DELAWARE PRISONER OFFERS UPDATE ON GTL TABLETS
Dear San Quentin News:
I am writing with some postage I owe for the past installment of the best paper out there as far as I’m concerned.
Also, we have had those GTL tablets here in Delaware for a while now. Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. It has gotten better as time has moved on. We pay 3 cents a minute for a “promotional” part and 5 cents a minute for the “standard” part. We have about one tablet per 3-5 inmates, depending on where you are housed. The phones used to have an echo or feedback effect for our people on their end, and I believe they have that fixed. We do have a few administrative things we can do like file a grievance, sick calls (for a while), snitch lines, counselor, etc. Recently, they took the sick call aspect off of it. We believe it was to conceal an electronic trail to cover their you-know-whats. Now, we are back to paper and you know how paper conveniently goes missing.
I thought the medical was bad in California until I did time here. This is the worst medical provider I’ve ever seen. I’m sure there are worse, but anyway…
Keep up the great work and never quit fighting the good fight!
Oh, I don’t know if it will affect my getting your paper or not, but as of April 4 we are going to the digital mail crap via Las Vegas. I don’t believe it will affect you all, but I’ll let ya know if it does. I’m sure going to miss what I call the smell of “not-here,” my people’s perfume, etc.
Oh well, times are a changing my friends.
—Derek Brown
James T. Vaughn Corr. Ctr.
Smyrna, Delaware
NEW YORKER SEEKS SUBSCRIPTION INFO
Dear San Quentin News:
I am an incarcerated individual at the Bedford Correctional Facility in New York. I am interested in receiving the San Quentin News. I would like to make a donation perhaps so I can subscribe. Can you include prices or the amount—I wish to give back.
I am so blessed that Humans of San Quentin has my bio posted on their website, along with three of my poems! How awesome!
You guys are doing great work, and making fantastic strides. I am so thankful to be a part of it.
Keep up the awesome work! I love San Quentin!
Bless you and your population! Can’t wait to hear back from you. All the best, praying for you all.
—Lovette R. Din
Bedford Hills Corr. Facility
Bedford, New York
Hey, Lovette! Thanks for your interest and support.
Generous grants and donations fund the printing and bulk shipping of 33,000 copies of our newspaper each month to all California state prisons, juvenile facilities, and a few jails—at no cost to those incarcerated readers. We offer a discounted rate (to cover postage) for any incarcerated reader who wants to receive an individually-mailed copy. For the latest issue, you can send four forever stamps to the address on the bottom of page 3. To receive the newspaper and magazine for a year, you can mail an institutional check for $25 to the address on the top of page two. Alternatively, if you have an outside supporter, they can send a check or donate $25 on our website and provide your mailing address.
—Ed.
A QUICK NOTE ♫
OF THANKS FROM THE FEDS
Dear San Quentin News:
Thank you for sending me the San Quentin News. I really enjoy it.
I am from Wilmington California doing time in a Security Housing Unit at a federal prison.
Thank you!
—Ruben Barrera
United States Penitentiary
Thomson, Illinois
HIGH DESERT DESPERATE FOR REHABILITATIVE PROGAMMING
Dear San Quentin News,
The reason for this missive is to shine light on the non-program we inmates here at High Desert continue to receive.
We are confined to our cells for the larger portion on a daily basis.
We are also not being afforded self-help groups or programs to assist us in our rehabilitation efforts.
We need help on all platforms with all these new laws passing giving us hope to get out early. These changing laws are asking for inmates to earn certificates of program completion, vocational trades, etc., all of which we are not being afforded an opportunity to earn.
There are a lot of men here who wants to change for the better and want to be given tools they can carry into the real world, but can’t due to no opportunities.
CDCR is supposed to be all for transforming us to be better men, getting us rehabilitated and ready for re-entry, but how can we do that when we are locked down most of the time?
—Christopher King
High Desert State Prison
Susanville, California
SQN OFFERS HOPE FOR REDEMPTION AT PLEASANT VALLEY
I want to take this opportunity to give you all a long- overdue thanks for the hard work and dedicated effort you put into every issue.
Every new issue I read contains glimmers of hope that one day there will be a new law that will allow myself and others like me to have our sentences recalled so that I can receive a fair sentence proportionate to the crimes I committed, considering my background and mitigating circumstances.
Currently I’m a victim of the archaic, Draconian three strikes law; as a result, I’m serving 50-years-to-life for two counts of bank robbery with a demand note. A written note should never be interpreted as a weapon, and yet our current penal code deems what I did as violent. As such, I was sentenced by a judge to a term that would be more appropriate for an unrepentant homicidal psychopath.
Could any rational-minded California voter say with sincerity that justice was served in my case?
So to reiterate my point and the reason for writing, after reading the San Quentin News, I came away feeling like better days are on the horizon. As Bob Dylan says, “Change is a coming,” and it makes me feel like a chance for redemption is possible in my future.
Your newspaper is the only source for criminal justice-related news I come across in this depressing black hole of a prison. So whenever I happen to find a new issue floating around, my heart is filled with gladness because I know that there are uplifting articles contained within.
Thanks again for your dedication to this much-needed and much-appreciated service to all the inmates here in California and others locked up across the country.
Stay safe up there!
—Jared Herdt
Pleasant Valley State Prison
Coalinga, California
“STANDING OVATION” FROM CMC-WEST
Dear San Quentin News:
Hello, my name is Albert Sanchez.
I am writing to give you guys a standing ovation for the work you do.
And for all you mentors and facilitators across the country, your words do matter and our next generation is depending on us to figure out our route.
Just remember that it’s easier to “roll over” than to “climb over,” but never give up.
Thank you once again for your dedication in reaching us through your newspaper.
—Albert Anthony Sanchez
California Mens Colony
San Luis Obispo, California
COVID SLOWS REHABILITATION AT CMC-WEST
Dear San Quentin News:
My name is Abraham Cruz. I am presently incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony West.
This COVID-19 has put a damper on the rehabilitative efforts for those that are on the path of change, myself being one of the many
Self-help groups are at an almost non-existent stage. The usual groups are still there, but the waiting period is long.
What is needed here is an injection of fresh new concepts to help with rehabilitation of all the souls here who are striving to become a productive member of society.
I am a fan of the San Quentin News. While reading the latest issue, I came upon articles concerning new prison projects aimed at helping individuals understand the traumatic events in their childhoods—events that we struggled with, but did not understand. This project is a very much-needed tool for those here trying to understand the whys.
I also observed another group called G.R.I.P. (Guiding Rage Into Power). I believed these programs are much needed here. So I am writing asking for assistance in getting in touch with the program founders to perhaps become the little brother of San Quentin’s success in being established as a facility with good rehabilitative programs, with greater success in helping others change their lives.
In order to help people change, we must all come together at one time because only by coming together can change truly happen.
—Abraham Cruz
California Men’s Colony
San Luis Obispo, California
POETRY SUBMISSION FROM NORTH KERN
Dear San Quentin News:
I came across your article not so long ago and the poetry section sparked my interest.
I am sending you some of my work in hope of having it published. I am currently at North Kern and serving a life term. I have read your section of poets with the experience that they overcame and I would like to share my message, “We all make mistakes but we all have the free will to make any situation into what we choose.” My choice is growth and to better myself so someday my loved ones know what they mean to me and to inspire a mind so they’ll find their balance.
Thank you for your time reading this letter and I hope to receive a response from you.
—Guadalupe Aibarran
CSP-North Kern
Delano, California
“Behind the Line”
by Guadalupe Aibarran
I’m segregated behind these prison walls without a place to call my home. I wonder when they’ll come for me.
Behind the Line…I’m waiting for you.
It’s been some time since I’ve been home and I wonder what I’ll find. Will it all be the same or will a few things change? I can’t remember of the last laugh that we might have had but the memory of who we were will forever last. I promise that somehow I’ll make it back and hopeful we can restart in a brand new day because the love for you hasn’t gone away…
It’s been some time since I’ve been home…
Behind the Line…I’m waiting for you.
I’ve been living my days around these stone walls and all I think about is the life that could’ve been but someday I hope to have the chance to reclaim the life that was once mine, because I understand that a second chance is hard to come by and I don’t plan to allow it to slip away…
It’s been some time since I’ve been home…
I’m segregated behind these prison walls without a place to call my home. I wonder when they’ll come for me.
Behind the line…I’m waiting for you.
THANKS FROM JAMESTOWN
Dear San Quentin News:
I just finished reading my December 2021 newspaper, and I’m flabbergasted by the wealth of information your team continues to provide us readers.
Thank you!
—Dominic Carter
Sierra Conservation Center
Jamestown, California
