San Quentin News

Written By Inmates - Advancing Social Justice

Social media depicting prison experiences gaining popularity

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By Alfred King, Journalism Guild Writer

The prison experience meets social media. The popularity of YouTube prison channels that show viewers a slice of life behind prison walls has exploded. Former inmates, grappling with anxiety and family problems after release, have taken to popular social media networks to share their experiences behind bars.

The YouTube videos—part horror story, part prison survival guide—teach viewers how to use the bathroom, bathe, defend against sexual assault, negotiate with gang members, make prison-style pizza, and even how to survive a prison riot.

Combined, the top four prison-themed YouTube channels have over 2.1 million subscribers and 342 million page views.

“Though the United States is home to thousands of prisons, those facilities, and the stories inside them, remained off-limits to outsiders till the onset of the internet and social media,” said Dawn K. Cecil, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Florida.

Increased public interest in prison-themed media coincides with public pushes for criminal justice reform, Cecil said.

YouTube is not the only platform seeing a surge in prison-themed programming.

Netflix recently premiered a six-part documentary about the violent world of Sacramento’s County Jail for women, titled “Jailbirds.” San Quentin State Prison inmates produce the award-winning podcast, “Ear Hustle,”

which provides an un-filtered glimpse into the harsh realities of prison life.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 698 out of every 100,000 Americans live behind bars.

“Everyone in America right now has a family member or a friend or knows someone in prison,” said Shaun Attwood, a former drug dealer. Attwood’s YouTube channel about the brutality of prison life has 175,000 subscribers.

Long-time prisoner Joe Guerrero said his life lacked real direction. He suffered from anxiety and felt his family was falling apart when he began to upload videos about his life on YouTube.

At first, no one noticed. Then he uploaded a video on how to make a prison tattoo gun. The clip went viral and now, 700 videos later, his YouTube channel, “After Prison Show,” has 1.2 million subscribers. Making the videos is a full-time job, but advertising revenue from the videos provides Guerrero a six-figure salary.

Marcus “Big Herc” Timmons is another YouTube star. At 24, the Los Angeles native had drifted through life—until he and two other men decided to rob a bank near Calabasas, Calif.

The robbery netted the trio $94,000, but they were spotted leaving the robbery in a bright red Lincoln Navigator. They led the police on a high-speed chase up U.S. Highway 101, pursued by police helicopters. They were finally brought to a stop with a spike strip. Timmons spent nearly nine years in federal prison. Now, he shares stories from his time behind bars with his YouTube fans.

“Every college in America should have a class that features “Big Herc,’” said Kevin Boyle, a retired army colonel and former advocate judge, who teaches at American University’s School of Public Affairs.“You can go on a prison tour, but to have somebody who is really authentic talk freely about that world is a totally different experience.”

College professors like Boyle show the videos in criminal justice and law enforcement classes across the nation.

The UK revises prisoner work furlough policies

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By—Alfred King

In the United Kingdom, more prisoners are being allowed to take outside jobs while serving their sentence.

Both England and Wales have adopted new policies concerning the release of prisoners to work in the community, BBC News reports.

This change in current policy comes as the government seeks ways to reduce re-offending, which comes as a high cost to society.

“Step in the right direction”

The new direction and shift in policy comes six years after the previous rules had been tightened. This was due to the case of Ian McLaughlin, who while on a temporary work release in 2013, stabbed and killed a man.

In 2018, 7,700 inmates were able to participate in these work release programs, allowing them to spend working hours outside of prison in the community. Some were even allowed overnight stays according BBC news.

Now, with new less restrictive policies being implemented, the number of inmates who are allowed to work outside of prison is expected to increase by several hundred.

A new application makes the process more efficient, according to officials. An inmate may take and pass a rigorous “Risk Assessment” test right away rather than having to wait until he or she is within 12 months of release.

Justice Secretary David Gauke told BBC News, “The evidence and common sense suggest that prison- ers who go into work after they leave prison are less likely to re-offend. If we just dump them out of prison having not done anything to get them ready for work, then I’m afraid the risk of re-offending is that much greater.”

Organizations and others in the community have come to realize the value of employing prisoners and are being encouraged to join the 300 who have already signed on to participate.

The Prison Reform Trust welcomed the new policy, calling it a “step in the right direction,” but added, “There is much farther to go.”

Local television station honors three with the Jefferson Award for their public service at San Quentin

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San Quentin employee Raphaele Casale has been presented The Jefferson Award for Public Service for her behind the scenes community work.

Raphaele Casale

Casale is an office technician who works in the San Quentin warden’s office.

She also runs the prison’s music program and is one of the staff sponsors for the SQUIRES (San Quentin Utilization of Inmate Resources Experiences and Studies) program that allows inmates to mentor at-risk youth. “I love kids,” she commented.

Allen Martin from KPIX channel 5 interviewed Casale for a news broadcast in September.

“I get to work with a lot of wonderful people,” said Casale. “I was blessed to be assigned to two differ- ent groups. I want to make the groups better.” She said there’s therapeutic value in both programs.

UNSUNG HERO

Casale also provides support to staff in other parts of the prison, to volunteers, and to inmates who work in the prison’s media center. To many, she’s one of San Quentin’s unsung heroes, or in her case “Shero.”

As a sponsor, Casale is recognized by many inside and outside of the prison for the work she does beyond the scope of her day job.

“How can you put money on things that change someone’s life?” said Casale. “How could I not support that?”

Casale said inmates who work with youth in the SQUIRES program become aware of why they made a choice to commit crime and get to know themselves better. She said the kids open up to the men.

By talking to the kids “they (inmates) get a snapshot of their life,” said Casale. The men feel good about being able to help the kids. “It’s really healing. It’s a win-win for both.”

“There are people here at San Quentin who work traditional prison jobs … She is one of those people who looks beyond the eight hours and gives more of herself”

“Just one person can make an absolute difference in their (the kids) life,” said Casale. “Many of them have experienced being beaten or worse.” Because many inmates have suffered the same type of early childhood trauma, “when these kids come in, they’re talking to men who already know them.”

“There are people here at San Quentin who work traditional prison jobs,” said Lt. Sam Robinson, the prison’s public information officer. “She is one of those people who looks
beyond the eight hours and gives more of herself.”

Robinson said Casale, affectionately known as Raphie, “brings all the energy to these programs that she brings to the warden’s office.”

NOMINATION

Brian Asey, the inmate who nominated Casale for the award, said, “She’s a very unique person. I can only imagine what it’s like being in her shoes. I know that she does a lot around here.”

Asey said during a recording of a Youth Offender Program (YOP) audio mix, he observed Casale leave on a Friday night and re- turn on a Saturday morning for another project.

He said he wanted her to know that what she does is appreciated by the inmates at San Quentin.

Inmate David Jassy, who produced a mix tape for some of the YOP inmates, said to have Casale come from the warden’s office and sit with them gets them enthused, and her support means everything. “When they see that she likes what they’re doing, it adds to their confidence,” he said.

Casale explained that the YOPs, like those who participate in SQUIRES, have to be honest with themselves and vulnerable. No negative content, derogatory or abusive language is allowed in recordings. “It takes a lot of bravery,” she said. “A lot of people don’t have that or the humility.”

The SQUIRES youth program takes place on Saturdays, so Casale wasn’t able to demonstrate her hands-on approach with the kids. The KPIX news crew was able to follow her to the loft above the prison’s Arts in Corrections building. There they observed a typical rehearsal with the hip hop band Contagious, where Jassy and the band performed three original songs.

“It’s been really important to be able to build that program,” said Casale. She said there’s a lot of stress in prison and music can re- lease the stress. “It opens your mind up to some things you’ve never thought of.”

Casale started working at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as an offsite medical scheduler and was later hired to work in the war- den’s office. She’s worked at San Quentin for 11 years.

“Being a self-help sponsor, I do get paid for it, but that’s not all of it,” said Casale. “I’m becoming a better person, too. I’m learning about myself. If I were to get another job, I would always come back as a volunteer.”

By Kevin D. Sawyer Associate Editor

The Jefferson award is given annually by local television staion KPIX.

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Helaine “Lainy” Melnitzer

By teaching the incarcerated men of San Quentin high-end culinary skills, Lainy Melnitzer and Lisa Dombroski earned the Jefferson Award for Public Service on Aug. 28.

The program they founded, Quentin Cooks, will help the men find gainful employment upon their release. “Our receiving the Jefferson Award is more a testament to the grassroots nature of this program,” said Dombroski, “I feel we, as volunteers, get as much out of the program as our students. While we are solely volunteers, it is the men we serve that continue to make our program successful.”

Dombroski developed a true appreciation for food while traveling through Patagonia in South America. She realized that at each mealtime, conversations, stories and community were all centered on the food.

Lisa Dombroski

Later she was inspired to bring her love for the culi- nary arts to those who are often overlooked and underserved.

Teaming up with Melnitzer, who was already volunteering at San Quentin with a group that connects inmates with the local community and a reentry program, they decided to start the Quentin Cooks program.

“My vision for Quentin Cooks is that there will be a continuous flow of graduates from the program that we are able to place in meaningful employment,” said Melnitzer, “I feel that the program is so good due the Chefs Huw and Adelaar who teach the class.”
“It’s so humanizing to be in the Quentin Cooks class. They really treat us like we have the ability to succeed,” said Nathaniel Reichert, a current participant in the program, “I’ve always loved good food, but I never knew I could make good food. Being a part of this class is helping me realize my potential.”

The 12-week class meets on Wednesday mornings for five hours.

Throughout the class, the men democratically decide the dishes that they will make. Chili, curries and homemade cheeses are just a few of the dishes that the student cooks learn to make.

The Chef’s Warehouse donates dry goods and equipment for the program, while VegiWorks donates all of the produce and meat.

The class culminates in a graduation banquet, during which the incarcerated cooks prepare a several course meal for visitors from the Bay Area culinary community.

“I go into all of this believing that one person can help the world. If you’ve helped one person, you’ve helped the planet,” said Melnitzer, “You never know the extent of the ripples from a pebble that you throw in the pond.”

By Aron Kumar Roy Staff Writer

Californians divided over results from criminal justice reforms

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A debate is growing on the impact of criminal justice reforms in California. Widely differing views are surfacing on reforms approved by California voters in recent years.

That includes Proposition 47 in 2014, that reduced some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors; Proposition 57, which passed in 2016 and allowed prison officials to decide which nonviolent felonies could be reduced to misdemeanors (under Proposition 47), and a 2018 measure allowed many defendants to be released without bail pending trial.

Opponents of reform argue that California’s new laws are to blame for increases in certain categories of crime or short-term fluctuations in rates of violent crime. The opponents include state police unions, court employees, some district attorneys and politicians. They blame early release initiatives for violent episodes of recidivism, according to the Jan. 21 New York Times.

Ironically, overall crime rates have reached lows not seen since the 1960s, the newspaper reported.

“Proposition 47 has nothing to do with violent crime,” said Charis E. Kubrin of UC Irvine. She is one of the researchers in a study that found no link between Proposition 47 and violent crime.

The study uncovered increases in larceny and auto thefts, but Kubrin and her co- author, Bradley J. Bartos, did not conclude that Proposition 47 was the cause.
The Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys criticized the study, adding that Proposition 47 had “arguably failed,” due to increases in crime.

“important to understand that we are in a historic decline… we are safer than almost at any time in history”

Last year, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned of a “staggering increase in homicides.” Violent crime did rise in 2015 and 2016, yet, when FBI figures were released, they showed violent crime had decreased in 2017. This is why some researchers and activists say that criminal justice policies should not rely on annual fluctuations, the newspaper reported.

“Year-to-year fluctuations don’t really tell you much,” said Rob Smith, executive director of the Justice Collaborative. He also told the newspaper that it’s “important to understand that we are in a historic decline…The reality is across California and across the country, we are safer than almost at any time in history.”

In California, law enforcement unions, bail bond companies and other groups are pushing measures to define new crimes as felonies and repeal the state’s recent cash bail reform.

Texas DA to decide his stance on Death Penalty

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Halfway through his first term, Mark Gonzalez, the District Attorney of Nueces County, Texas, is still trying to decide what his stance is on the death penalty, according to the Texas Observer.

Gonzalez, called a “progressive prosecutor” by many, due to his progressive stance on many issues, said he’s conflicted about the death penalty and wants to let the people of Nueces County decide whether capital punishment should stand in the county. He expected to receive a “test case” with a jury, to help him decide what the policy should be.

“I can’t say I’m pro-anything, but I am very pro-giving this and entrusting this to the jury to make the decision,” he told the Observer.

Gonzales and the jury must decide how to handle the case of Arturo Garza. Garza has reportedly admitted to beating his seven-months-pregnant girlfriend Susanna Eguia to death in 2015. Earlier he was charged with two counts of murder—one charge for Susanna and one charge for the unborn infant.

But death penalty attorneys say Gonzalez’s wait- and-see approach avoids the responsibility of his office: determining and advocating for a punishment he thinks is appropriate.

The “progressive prosecutor” movement includes District Attorneys who advocate abandoning the use of the death penalty, decriminalizing marijuana possession, sending low-level offenders

to rehabilitative courses instead of jail, seeking shorter sentences, and “vowing to aggressively prosecute police-involved shootings.”

Some District Attorneys who are considered progressive still pursue death sentences despite the trend away from capital punishment, its high monetary costs, ineffectiveness in deterring crime and its disproportionate use against people of color.

District Attorney Kim Ogg of Harris County, who has pushed for marijuana decriminalization and bail reform, said she pursues the death penalty only under extreme cases.

Ogg consults with a capital review committee of senior prosecutors to help her vet these cases.

Though Gonzalez also consults with his prosecutors about capital cases, during an interview with a reporter, he didn’t cite a criteria or process for when to pursue a death sentence. “We know when it may be an option that we consider and we definitely know when it’s not,” he said.

According to the Observer, Garza’s is one of six cases in which the death penalty continued to be a possibility for juries in Gonzalez’s first two years Garza’s appointed law- yer, Richard Rogers, said that for months his client has been willing to plead to life-without-parole in order to avoid a trial and possible death sentence. Rogers feels strongly that the state should accept Garza’s plea offer. “Because bottom line: Either way the guy is going to die in prison.”

Kim Kardashian helps formerly incarcerated obtain jobs

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Kim Kardashian is working to help formerly incarcerated people obtain jobs as part of her involvement with criminal justice reform.

Kardashian appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote her makeup line but ended up discussing criminal justice reform, according to instyle.com on Feb. 8.

“I think there’s such a stigma on people hiring formerly incarcerated people,” she said. “There’s so many people that are incarcerated for life. For murder, that maybe they were just next to someone, and there was a group of people, and a fight broke out and somebody unfortunately died.

“But they didn’t even hit the person, didn’t even have a weapon and were serving life,” she said.

Kardashian thinks that people who are pardoned should be given a second chance. “I would love to hire formerly incarcerated people,” she said.

Early this year she visited San Quentin prison, where she talked with men who were sentenced to extremely long sentences, including life imprisonment.

While at San Quentin, she listened to the music of people who committed crimes as juveniles and lifers. This music was produced by the Swedish Grammy nominated music producer David Jassy.

Jassy is a Swedish-born, Gambian-Estonian descendant. He is serving a life sentence for an altercation following an award show in Hollywood.

Kardashian heard about Jassy and the San Quentin Mixtape Vol. 1 through Van Jones and Jessica Sloan of #Cut50. Together Jones, Sloan and Kardashian helped Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender get pardoned by Pres. Donald Trump last summer.

She believes people like Johnson should be given a second chance. Jassy said she shared the same belief about those featured on the mix tape. He said they also spoke about second chances, reentry, and bridging the gap between incarcerated men in the music program and executive producers in the industry.

After listening to the mix tape, “she was impressed, willing to support the mix tape and supported the fact that we don’t use profanity,”Jassy said.

“I could learn something from it,” Kardashian said, according to Jassy.

The mix tapes can be followed on Instagram @ Sanquentinmixtapes.

San Quentin News hosts fundraiser gala for community supporters

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The award-winning San Quentin News has become one of the few prison projects ever to hold its own fundraising gala in California. 

The Nov. 23 inaugural event, hailed as “historic,” took place at Marin Shakespeare Company’s headquarters in San Rafael and was attended by 43 supporters, who donated more than $2,000 for the newspaper. 

The dinner, which was well attended despite the rain, attracted formerly incarcerated persons, current volunteers and community members interested in social justice. 

Although the paper’s staff members were absent (they were at chow or in the media center–all behind walls at San Quentin State Prison), the writers and editors made an appearance in videos watched by the audience. 

“An event like this is unprecedented in San Quentin history,” Associate Editor and Business Manager Kevin Sawyer said on video. “The way we’ve always done donations has been through inserts in our paper, word of mouth. This has been our first time communicating with donors.” 

According to Sawyer, the gala was a form of first contact, a donor outreach event meant to drum up outside support. The News’ current goal is to expand its reach to all 50 states. 

In addition, attendees heard the plans to increase the reach of the monthly newspaper to all the correctional facilities in California and beyond. The staff also produces a web site (sanquentinnews.com) and a magazine, Wall City.

Since the newspaper was founded in 1940s, the publication expenses were covered by the state. When Warden Clinton Duffy started the newspaper, it could rely on the Prison Industries Authority printing press and prison labor to print each issue. When the print shop shut down in 2010, the News had to find its own source of funding, which has taken the form of grants from foundations, to pay the costs of printing the newspaper in a commercial printing company in San Rafael. The newspaper is seeking to expand its donor base to include the social justice community. 

Former inmate Dameion Brown, who has successfully pursued a career in acting, gave a moving tribute to how the prison’s theater group helped him find purpose while incarcerated. To the delight of the room, Brown recited a speech from Othello, a role he portrayed as the Moor of Venice in a Marin Shakespeare Company production. 

Aly Tamboura, one of the original San Quentin News staff members who revived the newspaper in 2008, spoke to the group. Employed by the Chan Zuckerburg Initiative, a social justice advocacy organization, Tamboura spoke of the history and power of the San Quentin News as a force for good in the prison. He stressed the importance of finding direction behind bars. 

Donors and supporters in attendance

Other volunteers and advisors also spoke about the impact that the News has had on their lives and perspectives. They reflected on how far the newspaper had come and expressed their excitement to watch it grow. Lisa Adams, director of development for the Friends of San Quentin News, called the gala a “historic event” in the growth of the News. 

Adams stressed that the San Quentin News has served to educate men and women both within and outside of the criminal justice system. The men who create it have found purpose, community and invaluable training for when they re-enter society, she said. 

Lisa Adams speaking at the gala with Aly Tamboura, Angela Sevin, Dameion Brown and Jody Lewen

Speaking via video, Jesse Vasquez, editor in chief of the San Quentin News, said, “We show them the education, the services, the groups the guys have access to in here — show them that if they’re better in here, they’ll be better out there. There isn’t a difference between the inside and outside community.” 

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