Category: The Beat Without

-John Sherwood, Red Onion State Prison in Pound, VA Young princes and young queens, you are so much more than any struggle you’ve gone through. You are so much more than the difficult circumstance that you are dealing with. You got to believe in yourself. Even when people that are supposed to love and provide for you are unable to help you, in the way you may need or desire them to, it doesn’t lessen your worth.  There are many people in society that are trying to help you. Most importantly, you have to help yourself! You got to admit

-Johnny Rodriguez, Stockton, CA Developing a healthy life plan helps me stay the course of my personal short and long term goals. Realizing that I am responsible for a realistic healthy life plan empowered me to be accountable and not circumvent my accountability or responsibility for my healthy life plan. Healing my mind of ignorance and the spirit of indecisiveness lets me think out a realistic plan, especially more than one addiction to manage my recovery cultivating my sane judgment and not deviating from reality. Becoming educated was key within drawing upon healthy mental insight to think out a plan

-Ricky Kong, San Quentin State Prison, CA “Every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all of our lives.”-Steven Spielberg So true! My body takes longer to recover, I am getting wrinkles, and white hair starts filling my head. I don’t look the same! The way I think, and value has changed. I am not the same person, as I was yesterday.  As a human being we are evolving physically, mentally, and spiritually. We never stop learning. In each moment of our lives, we face many challenges and opportunities. These moments allow us to

-Matthew Graziotti, United State Penitentiary Tucson in Tucson, AZ I spent many years remodeling my small starter home, painstakingly ripping out the old and slowly rebuilding as time and funds allowed. I rebuilt the bathrooms, completely redesigned the kitchen, and replaced all of the closet shelving.  From painting to gardening, I plugged away at the never ending to do list. It was not only fun, but rewarding when a project was finally completed, and I could enjoy the fruits of my labor. There were plants still in starter pots and products still in their original packaging, when all my efforts

-Betty Martinez, Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, CA Hey Beat, this topic is a common thread we all share. If you’re reading this right now, it doesn’t matter how old we are, where we come from, what we look like, or what we identify as, we all can relate to being wrongly assumed upon.  You know what though, you don’t even gotta tell ‘em any different. Do you, be you (the real you) and in time it will come out, their mistake. Holding wrong assumptions can stunt us in getting to know someone for who they really are and

-Michael leak, St. Louis Correctional Facility, MII’ve seen blood stains that don’t wash awayAnd strung out junkies that score everydayI’ve seen little girls get sold for drugsAnd their momma praised these horrible thugsChasing that blow with a check addicted soulStanding on the corner in the middle of the coldThen those little girls grew up into a gangSo visualize the funerals and the songs they sangI speak from black tears that cry the bluesAnd I write my tomorrow’s before the five o’clock newsBecause everything today will repeat once againSo I write my tragedy with a black penI write my tears upon

-Bishop, San Quentin State Prison, CA What if you could spend time with anyone, who would it be? When you think about answering this what if question, picture the person, put a face to that person, and then see yourself with that person doing whatever it is you enjoyed doing before you became the person who you believe you are today. When you do this, ask yourself what would you be doing with that person if that person was someone who knew that there was something special about you and who genuinely believed in all you could accomplish? Where would

-John Sherwood, Correctional Facility in Pound, VA Young princes and young queens, you are so much more than any struggle you’ve gone through. You are so much more than the difficult circumstance that you are dealing with. You got to believe in yourself. Even when people that are supposed to love and provide for you are unable to help you in the way you may need or desire them to, it doesn’t lessen your worth.  There are many people in society that are trying to help you. Most importantly, you have to help yourself! You got to admit that what

-Phil D, Avenal State Prison in Avenal, CA Just a reminder to you all that things may not look too good right now while looking out the cell window, but I promise you that things will start to change when you look within yourself. My life was a mess for over forty years, till I got arrested.  Everything I ever had was stripped away from me, and I was at rock bottom. So I started to take advantage of all the help I could get, especially the mental health programs. They help me to look back and see why I

-Chris Krych All the time spent cannot be given back to me to relive with my familyAging poorly within a political systemThat stacks the deck against freedomsOnce you are gone, you are gone, but hopefully not forgotten!Another avenue of punishmentLucky to escape with your life, the dead speak(One hundred and three plus so far)!Nobody gets to relive life that has already passed byMothersota makes me cry lakes (ten thousand tears)Angry citizenry pain for lack of political shame!Layered barriers of political fraud, democracy cremated!Eight hundred plus wounded and breathing humansNeed to be made whole againAnother avenue of punishment Is freedom worth having?