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The Golden State (GS) Warriors are national champions, but after their sixth annual road game behind the walls of San Quentin State Prison. They lost 103-102 despite Bob Myers’ 32 points and 31 rebounds performance. The “home team” celebrated the victory by poses with the 2017 NBA Championship trophy. “They earned the win; they out-played us,” said Myers, the NBA Executive of the Year, for the second time. “It was very fun … Everyone was great except the dude who guarded me today.” Even before the arrival of the GS team, 31-year-old Cornell … [Read more...] about San Quentin Warriors celebrate victory over Golden State

Having a parent behind bars was the theme of San Quentin’s inaugural Walk for the Next Generation, which brought to light stories of pain, solidarity, and struggle. The Sept. 10 event welcomed more than 45 guests wearing white and green Project Avary T-shirts with its blossom tree trademark. They mingled on the Lower Yard with more than 200 prisoners, sporting green rubber bracelets in solidarity. Project Avary provides kids ages 8-11, a 10-year program of support while their parents are incarcerated. “You could see that a lot of the men here … [Read more...] about Project Avary fundraises for kids of incarcerated parents

The Last Mile inmate coding program, Code.7370, has designed a new website for San Quentin News at www.sanquentinnews.com. Inmate Harry Hemphill built the website. He graduated from the coding class in April 2015. His work is the third iteration of the website since it debuted in 2010. “I’ve acquired a lot of technical skills,” said Hemphill. “I’m passionate about giving back to the community.” According to Hemphill, the project was budgeted for 150 hours of work, but he said it probably took a little more time. He said working on … [Read more...] about SQN launches new website, Visit us at sanquentinnews.com

Richard Johnson, 66, a columnist for the Oakland Post, did something he believed impossible while in prison; he attended a ceremony wearing a cap and gown to pick up a diploma for finishing a computer literacy course. Johnson was one of more than 150 inmates to graduate July 21 and July 28 from one of San Quentin’s educational programs. The event, held in the prison’s visiting room, included the graduates’ friends and family as well as their teachers and fellow prisoners. “He’s changed. I can see the growth in him. I can see the … [Read more...] about Robert E. Burton Adult School graduation celebrates GED and vocational achievements

Custody staff, 165 inmates and media representatives gathered May 24 inside the Level II gymnasium of California State Prison-Solano in anticipation of the arrival of two Special Olympic athletes. Music played on the sound system, and everyone inside lined up from the front door to the back door (half the length of a football field) in two lines facing one another with arms raised, representing a “Tunnel of Love.” Then the two athletes, Tiffany and Karissa, with Karissa's mother, Christa, Captain M. Dernoncourt, Retired Associate Warden … [Read more...] about Solano State Prison hosts Special Olympics Torch Run

Platinum Hip-Hop artist Jermaine Cole (“J. Cole”) used a day off during his tour to come see mass incarceration up close. In a two-hour visit with a juvenile lifer support group at San Quentin, Cole reaffirmed his belief that we need education instead of mass incarceration. Scott Budnick, producer of the Hangover movie series and founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, invited Cole to visit the Kids Creating Awareness Together (Kid CAT) group. By working together, Budnick, Kid CAT members and many others have gotten some harsh laws … [Read more...] about Hip-Hop artist J. Cole visits San Quentin

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón took the first step toward establishing a functioning information link between his prosecution team members and the people they send to prison. About a year ago, Gascón created a Formerly Incarcerated Advisory Board (FIAB), and on June 30, it met in San Quentin for the first time. The meeting brought formerly incarcerated men and women as well as San Quentin inmates together for face-to-face discussions with two dozen staff members from the DA’s office.   Gascón said he hopes that … [Read more...] about San Quentin hosts fourth D.A. forum

Linda White, who visits the man who murdered her daughter in Texas, spoke about how much forgiveness has done for her at a Restorative Justice Symposium inside San Quentin State Prison. “I was really uncomfortable with all the violent responses to violence,” White said. “It seemed to me that adding more violence onto violence, you weren’t healing anybody.” SQ resident Troy Smith and impromptu speaker Greg Winship, a former lifer who earned a master’s degree in restorative justice, also spoke at the symposium on the theme of healing, growth … [Read more...] about Forgiveness and healing demonstrated at Restorative Symposium

The death penalty remains uncertain in California, with legal challenges facing lethal drug use and a voter-approved proposition to speed up executions. California may be close to resuming executions in 2018, though others say there are “too many variables and challenges remaining to make a prediction,” reported Don Thompson of the Associated Press, in an interview with Robert Weisberg, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. California’s Death Row inmates are symbolic of capital punishment gone wrong. Recent revisions to the … [Read more...] about California’s death penalty remains deadlocked

Advocates and families of prisoners have held rallies to protest the deaths and suicides of their loved ones in California prisons and jails. The California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and families recently held a vigil in front of the California Institution for Women (CIW) at Corona to focus attention on the continued deaths and suicides in the facility. California’s state prisons recorded eight suicides in the first five months of the year. Also, earlier this year, four prisoners died in nine days at Twin Towers Correctional … [Read more...] about Protesters drawing attention to prison deaths and suicides