Feeling state budget cuts from behind bars

Even though some inmates may benefit from State budget cuts, those that remain in prison feel the economic crisis in a unique way. KALW Economic Edge Street Team reporter Richard Gilliam is an inmate at San Quentin State Prison. In this letter, read by KALW’s Brian Pelletier, Gilliam shares how he has felt the State budget crunch from within San Quentin.

RICHARD GILLIAM: There are signs of cutbacks. They no longer give us sugar for our morning cereal, or salt and pepper for our meals. Believe me, the food is pretty bland here.

The one that affects me on a very basic level is the lack of toilet paper. It used to be distributed on a weekly basis like clockwork. One roll per person per week. But lately it’s being delivered less often. They’re making us wait a week and a half or more. Blaming the late delivery on “the warehouse.” No responsibility can be pinned on a known individual that way. You can imagine the anxiety we experience when we run out of a basic necessity. And there is none available anywhere. We can’t just run to the store and get some. We must depend on our keepers for our most basic necessities.

Another sign that money’s tight is the curtailing of the Friday visiting program. We used to be able to receive three visits over the weekend, but now that’s been cut to two.

Also, there is no longer a Friends Outside facilitator at San Quentin. Friends Outside would assist a ride to or from the train station. If the visitor wore an item of clothing that the staff felt was not authorized or considered inappropriate, Friends Outside could loan a visitor a garment for the duration of the visit. So an inmate’s family could see a loved one without suffering a major inconvenience.

Friends Outside also offered parenting classes to inmates so he or she would be better equipped to assume his or her familial responsibilities upon release. This resource is now gone. Many educational and vocational classes are scheduled to be closed in the very near future as well. Out of approximately 30 teachers and instructors, only a half dozen did not receive layoff notices.

Richard Gilliam is in a creative writing program at San Quentin that is part of the Arts-in-Corrections, which lost funding as of January 31, 2010. Some classes continue on a volunteer basis.

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