Skip to main content

My life was unmanageable because I could not stop doing drugs. I lost my family and there was no help or support from my own mother when I needed it. I am a security guard for Platinum Security. Some African Americans teamed up on me, getting me fired from my job in Stockton, California. After that, my wife started to cheat on me. When she found me doing drugs, she left me and divorced me, leaving me homeless on the street. Bad to say, I beat a homeless person and was sentenced to four years. I started getting bad health here from the environment and poor food. 

Vanishing mindful memories incarcerate. 

Downward dark sadness plays over again. 

Envisions disease, anger stiffens, froze and numb. 

Dysfunctional they. 

Family cures only drugs. 

Happens to my life. 

Life being damaged. 

Psychiatrist talks relate. 

Hypnotize does work. 

Do not care for them. 

The sound of police singing a song. 

I have apple meds.

Read their full story and learn how your support helps us share thousands of voices from inside. Link in bio.

Johnny & Gregory 

The letter is Johnny’s. The poem belongs to both of them.

📬

These stories arrive by mail.

Every month, a physical envelope arrives at your door, postmarked from San Quentin Village, California. Inside, you will find original artwork, writing, and recipes from real contributors, along with a personal letter from me, Diane Kahn, founder of Humans of San Quentin, about the people who made them. You read it. You keep it.

Every piece comes from someone serving a sentence. Every piece reminds you they are so much more than that.

📬 Join the Mail Club

Leave a Reply

Receive more inspiring stories and news from incarcerated people around the world.