Longtime SQ News editor-in-chief paroles after decades in prison
Award winning journalist and former editor-in-chief Marcus Henderson paroles after nearly three decades of incarceration. As San Quentin News celebrates another successful story – the power of redemption, friends of the man passionately known as “Wali” shared memories of Henderson’s time with San Quentin News. “When ‘Wali’ joined the … [Read More...]
Peer support program launches at San Quentin
A new peer support group offering assistance for self-care and service awareness is available for San Quentin residents. The Peer Support Systems Program (PSSP) will consist of 30 residents receiving training on 17 core abilities required by California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) to become a certified peer support … [Read More...]
Hawaiian New Year means harvest, rejuvenation, and peace
Hundreds gathered in San Quentin’s Garden Chapel to celebrate Makahiki by connecting to Polynesian culture with hula, chants, music, prayers, and Polynesian feast catered by L & L Hawaiian barbeque and King Hawaiian bakery. SQ’s Native Hawaiian Religious Group, “Hula Halaú, Kealapono,” hosted the five-hour event also known as a Makahiki … [Read More...]
Exceptional conduct leads to release
Honest, patient, impactful, insightful, transparent, dedicated, empathetic, and accountable are some of the words that residents of San Quentin have used to describe John Gillie. In 2021, Gillie received an 1170 resentencing for exceptional conduct recommended by CDCR, which was denied by the courts. Several years later, the recommendation was … [Read More...]
San Quentin Incarcerated Veterans Share ‘Proud, Poignant, and Painful Episodes’ during War Horse Writing Seminar
In a peaceful setting inside the chapel at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, 18 members from Veterans Group San Quentin who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines gathered to reflect, assemble, and tell their stories at a four-day writing workshop. At the heart of the storytelling event, held exclusively for incarcerated veterans at … [Read More...]
Prison Yoga Project promotes awareness of body and mind
The Prison Yoga Project, a self-help program at San Quentin, offers physicaland character-changing reforms. James Fox, founder of the program, has been practicing yoga for 38 years and teaching for the last 24. One of the guiding principles is service to all. Fox has had personal benefits from yoga and, wanting to give back, he began … [Read More...]
San Quentin’s YOP provides peer mentors for residents
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center saw the first official gathering of its Youth Offender Program with the groups mentees and resident Peer Mentors on July 15. After more than a year of preparation, Peer Mentors and group sponsor Nicole Wilbur organized the training program at the education annex on the Lower Yard. On day one 19 mentees, 10 … [Read More...]
Feria de libros de verano en CRSQ
Cientos de residentes del Centro de Rehabilitación de San Quentin, tuvieron nuevamente la oportunidad de mandar libros sin ningún costo para fomentar la lectura a sus seres queridos, el pasado Mayo. Este es el segundo verano que se llevó a cabo en la biblioteca de CRSQ la feria de libros. Aproximadamente 1,100 libros fueron donados para este … [Read More...]
SQ residents share powerful narratives of childhood traumas
San Quentin residents are writing their way “Back to the Start,” sharing powerful narratives of their personal childhood traumas. The group, which has been featured on CNN and National Public Radio, is committed to changing not only the lives of other incarcerated men and women, but those of children across the country. Back to the Start is … [Read More...]
Inmate Disability Assistance Program work stretches beyond simple service
They might cruise around in pale yellow jackets, dashing from the residence buildings to the dining halls, the hospital, the chapels, the gym, to R&R, or to the education complex. Sometimes they would carry meals around the buildings, but usually, they would push wheelchairs occupied by residents unable to move on their feet. San Quentin … [Read More...]
Social justice organizations visit, discuss law and court challenges
More than 50 residents and people from two organizations discussed genuine rehabilitation at an event held on August 6 in San Quentin’s Chapel B. The three-hour conversation attended by members of For The People and the Draper Richard Kaplin Foundation centered around emotional intelligence, accountability, building community, criminality, and … [Read More...]
Modelo Californiano Arranca en San Quentin
Scroll for English translation El pasado Mayo inicio la inauguración del Modelo Californiano con un gran evento para los residentes del Centro de Rehabilitación de San Quentin. La meta del Modelo Californiano es desarrollar una cultura más humana que su enfoque es, en sanar a los residentes. Se trata de dar otra imagen al sistema de … [Read More...]
Last Mile audio program hosts storytelling seminar
A workshop of storytelling was held in San Quentin’s Chapel B, The Last Mile an audio video program at the prison sponsored the event. The occasion consisted of a two-day storytelling seminar for the incarcerated students of the Last Mile program. The Moth storytelling crew facilitated the event, a non-profit organization dedicated to the art … [Read More...]
CDCR expands fire camp to youth offenders
For almost eighty years, California has relied on incarcerated fire fighters, but declining numbers of incarcerated persons has reduced fire camps to operate at half capacity or less. A new two-year pilot program would boost the pipeline for new for younger incarcerated firefighters, the state hoped, according to an article by Maya Miller in the … [Read More...]
Mentorships at SQ help residents build community
San Quentin Residents express how mentorship builds community through, empathy, and compassion while finding healing from a life of traumatic experiences. Inside San Quentin Rehabilitation Center there are many opportunities for mentorship and facilitators in groups such as Offender Mentor Certified Program, Youth Offender Program, Peer Literacy … [Read More...]
Residents draw inspiration from formerly incarcerated
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center residents reflect on what it means to give back by drawing inspiration from the previously incarcerated. Formerly incarcerated individuals come back to SQRC to mentor residents on the values of growth, service, perseverance, and hope. “To be able to see those who once walked within the same walls as me and come … [Read More...]
New San Quentin program aims to stop misuse of guns and safer communities
Over 70 gun offenders gather in San Quentin’s Chapel B every Friday to discuss the factors surrounding their incarceration. Gangs, anger, vengeance, greed, and protection are just a few of the motives they mention in Arms Down, a rehabilitation program geared towards stopping misuse of firearms in communities and ending the cycle of addiction … [Read More...]
Self-help and self-discovery programs provide insight on victimization
Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are proving skeptics wrong by transforming themselves through self-help and self-discovery programs. “I paroled from San Quentin nearly 10 years ago. The reason I haven’t relapsed back into my previous criminal behavior is because I delved into the self-help groups San Quentin provided, and I made … [Read More...]
Multi-day workshop educates residents on science of reconditioning body
San Quentin residents attended a multiple-day workshop to inform themselves about the three parts used by the brain to connect personality with personal reality. In June, the non-profit Give-to-Give put on the event for the second time in the last year. Nearly a hundred residents learned about the science of change and the way reconditioning … [Read More...]
Annual Narcotics Anonymous banquet held for first time since COVID-19
The Narcotics Anonymous group hosted its annual banquet at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center July12, which packed a large crowd of residents and outside volunteers and organizers into Chapel B. The event began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the Serenity Prayer. The event’s host, resident Steve Stevens, said the event had the … [Read More...]
Defy Ventures offers training in entrepreneurship while serving time
San Quentin’s Mount Tamalpais College sponsored an entrepreneurship workshop, with aspirations of bringing a curriculum to the prison. The Defy Ventures Entrepreneurship workshop was the first of its kind at the facility. More than 50 SQ residents attended the event, held in the prison’s Education Annex (B-Building). The program’s aim … [Read More...]
California Men’s Colony hosts Day of Atonement: Victim and offender dialogue
For the 2nd Annual A Day for Atonement, held during National Crime Victims Week on April 23, 2024 in the Protestant Chapel at California Men‘s Colony (CMC), the incarcerated population participated in an event where survivors and victims of crime shared their stories and brought awareness of their experiences to offenders. Hosted by resident … [Read More...]
Outside employers give face-to-face interviews to resident graduates
Twenty-two employers and reentry specialists came to San Quentin’s Chapel B for face-to-face interviews with resident graduates for Employer Day, organized by Prison to Employment Connection. The May 31 workshop focused on connecting residents with jobs prior to leaving San Quentin. The event aimed to give feedback, support, reentry … [Read More...]
Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment program graduates 28 residents
Program promotes recovery to residents at San Quentin The Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment program held its graduation at SQ in late April. At noon, dressed in their black caps and gowns, graduates wore outward displays of their accomplishments. The ISUDT program provides timely and effective treatment in an effort to reduce … [Read More...]
San Quentin resident embarks on a new journey with Solitary Watch
Award-winning incarcerated journalist, Juan Moreno Haines, 66, has a new title. Once an accomplished reporter and editor at the San Quentin News, he has risen to the ranks of editor-in-chief of the outside publication Solitary Watch. “Naming Juan Haines editor-in-chief is among the most important things we have ever done,” Solitary Watch … [Read More...]