Category: Feature of the Week

by Mervyn Wool fka Pure Dragon It is Black Friday and most people are out shopping to take advantage of the sales. I personally do not find Black Friday nowadays to be what it used to be. In the past, Black Friday was a thing, a day where people would stay up, go out at midnight to get in line to wait for the stores to open to shop. There will be large crowds of people in the parking lot of malls, parking spaces will be mostly taken, and long lines with everyone standing around chatting with excitement, waiting for

by AP, San Diego Later that night, I got away from the police at the McDonald’s. When we got away, my homie drove us to his house to kick it. After I took a shower, I went to the freezer and grabbed a full bottle of Jack Daniel’s. I started chugging the bottle to fill up the void I felt in my heart. Choosing to go on the run affected my life in so many ways. It was hard for me not knowing where I was going to sleep or where I will get my next meal. I partied a

by Missy aka Infinite Mentality, San Mateo County  Concept: The abolition of the criminal injustice system is at the root of designing this mural. Now more than ever the deep wound inflicted upon the oppressed is showing face in a magnitude of ways. The prison industrial complex is the beating heart embedded deep within the mechanisms of these systems of oppression rooted in white supremacist politics. As the University community returns to school this Fall 2020 it is my intention with this mural to spark a deep reflection into an experience many in this community never have come to live

by Ulysses, San Mateo  I remember when I went into the foster system like it was yesterday. I was at my house with my brothers and cousins waiting for our parents to get home, but my mother didn’t make it home that day.  Out of nowhere I see a lot of big trucks and police officers with big guns coming towards my mom’s house. I had no idea what we had done wrong because my mother had a normal life and I never saw my mom rob or steal none of that.  I remember my brothers and cousins were taken

by Momma’s Boy, San Francisco My mom was the only person in life that I could trust. She is my everything and she never showed disloyalty. My momma made it to every visit, every court date, and she never missed one phone call. All my life my mom made sure I never wanted anything and I never had to question her about a damn thing because she knew what we had going on. My mom was always one step ahead of me and she knew me more than I even know myself and my mom’s relationship was so tight we

by KA, Sacramento My name is KA. I am seventeen years old and I have five brothers and no sisters. Growing up I didn’t have what you call an easy life. I was born in Kaiser Hospital in South Sacramento, CA. I don’t know exactly where I went after I was born but I know when I was real young my mom was having trouble financially and that led to my mom, brother, and I being homeless for a while.  We were sleeping basically anywhere we could. Sometimes we would try to sleep at relatives’ houses, cars and basically anywhere

by F, Sacramento If I could go back and undo one action in my lifetime, it would be what lead me to come to the Sacramento Youth County Facility.  Running away has always been something I was good at. I would pretend as if I was going to school only to go to the park and plan my next step.  The sad part was I would always return one way or another, but not this time. My day started like any other normal persons. I woke up, showered, went to my kitchen to get breakfast made for me and my

by Christopher, The Last of a Dying Breed“ Walton, Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, Milton, Florida We extend our appreciation to all who have joined the community against the behavior of a bad cop, Derek Chauvin. Besides the continuation of adding to the litany of names of men and women who have been killed, maimed, and injured excessively by active and retired law enforcement officers in America, there is another sinister problem lurking among the ranks of law enforcement officers and their Blue Wall of Silence… domestic violence.  Both of them need to be excised from police departments in America. No,

by Floyd D. Collins In my entire lifetime I had never personally experienced Racism. Yeah I knew what “Race Riots” were all about in prison, but I never disliked nor do I dislike any other race. I was not raised to dislike anybody for the color of their skin.   President Trump recently said, “I made Juneteenth famous…” I laughed at his rhetoric, but in my 24 years and counting being in prison I never knew what day Juneteenth was on, and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know what it represented. Why is that? History was taught to me

by Timothy Young Since March 27th, 2020, the people at San Quentin State Prison’s West Block Housing Unit were notified by Memorandums generated from the Warden’s Office, the Medical Department and by Institutional Television channel, that a staff member here tested positive for a contagious and deadly disease known as the Coronavirus or COVID-19 and this disease has broken out into a global pandemic. Considering how I arrived at San Quentin, some history, the quarantines that I have experienced and what I see every six-feet. In late November 2011, I was transferred to San Quentin’s North Block Housing Unit from