Danilo Gonzalez BE2485
CCI-Tehachapi/D1-60U
PO Box 608
Tehachapi, CA 93581
Dear San Quentin News, Greetings. My name is D. Gonzalez. I’m currently incarcerated in California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, California. My reason for writing is in regards to an article that I read in the September 2021 issue on page 10 titled “Survivor finds strength to heal,” by Jane Survivor. As I was reading Ms. Jane’s article, I felt in my heart that I needed to write. Ms. Jane’s story had a great impact in my life because I can understand how her life was greatly impacted. At the end of her story she said, “I still struggle with understanding how and why he could do what he did to me. I hope one day he might tell me.” She deserves to know the answers to her questions. Thank you for your time, and may God bless you.
D. Gonzalez
CCI-Tehachapi
Darrell Sharpe W80709
MCI-Norfolk
PO Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056
Dear SQNews staff. First let me say thank you for sending me your newspapers. I’m both humbled and grateful by the work that is being done by all those involved in the publication of this wonderful newspaper. I came across a section of your paper that said “we want to hear from you,” so I’m sending you what’s on my mind and in my heart today by way of a poem. My heartfelt message to the free world
If I could say anything to a poet, writer, singer, rapper or even a musician, free from this prison life that I live daily, my words would sound something like this…Write! Write to stay forever free. Write with every breath you have until the day you die so that it will become your legacy in this world of ours. I write today in hopes of having a voice for tomorrow. So now allow me to share a piece of my poetry that I put together for no specific design, other than to write.
“Struggling With Today’s Effort”
My heart is crumbling into dust, not pieces. There is no reconstructing the damage, I’m bleeding. I want redemption for my penance, as the lost seek divine forgiveness. Hope is all that I have, and it’s a fine thread from heaven. Despair is a razor rendering the cord unwoven. I’m on borrowed time with an impossible interest rate in fear of having the loan called in. I, at times, grow weary from all this prison life, so I’m going to rest. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll try again.
Darrell Sharpe
MCI-Norfolk
Jackson Gumisiriza F80970
Chuckawalla State Prison/B5-13-1L
PO Box 2349
Blythe, CA 92226
To: San Quentin News. Hello there. Thank you for your publication. I enjoy catching up on your news stories. Good job! I need your help as far as the GTL free telephone calls. I was born in Africa. I wanted to utilize the Free GTL minutes to communicate with family in Africa. I saw an article regarding that information from the September 2021 Edition. I tried calling Nigeria, there was no response. I tried calling Uganda, there was no response. Can you guys help me? Nobody here seems to know how to address this issue. I will truly appreciate your help. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jackson Gumisiriza
Chuckawalla
Johnny Angel Grimldo BA5822
CSP-Corcoran/4A-3L-2
PO Box 3476
Corcoran, CA 93212
To, SQ News. There is a cause that I’ve been working on named “karma.” Karma is a partnership between CDCR and The California Blood Center and/or The Red Cross, to organize blood drives; allowing staff and inmates to donate blood. Needless to say, there is currently a shortage and dire need for people to donate blood. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for citizens to donate, creating a shortage, country wide, especially with Type O. The rare blood type.
I believe that thousands of prisoners statewide will be willing to step up and potentially save someone’s life by donating blood, assuming they meet the health criteria. Participation would show society, families, and themselves that they are in a stage or rehabilitation that will change not only their lives, but the outlook of CDCR and society as a whole. This cause is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been working on a plan of action for the past six months. I understand that a lot of coordination and work must be done on CDCR’s and the organization’s part to make it happen, however, I do have a simplified step-by-step plan and campaign ideas, such as utilizing CDCR institutional channels, i.e., posters, memos, and MAC-representatives to get the word out and appeal to the humanity of prisoners and staff alike.
We have all been affected by the loss of a loved one due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and have felt the pain of helplessness. This will give us an outlet for our grief and a means of giving back to society instead of taking from it. Imagine all the lives we can save.
Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
Johnny Grimaldo
CSP-Corcoran
Robert A. Barnes AN6982
Salinas Valley State Prison/C4-104
PO Box 1050
Soledad, CA 93960
“Inside A Two-Way Mirror”
My life is a two-way mirror. I can see everyone on the other side clearly, but they cannot see me.
Sometimes I feel you can’t even see me and I’m banging on my side of the glass screaming for help. But when people look, all they see are themselves in the mirror, and that little glimmer of hope I had fades away once again. I see the world moving forward, but I am stuck in the past, which is my present, trapped behind a double sided layer of glass; a mirror. I am alive inside of here, but I am dead out there and each day that passes, I know the feeling, that feeling to be the living dead. I hold on to the light which shines bright as sun rays in my dark filthy dungeon of despair and hopelessness. Eager for the freedom of living, for to be alive and loved is the ultimate feeling. Abuse and starvation; batons and tear gas bombs explode around me all a part of this subjugation. I stare through my side of the mirror looking into the souls like a window while they check their make-up and adjust their glasses, burning inside flames continue to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, living dead inside of a two-way mirror as time passes.
Steve Levy
Celia Way Plantation
2051 E. 6th Street
Stockton, CA 95206
Dear SQNews Desk Representative. I was a 7-to-Lifer as of 9-13-2021. I served 45 years in prison, found suitable on 05-05-21. I never believed that I would ever get out of prison alive. I am now housed in Mandatory Transitional Housing Program. I paroled from RJ Donovan in San Diego where my wife and family resides. They’ve got me way up here, 600 miles from all my people, for a very minimum of 6 months. However, I’m free. What I want from SQNews is a subscription of the SQ newspaper. I am still a ward of CDCR for at least the next 3 years. I did a great many years at SQ; 1978-79, and 1982-87, before being transferred to New Folsom. In 1982, Joe Morse was the editor then.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Steve Levy
Paroled
