Officer Gregory Hunt retired on May 16 after 29 years at San Quentin State Prison, Hunt says one thing he is sorry he missed during his years here is the visit of Mother Theresa.
7:30 on the Thursday morning he retired, the staff of the Education Building, where Hunt had been stationed for the past several years, gave him a little going-away celebration saying “Please don’t go!”
Someone asked him about his one-year and five-year plan for retirement. He said he plans to get his house in shape because he has been working so much he has a bit of deferred maintenance. He also said he is going to get his boat in shape so he can do some fishing. Sharing donuts all around, Officer Hunt said he is happy to have had the job at San Quentin.
“You know how some people dread to go to work and figure out ways to be on sick leave to stay home from work?” Well, he says, “I have always enjoyed my work here. I have never woke up and dreaded to come to work!”
His experiences during his 29-year career at San Quentin have always been fulfilling and satisfying, but sometimes there was tension.
When he was young and looking for a way to go in life, he kept seeing one of his friend’s big overtime check. That made him want to work at San Quentin too. During the first day on the job and at the start of his training, the officer who was conducting a tour of the prison told him not to worry about the rifle shots he kept hearing. “Just routine! Happens every day, don’t worry about it,” said the training officer. Hunt indicates that statement made him think a little bit, but he is glad made a career with the prison system.
During his stay at San Quentin, Hunt has worked every post there is, from Condemned Row to the tower positions. The front gate was one of the most enjoyable, because of all the great people he has been able to meet, including famous and not-so-famous people.
There have been a lot of changes in CDCR during Hunts stay at San Quentin. He says the most significant change has been the advent of all the other prisons in the state. Up until that point, there were 1,700 ad seg cells and the whole prison was in constant lockdown. “Before Pelican Bay, we had the real bad boys!” he said.
Working the various posts Hunt has had a variety of experiences. Some he liked and some he did not. He liked meeting Carlos Santana, Paul Rodriguez, Ice T, and Star Trek stars — as visitors, that is.
The administration was taken aback because they didn’t know who Ice T was. Hunt added, “They were surprised by his entourage when he came to put on a show in the dining hall.”
Asked if he ever feels sorry for the Death Row guys or anyone, he said, “Never. They did what they did and we all have to deal with the consequences of our actions.” However, he quickly added, “This place is Wally World compared to what it was years ago.”
Some of the inmates he has supervised include Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, and Richard Allen Davis, the guy who killed Polly Klaus, thereby starting the three strikes movement.
If you want an eerie feeling, “just escort the guy who was the cause of three strikes. Walking across and area with 500 guys who stare at your ward with absolutely the most intense hatred you can imagine,” he said. “Well, let’s just say it’s intense.”
Hunt says that when he first started, there were no false alarms. He said there were a lot of spearings, stabbings, and other violent acts. Yet the men all got three hot meals a day. At first, all the inmates were serious offenders. Regardless of whether you wear green or blue, “This is like a small city,” he says, “and it’s up to each officer to make a place for himself. Just like the inmates!” he opined.
“With Berkeley, Stanford, and lots of self-help programs, San Quentin is a pioneer,” said Hunt. “Do all the programs do any good?” he questions.” And then he answers himself saying, “If they help even one young kid or other inmate, it’s worth it.”
Officer Hunt has some strong feelings about what works and what doesn’t work. For one thing he says, lifers have a very low risk of coming back to prison. “After a person has done a long time in prison, he’s not likely to do something stupid when he gets out.”
Hunt said, “The governor is a politician and no politician wants to be blamed for even one person getting out and committing a crime. But, if these men had jobs, that would make a real difference.”
He said that if a man gets out of prison but can’t even get a legitimate job, well, obviously he doesn’t have many options. “What does society expect?” he asked.
Officer Hunt says that the legal system doesn’t always have clean hands either. He told of one San Quentin ward, Black Panther Party leader Geronimo Pratt, who the FBI let sit here in prison for 20 years before it became known that they knew he didn’t commit the crime. They had him under surveillance at the time of the alleged incident, and knew that he was somewhere else and didn’t do it. “So,” he commented, “from Charles Manson to Huey Newton, I’ve seen quite a few inmates and the one thing I have to say is that you have to consider each one on his own.”
Drawing from his many years of experience, Gregory Hunt said, “Everyone should be required to have at least a GED before they can get out.” Pausing for a second, he adds, “And we should help them get a job.”
Hunt says of his nearly three decades at San Quentin, “it’s been fun, but now I’m going fishing.”
