The healing started from within as self-help group No More Tears sponsored a victim-and-offender healing circle at San Quentin.

In attendance were 15 to 20 SQ residents, Mrs. Tiffany Love Rawlings and Dr. Clemmie Greenlee from Beauty Behind Bars, Rapper Project Pat, and a traveling Christian ministry from Tennessee. 

The sponsors, Mick Gardner and Lonnie Morris, who co-founded the nonprofit group No More Tears, hosted the event. The sponsors’ collaboration was a direct response to the violence in the Oakland community. No More Tears’ healing circle has been open to visitors at San Quentin since 2002.

The age-old saying of “hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people” has had a positive impact on the lives of others. 

Dr. Greenlee stood on the edge of the circle, taking a moment to compose herself as she wiped away tears rolling down her face, saying that her child’s killer was never convicted. 

“I hated y’all, all of y’all, ’cause my son was killed. Twenty-nine years old, [his] brains blown all over the curb…it broke me,” said Greenlee. “He was my only child. But I don’t hate y’all no more. I don’t. I love y’all.”

Dr. Greenlee said San Quentin had changed her attitude toward people incarcerated for murder, even though the person who killed her son was never convicted, and he went free. She added that an eyewitness refused to testify against a known gang member for fear of reprisals. 

Greenlee’s first trip to The Q was a bitter adventure years earlier. She had no desire to be in a room with men convicted of murder. She challenged one of the residents; they both did not expect what happened next.

They spoke for approximately 10 minutes and tears flowed from Greenlee’s eyes, matching the man’s gaze with remorse and empathy.

“I went to find my son’s killer the day after I left San Quentin,” Greenlee said.

She managed to contact her son’s killer by telephone. He had been in federal prison for 18 years since her son’s murder. 

She told the attendees that they have spoken since then on every Mother’s Day. Greenlee admitted that she wrote letters supporting his release, including depositing money into his trust account. 

According to Greenlee, her interactions with the person she says is responsible for her son’s death has put a strain on family ties. She says that she chose to reach out for her own healing.

The men listened intently. One resident noted that victim offender dialogue might not be for everyone. “Everybody is not ready for that form of group therapy,” said SQ resident Anthony Pandy.

Project Pat, the rapper, joined the healing circle. There were quilts painted with group values that lay in the middle of the healing circle.

He opened up, sharing spiritual growth stories and encouraging everyone to embrace the healing power of forgiveness. 

“That forgiveness God gives is also for you to forgive yourself,” he said.

Pat said he now stands to leave a legacy beyond rap in between these prison bars; he is a coach and healer for incarcerated people. Despite his rap lyrics, Pat has chosen to become a solution to the social problems of violence in his community.

According to the program, incarceration is a fundamental divide between the victims and keeping the public safe from future crimes. What if the people locked away held the key to someone else’s healing? 

The U.S. Department of Justice recorded 6,419,060 violent crimes nationwide in 2023. On any given day, another 1.9 million people are locked up in the U.S., according to the Prison Policy Initiative. 

On January 17, 2025, Project Pat’s 21-year-old son, Patrick Houston Jr., was tragically shot and killed at a Tennessee park, according to Hip-HopDX a social media outlet.