San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

S.Q. News Photographer Heads Out the Gate

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Javier Jiménez, the San Quentin News (SQN) staff photographer for the last 18 months, ended his eight-year prison journey on March 16 when he became a returning citizen.

“I never thought my criminality would end—and to get a new start while being at San Quentin, it’s unbelievable,” said the returning husband and father of a son.

Jiménez credits SQN with allowing him to “get back in touch with the passion (photography) I have loved for 23 years.”

Jiménez is an example of CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz’s new mission statement:

“To facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in our care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society by providing education, treatment, rehabilitative and restorative justice programs, all in a safe and humane environment.”

Before leaving, Jimenez talked with the San Quentin News. The self-taught photographer said, “I feel lucky and, just as important, [I] came through under pressure for the newspaper. I was in the right place at the right time. I knew [previous photographer] Eddie Herena was leaving and knew the editor-in-chief, Jesse Vasquez. I put my resumé in, and it, the resumé, only showed my ambition to better myself and the News team hired me.”

Jiminez reminisced about his favorite photo shoot. “My favorite photo shoot was my very first one—The Queens of the Stone Age. The Warden was there, I met Lieutenant Robinson, and someone said, “Here, turn on the camera.” Smiling, he said, “That’s a lot of pressure.”

The staff photographer shoots two to three hundred shots per event. Jimenez evaluated his own work, saying, “I was not good at first, but have gotten much better with more access to the camera.”

From the artistic side, Jimenez leaves words of wisdom for the next photographer(s). “You’ll get thrown in, so read about the basics and it better flow—either you have the passion to improve in any craft or occupation or you don’t. My improvement came from knowing I was working with a national newspaper that was paying me to learn—and I am getting better because I have that passion to improve.”

One of the mainstays in the SQN office, he stabilized the crew with a daily dose of humor and wisdom from “real talk.” Jiménez looked at every day he spent in the newsroom as “comical—like stand-up comedy,” and left a remembrance of each “family member” of the staff:

  • Marcus “Wali” Henderson, editor-in chief, is a “laid back person who loves to write.”
  • Juan Haines, senior editor, is the “smooth argumentative grandpa.”
  • Kevin Sawyer, associate editor, is “meticulously organized and a great writer.”
  • Joe Garcia, the Journalism Guild chairperson, he sarcastically called “the weirdest personal trainer I’ve ever met.”
  • David Ditto, circulation manager, is “always looking at the positive aspects of EVERYTHING.”
  • Charles Crowe, staff writer, has “an undercover sense of humor I love.”
  • Heriberto Arredondo, staff writer,  “will have big shoes to fill when Juan Espinosa leaves.”
  • Anthony Caravalho, staff writer:  “You took a lot of ‘stuff’ from us and you keep coming back—hope to do business with you on the outside.”
  •  Juan Espinosa, layout designer and leader of Wall City’s Spanish edition, he credits as “the most important representative of the 35-45% of incarcerated Hispanic people. “Juan is my genius brother that claims he is not a genius, but I know better.”
  • Richard “Bonaru” Richardson, executive editor, is “my brother with like-minded aspirations who deserves to go home.”

Jimenez’s own aspirations are to live where he can afford to buy land, and to build a nice home for his family while keeping them safe. If he can own a photo studio or fall back on his construction talents upon his return to society, he will be satisfied going home to the family he loves.

Executive Editor Richard Richardson said the news group will depend on Jiménez’s support for photographs from outside stories the group is developing. Currently Jiménez hopes to follow his predecessor, Eddie Herena, who is working with Wall City, while he considers offers to be staff photographer for a local nonprofit called “Through The Bars.”

“To make a living out of my passion (photography) is the most enjoyable thing I was allowed to do in prison, and if I can carry it beyond the walls of San Quentin I would consider myself very fortunate,” said the SQ News photographer. “Hopefully I can continue capturing people’s attention with pictures—that is my goal.

“I remember at DVI eight years ago, I read all about the programs at San Quentin and hoped to get there.” For those aspiring to join the nation’s #1 news outlet on social reform, he added, “I think the paper allows you to hone skills while in prison, especially if you can write. I mean, where else can you be consistently published and be around people who carry weight in the justice system on a daily basis? It’s just unheard of,” said Jiménez.

Monday morning March 16 upon his release, you could have found “Javy” at the nearest taco truck before he went home to continue another passion he has not done for eight years—cooking enchiladas for his family.

Storytellers polish their craft through the San Quentin News Journalism Guild

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Monica Campbell with the Spanish graduating class of 2020

The second annual San Quentin News Journalism Guild Graduation took place in the Garden Chapel on Jan. 17. Twelve graduates from November’s class combined with this current class of 11 to celebrate finishing the six-month course.

The event honored the graduates, recognized advisors and brought attention to the impact of programs like the guild on rehabilitation.

Richard “Bonaru” Richardson, SQ News’ Executive Editor and winner of the Arnulfo T. Garcia Leadership Award, spoke about the importance of the guild.

Having worked every position from print to layout to Editor-in-Chief, Richardson reflected how words began to change his life.

“At my last prison, a guy called me pessimistic, and I wanted to beat him up—even though I really didn’t know what the word meant,” said Richardson.

Inmates across the country can thank Richardson’s curiosity and intellect when he looked the word up and realized his own talent with words.

“Words mean a lot; we communicate with each other; we all have the ability to grow. Our newspaper allows people to grow—and will continue to do so,” said Richardson.

“Our graduates—know you were journalists before you picked up a pen. Remember, if no one tells your story, who will?” Richardson said. “Please use your voice; it’s the most powerful asset (weapon) you have.”

Lisa Adams, the newspaper’s development manager for two years, called her career journey from state and federal prison “empty, until I found my niche helping others.”

Adams is collaborating with Wells Fargo Bank executive Amanda Weitman to generate philanthropic donations for the news agency. “Inside and out, we give the world access to the understanding and awareness of social reform and its impact. This news agency reduces recidivism by giving hope to the incarcerated throughout the nation,” said the philanthropic executive.

Today, San Quentin News is a leading voice for incarcerated people in the country.

San Quentin News’ editor-in-chief, Marcus “Wali” Henderson, remarked upon the journalism program’s capacity to build bridges. “(SQ News and Wall City) journalists tell stories that people are afraid to tell.”

Henderson, who used to chair the Guild, then introduced keynote speaker Tracy Brumfield.

Brumfield has transformed from “a heroin addict in and out of jail and then prison” to founder of a women’s news agency called RISE.

She inspired the crowd, speaking about her addiction, “I’m beating its ass.” For the graduates she said, “The power of words—storytelling—includes talking about our journey. I found it extremely empowering to tell my journey…Write about what you know…your testimony!”

The Department of Juvenile Justice’s Ericka Mutchler celebrated the success of the incarcerated female population in California. Mutchler gave praise to Wall City’s third edition, which featured incarcerated females.

“The women featured on the back page of Wall City were my [juvenile] clients who co-wrote articles for the edition. I am pleased to announce all of them have been released with jobs,” said the counselor.

Henderson introduced former San Francisco prosecutor Marisa Rodriquez after he spoke about the social reform symposiums at San Quentin. The latest forum with the San Francisco Police Department was a “Blue on Blue forum [which] improved communication between law enforcement and incarcerated persons. It [forums] will allow us continue to build bridges that no one else can,” said Henderson.

In 2012, Rodriquez took a suggestion from her father to visit San Quentin.

“Now, I can’t shake this place,” said the former D.A. “It [the visit] was very, very moving, and I didn’t expect that. I shared the experience with my supervisor, San Francisco D.A. George Gascon.” She told Gascon there was something very special happening at San Quentin, and he needed to go in and see what was happening himself, if we are going to change justice.

Gascon’s office then collaborated with the late Arnulfo Garcia to create the first symposium. It focused on San Francisco Community Court prosecutors’ desire to investigate what drives youth to commit crimes.

The symposium was such a success, today the forums are a core of the news outlet’s brand.

Rodriquez said after Police Chief (Del Scott) brought in his team, it led to the creation of the nation’s first Formerly Incarcerated Advisory Board. The board includes San Francisco prosecutors and formerly incarcerated men and women, many of whom had life sentences before being paroled.

CDCR administrators who ensure accuracy and analysis for SQ News include), Terri Hardy, Krissi Khokhobashvili, and Ike Dodson. They received plaques of recognition and said, “No matter what happened in your past, who you are when you come out on the other side is what matters.” Henderson also praised the group of Wall City advisors in attendance. Kate McQueen, Sarah Horowitz, Doug Levy and Dan Fost represented the magazine’s advisory board of 12.

AROUND THE WORLD

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Susanne Karch with sisters Gunilla and Agneta on the small island of Kӓringӧn off the West Coast of Sweden

Dr. Susan Rahman in front of the wall that divides Palestine and Israel

PUP instructor Sophie FitzMaurice across the pond

Upcoming Events for San Quentin in July

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San Quentin Day of Peace July 13th Lower Yard

Ken Burns documentary July 24th Protestant Chapel 11:00-1:00pm

San Quentin Barbershop Dialogue July 26th Protestant Chapel 10:00-3:00pm

San Quentin Education Graduation July 26th

San Quentin Yard Show July 27th Lower Yard

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.” 

Around the World

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Buddhist Monk in the Himalayas at the Tiger’s Nest Monastery in Bhutan approximately 12,000 feet above sea level
Andy Alpine, co-facilitator of Developing a Positive Attitude – underwater in Roatan, Honduras

UC Davis launches social media campaign to combat ex-prisoner perceptions

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A group of formerly incarcerated university students is launching a social media campaign designed to combat society’s negative perceptions of ex-prisoners.

The University of California at Davis students call their campaign “We Are All Students” (WAAS). The aim is to help others to respect former inmates for who they are as people.

“We are producing a year-long social media campaign that conveys the social situations and experiences of people who attend higher education in the shadow of incarceration,” Zach Psick told the San Quentin News. Psick is formerly incarcerated and is the project’s student campaign director. 

The digital campaign will consist of between 100 and 150 posts on social media platforms such as Instagram. Each post will portray a student whose life was impacted by incarceration or the legal system. The digital posts will include high-resolution photographs of about a dozen people. 

“The photos will illuminate their personalities and humanity by conveying their everyday experiences as students,” Psick said. “Protecting their identities will de-individualize their experiences and allow them to express themselves without jeopardizing their pursuit of better lives.” 

Psick said he was convicted of a crime 12 years ago, but the stigma around his incarceration remains. 

“I have been surprised by the emergence of groups representing formerly incarcerated scholars at all levels of academia,” said Psick. “I thought people like me were rarer.” 

Psick says that his probation officer wanted him to go to prison, not college. “He told me that repeatedly,” Psick said. “It was because a risk assessment predicted I would reoffend. Now I’m in my fifth year of graduate school.”

His accomplishments include a master’s degree in sociology, a B.A. in Communication Studies, and a certificate in Addiction Studies/Public Health. He has published reports on aging in prison and aging reentry populations in the International Journal of Prisoner Health and the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia. 

“I had what they called a learning disorder,” Psick said. “My probation officer was surprised by my academic success. Students, professors, and administrators are often surprised, too.” 

These are the types of stories the digital campaign aims to highlight. The digital media content will be available free of charge.

“WAAS aims to support coalition – building between groups representing the interests of currently and formerly incarcerated people like those in Beyond The Stats—a collective of formerly incarcerated students enrolled at U.C. Davis—and the San Quentin News by producing and spreading information,” Psick added.

The WAAS campaign is also developing brochures, fliers and posters to distribute at probation and parole offices and community colleges. The printed material will contain information that people with felony charges need to know about college. 

Psick hopes that this information will help future classes of formerly incarcerated college freshmen.

Prison journalism gaining traction throughout the nation

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Prison journalism is gaining popularity in California and America, including San Quentin.

For several years, inmates from coast to coast have been receiving instruction on how to write as journalists for prison publications.

Several prisons within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) already have newspapers and newsletters. Others have contacted the San Quentin News to inquire on how to start their own publication.

“An inmate publication means any journal, magazine, bulletin, newsletter, newspaper, or other material published by inmates,” the California Code of Regulations, Title 15 states. “Inmates may participate in the publication and distribution of an inmate publication only with the institution head’s specific approval.”

The San Quentin News has been training inmates to write as journalists for more than a decade, leading to creating the Friday morning Journalism Guild class. Advisers John Eagan and Yukari Kane have been instrumental in cultivating the development of many emerging journalists.

The road has been opened for San Quentin, but there are 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States. Many of these prisoners have media restrictions placed upon them, so getting their voice out is limited. However, volunteers and organizations on both ends of the country are assisting them.

On the East Coast, University of Massachusetts journalism professor Shaheen Pasha volunteered in 2013 to teach inmates journalism at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections in Northampton, Mass., according to the Daily Collegian.

“There were so many of them (students) that stuck out to me while teaching there,” Pasha told the Collegian. “They were all so smart and so professional. 

“Right now, I am looking at other places that are already doing the type of work I am interested in, like the San Quentin newspaper.”

Earlier this year, she spent two days at the San Quentin News office, meeting its inmate journalists and learning about San Quentin’s media center.

The CDCR has several little-known newspapers and newsletters published by prisoners, volunteers and staff. 

Here & Now is published at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. California State Prison Solano has Solano Vision. At Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, there’s Chucky. The women at the California Correctional Women’s Facility have Fire Inside. High Desert State Prison has its High Desert Sun (and the Seagull). North Kern Valley State Prison publishes The Pioneer and Mule Creek State Prison has the Mule Creek Post.

Mule Creek Post

In 1974, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion in Martinez v. Procunier: “When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment… It is the role of the 1st Amendment and this Court to protect those precious personal rights by which we satisfy such basic yearnings of the human spirit.”

“Prison periodicals, in many instances, have provided that medium,” wrote James McGrath Morris in his book Jailhouse Journalism. “They have afforded an opportunity for men (and less often, for women) deprived of all the rights most people take for granted to voice their ideas, thoughts, and version of the truth without interpreters. Truth is always a precious and elusive thing but more so in prison.”

Prison newspaper and magazine publications in the U.S. numbered around 250 in 1959, but fell to fewer than a dozen by the new millennium, according to a 2014 article in The Nation.

A handful of prison publications survived, such as The Angolite at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, The Echo at Texas’s Huntsville prison, and The Prison Mirror founded in 1887 at Stillwater Prison in Minnesota. Some of The Mirror’s seed money was reportedly bankrolled by the Younger Brothers of the Jesse James Gang.

Many remaining prison publications are relatively new. America’s first-known prison newspaper, Forlorn Hope, was published in 1800, “born in the squalor of an 18th century debtors’ prison,” McGrath wrote.

“The dearth of prison publications is ironic in that the inmate population grew to record levels in the 1990s,” Morris wrote. “…(T)he success of prison officials in suppressing confrontational prison periodicals, are certainly part of the explanation for the absence of a strong prison press.”

The San Quentin News was founded in 1940 by Warden Clinton Duffy. The last time it was shut down was in the late 1980s. Before it was revived in 2008 by then-Warden Robert Ayers Jr., it was the winner of the American Penal Press award for the Best Prison Newspaper in 1966, 1967, 1972 and 1981. In 1968, the News won the Charles C. Clayton award, named after the man who was reportedly the first person to teach journalism inside of a prison. He was also the founder of the award competition sponsored by the Southern Illinois University Department of Journalism from 1965 to 1990. 

According to a story written by Pasha in the Nieman Reports, “San Quentin State Prison is a good example of an institution that has found a balance between giving the inmates a voice and maintaining stability at the prison.” She added that the paper “is widely seen as a model for prison journalism and innovation, through its administration’s willingness to engage in rehabilitative programming and educational opportunities.”

In 2014, the San Quentin News was presented with The James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for “accomplishing extraordinary journalism under extraordinary circumstances.”

In a recent Journalism Guild class at the News, several inmates said the reason they transferred to San Quentin is because of its newspaper.

Monica Campbell takes over San Quentin News’ Journalism Guild

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A change came in late September for the San Quentin News Journalism Guild. The guild’s volunteer instructor, Yukari Kane, is bound for Chicago to begin the next chapter of her life. She is passing the reins to former Harvard University Nieman Fellow Monica Campbell. 

“[Kane] put us in way capable hands,” said Marcus Henderson, the Journalism Guild chairman who has spent more than two years with Kane.

Though Henderson is sad to see Kane go, he has confidence in Campbell’s abilities.

Campbell attended San Jose State University and has written for Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor, and The San Francisco Chronicle. She is a senior editor/reporter for Public Radio International (PRI)’s “The World.”

Her experience includes six years in Mexico and Latin America, even in prison, and her work has taken her as far as Afghanistan.

Campbell knows the risks associated with reporting in diverse places around the world. She is motivated to examine what is going on in parts of the world that are underrepresented. Her purpose is to help people who do not have a direct line into journalism become reporters.

Kane and Campbell met through San Francisco’s Writer’s Grotto.

“She’s a great journalist,” Kane said. “She sees journalism in a similar way as I do.”

Campbell first heard of the San Quentin News Guild when Kane shared an essay written by Jesse Vasquez around June of 2018.

Prisoners are a marginalized group that need not be hidden from the eyes of society. Empowering them to become reporters can help to remove more blind spots in our society said Campbell. Yes, reporters can come into San Quentin and report on what is going on in prison, and they may even scratch below the surface to uncover some great truths to enlighten the world.

However, Campbell believes that there is value in a prisoner’s unique lens. When it comes to reporting about prison issues, prisoners richly benefit from the intimate knowledge, insight and understanding derived through the direct experience afforded them by their unique background.

“I think journalism is an increasingly privileged profession,” Campbell said. “A diversity of voices in journalism is important.”

Past semesters of the Journalism Guild have honed Henderson’s ability as a writer under Kane’s instruction and guidance. Others like him can attest to how Kane took him to the next level. He said that Kane’s passion allowed him to use his “paintbrush” to add the right color to a story while at the same time knowing where to put it.

Campbell looks forward to building on what Kane has done in the class.

“I’m not interested in awards,” Campbell said. “I’m interested in places and in people who are not generally in the spotlight.”

Monica Campbell
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