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Jul. 22nd, 2005 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingInmates at San Quentin Prison raise $1500 to donate to keep a library open in San Francisco
Prisoners in San Quentin's inmate-to-inmate tutoring program sponsored something of a bake sale for literacy, selling doughnuts, pizza and fried chicken to other prisoners. Today, they will present a $1,000 check to the ailing Salinas Free Library, plus another $500 for literacy services in Marin County. Those sums are nothing to sniff at, given that an inmate with a high- paying prison job makes $56 a month.
Inmates say they raised the money in part because they wouldn't have ended up in prison had they gone further in school. They say they could not imagine their own lives without San Quentin's modest library, which is open to the general prison population six days a week. Some wanted to point out budget priorities that have governments cutting education programs and closing libraries while spending more money on prisons.
"If you take away libraries and recreation centers, the only place kids have to end up is a place like this," said convicted killer Olish Tunstall, 39, who came up with the idea to help Salinas after seeing a story about it on the news. Tunstall had completed only the eighth grade before he began serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, but he has since completed his GED and trained to become an X-ray technician. Now, he helps other prisoners who are learning to read or studying to pass their high school equivalency test. Another inmate-tutor, who identified himself as P.J. and who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, said, "If I would have focused on education in school, I wouldn't be here."
Robert "Red" Frye, 35, a tutor who is serving a life sentence for being an accessory to murder, teaches English as a Second Language to other students. Last month, he received his associate of arts degree -- and was valedictorian of his class.
"It is so important to have access to that education," he said. "It has given me a different world view."
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Am I a bad person because I read that last guy's nickname and immediately think "I wonder why they call him Red. Probably because he's Irish."?
Prisoners in San Quentin's inmate-to-inmate tutoring program sponsored something of a bake sale for literacy, selling doughnuts, pizza and fried chicken to other prisoners. Today, they will present a $1,000 check to the ailing Salinas Free Library, plus another $500 for literacy services in Marin County. Those sums are nothing to sniff at, given that an inmate with a high- paying prison job makes $56 a month.
Inmates say they raised the money in part because they wouldn't have ended up in prison had they gone further in school. They say they could not imagine their own lives without San Quentin's modest library, which is open to the general prison population six days a week. Some wanted to point out budget priorities that have governments cutting education programs and closing libraries while spending more money on prisons.
"If you take away libraries and recreation centers, the only place kids have to end up is a place like this," said convicted killer Olish Tunstall, 39, who came up with the idea to help Salinas after seeing a story about it on the news. Tunstall had completed only the eighth grade before he began serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, but he has since completed his GED and trained to become an X-ray technician. Now, he helps other prisoners who are learning to read or studying to pass their high school equivalency test. Another inmate-tutor, who identified himself as P.J. and who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, said, "If I would have focused on education in school, I wouldn't be here."
Robert "Red" Frye, 35, a tutor who is serving a life sentence for being an accessory to murder, teaches English as a Second Language to other students. Last month, he received his associate of arts degree -- and was valedictorian of his class.
"It is so important to have access to that education," he said. "It has given me a different world view."
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Am I a bad person because I read that last guy's nickname and immediately think "I wonder why they call him Red. Probably because he's Irish."?