Featured Quotes

“I am writing to help raise awareness. I appreciate the many opportunities we have to speak on our crimes and our actions. I see the Humans of San Quentin as one of the platforms for the incarcerated to reach out to the free community. I knew little about the system and those incarcerated but it is good to bring an education to others. I hope the stories leave the readers feeling that these are people rehabilitating, maturing and gaining an understanding of the choices that put them in here. A humanness factor to the facade of a prisoner.”

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.”

“I have been incarcerated for over 35 years because I actively participated in the genocide of my own race. I am a black man who has achieved Blackness in prison. It is not my skin color, it is my conscious level.”

“Prison is an ugly, unforgiving place where arbitrary rules are enforced as a disruption without destination at the whims of those with the power of indifference to anything the incarcerated person is going through – indeed, indifference has become the rehabilitative paradigm.”

“I always hears that if you find something that you enjoy for work, it’s never work. I found something I like and enjoy and it has never been work.”

“Nevaeh or Vey as you go by now, if you’re reading this, I love you and miss you, sorry I’m not there.”

“I have been buried alive for the past 21 years. I have been surviving on swallowing my own tears. Sometimes I choke on my own misery. My spirit has been broken, but I haven’t lost my soul – yet. My pain does not compare to all the sorrows I have caused.”

“Love for me is not merely a word, not a fluid concept which evolves as time alters perspective but, rather a constant.”

“Though my mind ignores the fact that I’m caged, my soul will never accept it.”

“I’ve learned to open up and love myself. To respect and be kind to every human being, no matter who they are.”

“I like to express my views about social justice through body movement, language and dance. If you want to check out performance go to aesq.info.”

“Every person should want to be the best person they can be no matter how the world may pull and tug us in negative directions.”

“I caused irreparable harm along my path; some can never be reversed. I sit with it everyday, and will continue for the rest of my days. But this I know: I’ll never harm another in the ways of my past.”

“I am a human of San Quentin.”

“There have been times where I have discovered how much easier it is to forgive people and myself when I am vulnerable.”

“It’s taken quite a while for me to learn that the sweetest most valuable things in life are not quickly attained nor ascertained but come from labor.

“I realized that despite my circumstances, I needed to forgive, otherwise, I would destroy myself, and I need it to live.”

“Here began my lessons of honest work for honest pay with a dash of hidden crime prevention.”