A San Quentin resident is finding redemption through truth, courage, and service to his community.
Dennis Jefferson, 53, pled guilty to taking the life his three daughters’ mother. He was sentenced to 45 years to life and has been incarcerated for more than two decades.
“I was guilty, so I pled guilty, said Jefferson. “I was quite comfortable participating in a value system based on the devaluing of others; I was not a family man, just a man with a family.”
It was less about taking responsibility and more about selling out to the false idol of weaponized masculinity.
According to Jefferson, the man who raised him failed to teach him the secrets of mature manhood, so he was vulnerable to being recruited into the ranks of a bully. From there, it was a seamless transition into an abusive mindset.
He learned that violence is more socially acceptable than tears. He was told to “control your chick, because she is yours to control,” said Jefferson.
People were applying for commutations when California Governor Jerry Brown was close to the end of his term, so Jefferson applied for relief.
During the application process, the woman who adopted his daughters wrote a victim’s impact letter, opposing any re-sentencing.
She detailed the negative trajectory his daughters experienced as a collateral consequence of his violent choices. She questioned his commutation by saying, “How dare a murderer ask for clemency. He should not be around another woman,” the letter read.
SQ got him away from dark thinking; it was the best place for him to reform, unlike maximum-security facilities where he was unable to grow. He says that by sitting in restorative circles we give our humanity breathing room.
Jefferson advocates against violence, guiding people to break the vicious cycle of violence. Jefferson says that we landed ourselves in prison, because we were blinded by our “destructive sense of entitlement.”
He talked about a Japanese art form called Kintsugi: when a vase is broken, the pieces are glued back together using glue mixed with gold dust. In this way, people can see where the cracks are since they are accentuated. Similarly, people can think of their own faults in the same way: not as something to be hidden, but as an integral part of their unfolding story.
“Who better to teach about un-defining masculinity than someone who recognizes his potential to relapse back into toxicity?” said Jefferson. “It’s a privilege that I get to serve and repurpose my mess into a message.”
Jefferson has graduated and facilitated numerous self-help groups such as H.E.A.R.T. (Healing, Empowerment, Accountability, Restoration, and Transformation), GRIP (Guiding Rage into Power), V.O.E.G (Victim Offender Education Group), and House of Healing. He is also on track to earn an Associates of Arts degree from Mount Tamalpais College in 2025.
Cherie McNaulty, creator and program director of H.E.A.R.T, has had many roles at SQ for the last eight years including at No More Tears, Mount Tamalpais College, and now H.E.A.R.T. She says that Jefferson is dependable and forthcoming about the pain he has caused others and that which is self-inflicted.
“He is a great facilitator and uses his personal story to help others,” said McNaulty. “The greatest quality I see in him, he is teachable, always striving to learn more about himself and the world.” SQ resident Richard Fernandez says that he has known Jefferson for approximately four years. They became acquainted during the Covid pandemic.
“I love his personal growth, his honesty, his courage to share his story and truth,” said Fernandez. “He continues to be a part of PREP [Partnership Re-entry Program] and has become a wonderful mentor and a good friend.”
Jefferson says that as SQ transforms into a rehabilitation center, he does not mind the dynamics of the California Model. He does not want to be distracted by the aesthetics and does not want to lose focus.
“We took things we had no right to, but as peacemaker I can respect where my boundaries end and where others’ begin,” said Jefferson.
