ASU can be emotionally difficult, and it is important for inmates to be able to have a diversion in an isolating environment. The workbooks contain some suicide prevention messages and coping strategies.
Training for health care and custody staff has been revised and expanded. In addition, new training modules and methods for enhancing suicide risk evaluations completed by mental health staff have been developed and implemented. Additionally, a system for monitoring compliance with CDCR’s suicide prevention policies was developed and will become part of the department’s regular monitoring.
Statewide suicide prevention video conferences occur monthly and include medical, nursing, custody, legal and mental health representation at all institutions. Every institution has an assigned Suicide Prevention Coordinator.
Q. What changes have been made in the Use of Force policies and procedures?
A. Mental health is now involved in all situations that may require controlled use of force, whether or not the inmate is a participant in the mental health program, also known as the Mental Health Services Delivery System (MHSDS). Specifically, when controlled use of force is considered, a “cool-down period” is required. A mental health clinician must assess the inmate and determine if the inmate 1) understands the order 2) has difficulty complying with the order and/or 3) if the inmate’s mental health symptoms are likely to get worse if force is used. The mental health clinician will work with the inmate if he is suffering from a mental health related condition. Furthermore, nursing staff will review the health care record to ensure that the use of a chemical agent will not adversely affect an existing health condition. Decisions to use force are now a team decision that involves custody, mental health, nursing and medical staff. If the team cannot agree, the decision about whether to use force is elevated to custody and mental health (and medical, as appropriate) management. Mental health is now involved in all institutional reviews of controlled use of force and immediate use of force incidents involving patients in the MHSDS.

Reforming Our Way of Thinking

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Governor Jerry Brown is backing an initiative titled “The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016.”. The initiative changes the way juveniles are charged in adult court and will, potentially, have a drastic effect on adult sentencing.
There is a debate about the impact this initiative will actually have if it makes it into the ballot and if it is voted into law in November. What seems certain is that people who were not talking about reforming sentencing policy a few years ago are now talking about it.
The Honorable Thelton Henderson told a room full of incarcerated men at San Quentin in November of 2015 that in his time on the bench this is the first time he has witnessed people from all sides of the aisle discussing prison reform. A lot of people are realizing that the criminal justice system is broken and are coming up with ways to fix it.
Governor Brown is supporting one solution. The California District Attorneys Association opposes the initiative. They argue that there are people in prison who absolutely should not get out any earlier due to overcrowding.
The problem Californians are facing is that since Assembly Bill 109, also known as “Realignment,” the “low hanging fruit” is gone. Left in prison are people with violent, serious or sex charges, “3-Strikers” and so-called “Lifers.” These are the people who are keeping the prisons overpopulated. These are the people who will get out of prison early if there is going to be sentence reform, or if the federal court acts.
While we talk about prison and sentence reform, it would be good for us to recognize that before we can reform anything, we first have to reform the way we think. Nothing good will happen if we talk about reform but continue to think “tough on crime.”

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