Category: Piece of the Week

by MV, Sacramento  My little ones are my two younger brothers. I love them both to death although I’m not close to them. Through the years of 2020 to now I feel like I felt responsible for them as an older sister. I am the oldest alongside my twin of four. My two younger brothers are my life although I wasn’t too active in theirs I still try to be around. I know my brothers think I’m mean sometimes but it’s tough love, I like to think. I hope my little ones don’t think of me differently ‘cause I’m incarcerated

by Sione, San Mateo When I first came here to the US, we lived with our uncle for almost a year or so. I met my mom’s best friend’s kid and he was very young. I loved the kid, so I started to be around him and treat him like my son. I got to know him better while I was with my uncle. There was another kid but he was older and more aggressive, and he liked to chase me with anything that would do damage or he would bite me out of nowhere. I tried to be nice

by Worried Big Brother, Stanislaus The little one in my life is my little sister. The reason why I chose my little sister is because, to be honest, I don’t know. My little sister has just always been someone I had a heart for.  When we were younger I used to share a room with her. My parents would have us take baths together. We always went swimming together. We ate dinner together. We just did everything together. But, a reason I’m always worried about her is because she is the only blood sibling I grew up with. I would

 by D, Sacramento Love is a tough subject for me in many ways. It’s something I’ve always desired, despised, fiended for and got the tough side of. I didn’t get it when I needed it and it was something I gave up on. It seems that the love I give out, I never get in return.  Nobody shows the unconditional love that I do. The loyalty through thick and thin. It’s messed up ain’t it. Yeah now let me tell you what made me have the desire for love. I grew up without my mother because she died when I

by Zariah, San Mateo When I look at my life and where I’m heading, I take a step back and pause. I know my life isn’t a hundred percent healthy, but physically I am healthy. Mentally and internally, I am not a hundred percent there.  At times, I feel like I am internally fading away in the abyss. The people I associate with and call a relationship at least took a part of me. Every time I would try to make a healthy relationship, a little piece of my compassion for a person would fade away. My mind isn’t always

by Sergio, Santa Cruz My name is Sergio and I’m in here being charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor. I just recently got booked into Juvenile Hall. My trial hasn’t even started but I’ve made my first appearance in court.  I’ve been a Christian almost all my life but for a while I started to separate myself from the church and even God. He’s been by my side my whole life, and I just took it for granted. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but he’s always been with me. Even now that I pushed myself

by Uz, San Francisco One day I will go home. One day I will. One day I will see a better future. One day I will get released. One day I won’t be in jail. I’ve been away for a year and my life has completely changed. I have some friends waiting for me and I have family waiting for me.  So, I won’t be all alone. It will be a big transition for me. I’m scared. What if things do not work out? I don’t know. I really can’t see myself going to jail again. The only big thing

by M, Sacramento I remember when I got good grades in school and wanted to do a lot of stuff. I would go to my dad’s and we would go bowling. I slowly started getting bad grades and stopped wanting to go do things. I didn’t want to go to my dads or my grandmas anymore. I actually didn’t even want to be home.  My grades slowly started dropping, they went from As and Bs to Cs and Ds. From there they got worse, I was leaving after school and hanging out all day. I wasn’t doing homework, I was

by BK, Santa Cruz I would take a picture of me and my friend, my little brother and stepdad (AKA Ramon) while the background’s a beautiful sunset with an owl in the background. And aguachile as the food. My fave book is “Charlotte’s Web.”  My fave view was being in the mountains and the view was the sun in the middle of the woods and it was yellow, pink. My journey’s crazy. I’d met people I never think I’ll stop talking to. My mom doesn’t really care about anyone, so I just had to learn to not care. My dad

by Damian, Santa Cruz  I have a lot of fun memories of me growing up, playing sports at school and just being with friends. Right now, I try to look back on the good memories. For example, I like to think about my basketball/football seasons, every time I spend with my family over the years, good and bad.  One memory that gets to me is when I was younger, about six to eight. I had an uncle who was incarcerated. He was about twenty-eight. I remember so perfectly one day my mom got a phone call from him while he