The San Quentin News has added four pages for a total of 20, plus more color photos, and expanded distribution to other prisons. We plan to continue these evidences of growth, providing funds from contributors are available.
The new and improved San Quentin News allows us to provide more news stories and photos based on matters that are of interest and importance to prisoners, staff and the public.
One important source of stories and funds is fellow prisoners. We appreciate you wanting to participate in our effort to publish the best prisoner publication possible. Prisoners’ personal stories may help others understand why they chose a life of crime. We welcome contributions and stories that tell about the turning point in a prisoner’s life.
Those who have not made that choice to change their lifestyle should also write us and tell us why. Would you accept help from those who may provide you with helpful information or guidance? Let us know.
One of those stories is my own. Here’s an overview:
I was 47 years old before I decided my lifestyle was getting me nowhere, except back to prison. This time with a sentence of 65 years-to-life for burglary and failure to appear. I was sentenced under the Three Strikes Law.
San Quentin has more self-help programs than any of the 33 California prisons.
What changed for me was when my mother bailed me out of jail after everyone else gave up on me. She wanted me to promise her that I would quit using heroin. I knew it would be difficult, but I did.
I went to Mexico because I wanted to change. I didn’t want to spend another day in prison, and Mexico was where my life was transformed.
I worked on a ranch alongside other Mexicanos who never complained about hard work or low pay. That’s were I learned to appreciate the American dollar.
I wouldn’t work in the United States for minimum wages, but it was OK to work for 600 pesos a week, the equivalent of 45 American dollars, well below the U.S. minimum wage.
I fled to Mexico, a country that is labeled for exporting drugs into the United States, allegedly causing so much addiction. However, the truth is there would be no drug traffic without drug users in America.
The United States government wants to spend billions of dollars on trying to take down the drug cartels, which are now filling the Mexican prisons and having the same overcrowding problems California prisons are having. The strategy won’t solve the problem. End the demand, and the drug problem will evaporate.
The solution: treat our addicts, and provide alternatives to our people including education and job training.
My mother always told me that if I have a child, I would change and appreciate the value of life. She was right, because I kicked my heroin addition in Mexico and fathered a child who made me want to be with her everyday of her life.
My mother died while I was in Mexico, but I stayed sober to raise my daughter. A phone call back to the U.S. caused my arrest in Mexico 18 months after her death.
At the age of 60, I have been clean for over 13 years. As Editor-in Chief of the San Quentin News, I am heavily involved with several self-help groups. I have participated in and completed more than 30 such groups over the past 13 years. I encourage others to look into what is available.
Here’s my advice: no matter how old you are, you can turn your life around if you’re willing to make the effort.
