We recently connected with Jesse Vasquez and have shared our conversation below.

Jesse, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Imagine growing up in the dark indifferent California prison system during the tough-on-crime era when there was no hope or opportunity for rehabilitation, restoration or release if you were a life-term prisoner. I had gone in as a juvenile and sentenced to multiple life terms for an attempted murder and a drive-by shooting. I read a lot because it was my only escape. Literature gave me an alternative to the painful monotonous reality of prison life. Ever year my hopes would rise because there was always some rumor of criminal justice reform for youth offenders or sentence reductions for multiple sentences but after a decade of letdowns I gave up and stopped following the news. It’s painful to live a life grasping for any semblance of redemption just to end up disillusioned and disappointed.

One day, after 15 years of incarceration, I came across the San Quentin News, an incarcerated produced newspaper that tells stories about people at San Quentin State Prison. The stories seemed far-fetched to me because they had a college inside of the prison and a bunch of pictures of celebrities visiting the prison. I felt compelled to transfer to San Quentin to investigate and be a part of the publication. I decided to take a chance and see if there was a place for me there. It took me a few years to get to San Quentin because prison transfers are not for our convenience or on our schedule.

Once I arrived at San Quentin State Prison I got involved superficially with the newspaper because once you’ve been letdown it’s hard to start believing again. However, when I became editor in chief and started reading the letters to the editor that came in from across the country I began to realize that I wasn’t the only one silently struggling with hopelessness and despair. I also became keenly aware that we were contributing to a change in mindsets that made a difference to how people did their prison time. I took a chance and started believing that I could make a difference in spite of the circumstances.

In retrospect, I realize that finding my purpose and taking a chance in believing that we could make a difference made all the difference in the world for me. A year after I became editor in chief California Governor Jerry Brown commuted my sentence and I paroled May 22, 2019. I can’t say that I haven’t taken other risks in life, but there hasn’t been one more powerful than hoping against hope.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in the California Department of Corrections before the era of rehabilitation and reform so I got to live and watch a lot of real life prison drama unfold. It was real life drama as opposed to the make belief stereotypes that mainstream media and Hollywood try to sell people as “reenactments.” There isn’t anything that can reenact or capture the hopelessness and desperation associated with getting sentenced to multiple life sentences as a kid with no expectation of redemption or release.

It wasn’t until San Quentin State Prison started printing San Quentin News that the 150K incarcerated folks in the state were getting news that was relevant to them. SQ News was the only incarcerated run newspaper in California prisons and the only independent one nationwide. It was the first time many of us had seen positive stories about prison. I was on Level 4 maximum security prisons for a long time and our normal was violence or the threat of violence, it’s what kept the peace. However, SQ News was highlighting policies that gave hope and programs that offered opportunity so a lot of us started reading it.

By the time I got involved with SQ News they had a fiscally sponsored project Friends of San Quentin News to help develop and support their efforts to reach every incarcerated person with the publication. When I became editor in chief in 2018 we increased our circulation and broadened the content we shared. We added a magazine, Wall City, so that folks could write features and we could be more creative. We began producing an internal broadcast so individuals with literacy challenges could stay current and informed about prison policies, laws and opportunities. We became a voice for the voiceless and we started getting awards for our work.

Today Friends of San Quentin News, soon to be Pollen Initiative, is committed to providing multimedia training to the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated and establishing the platforms and distribution channels needed to amplify their stories. We provide the incarcerated hands-on training to produce film, a newspaper, a magazine and facilitate workshops with criminal justice stakeholders. We are currently replicating all of our media programs inside of the Central California Women’s Prison at Chowchilla, which happens to be the largest women’s prison in the world. We want to make sure that more individuals get to contribute their stories to the narrative about prison.

When I first got involved in this work I was sitting in a prison cell with multiple life sentences. I had no hope, purpose or way to tell my story or contribute to the change I wanted to see in the world. I didn’t expected to be free one day, much less have the opportunity to work with some incredible folks and organizations to bring meaningful opportunities for the incarcerated to tell their stories and share their wisdom and experience.

I get to walk back into the prisons that held me because people matter and somebody did it for me. We were fortunate enough to have been visited by Richard Logan, President of The Reva and David Logan Foundation and staff while I was still at San Quentin State Prison. What left an impression on me was that they stayed involved and annually made visits to the prison newsroom to see how WE were doing. It wasn’t a normal funder’s site visit. It was a “how are you doing” visit and that made a difference in a world where folks have been ignored and left to sit silently and in darkness. We get to stay involved and help shine a light on a lot of potential, talent and human worth.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I went into the juvenile system as a teenager and didn’t regain my freedom until I was 36 years old. I’m sure anyone can imagine what a potential employer or partner would say if they saw a huge gap in your resume. I had the 7th grade as my last marker and then I’m 36!

It wasn’t hard explaining to folks why I went to prison. It was just awkward having to repeat it so many times because everyone wants to know. I guess that’s the silver lining of skewed prison shows we have a curious audience now instead of a hostile one.

Nevertheless, it’s tough to get turned down from jobs that you could be great at because “you don’t have enough experience” or “we don’t want the liability.” Fortunately I could rationalize that they weren’t rejecting me because it was personal, it was the scarlet letter of incarceration and the residual consequences.

It took a few months to get a decent job where I could make a difference and a few years to get paid what I’ve always been worth but I learned a few valuable lessons about character and discipline. Regardless of what job you have to do you get to be you and people value integrity and consistency. I had to first show up for myself before I was able to show up for others.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I dream of a world, or at least a country, where we recognize our shared humanity, struggles and potential and we learn to leverage it all for the common good. I believe that can only happen if we continuously highlight our humanity regardless of where people may find themselves at the time because some people find their truest self only in the midst of chaos, conflict or personal turmoil. Our work is about shedding light into dark places and telling stories that otherwise would go untold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sanquentinnews.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forwardthisproductions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanQuentinNews
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-vasquez-15a8221ba
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanQuentinNews
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@forwardthisproductions9863/videos