Two Letters: One to the Governor and One from Prison

In the past week, my life has been bookmarked by two letters.   On New Year’s Eve, I put a letter in the mail to the Governor.  On Christmas Eve, I received a letter from a friend who is currently serving his LWOP sentence at Avenal State Prison. 

Let’s start with Christmas Eve.  How do I know someone at Avenal?  I actually am in communication with 15 state prison inmates whom I have met over the past four years in my capacity as a volunteer at Twin Towers Correctional Facility (TTCF).  I volunteer in the  Forensic Inpatient Stepdown Program (FIP).  The FIP is a remarkable peer support innovation created and sustained by the LA Sheriff’s Department and Correctional Health Services to provide a therapeutic environment to care for patients with serious mental illness (SMI).  Inmates from the general population, who are, for example, awaiting trial, or who have returned from state prison for legal proceedings, live embedded in the pods with the SMI patients to care for them.  These men are referred to as inmate Mental Health Assistants (MHA’s).

It is radical hospitality in action.  The patients are seen, heard, feel safe and can exercise choice.  The MHA’s experience this as well.

So my friend writes me this letter that knocks my socks off. 

“In January, 2026, I will be incarcerated for 19 years. And every year I find myself more appreciative of my life. I’m learning to focus on the blessings and learning from the lessons. I’m learning to not take things too personal. I’m learning forgiveness. I’m learning to let go. I’m learning to be free.”

Having started his time in 2007, he had returned to the county a couple years ago for a re-sentencing hearing, and while here, was selected to serve as one of the inmate MHA’s in the FIP.  I watched him grow in this role and exercise kindness, not only to the patients under his care, but also to his fellow MHA’s.  He was a natural leader and helped to mentor his less experienced colleagues.

My friend goes on to write:

“It’s easy to wallow in misery in Avenal State Prison. To find an injustice. To go down the rabbit hole of unfairness. But if you can overlook the negativity, just above the electric fence, gun towers, and razor wire, framed by the housing units, you’ll see golden hills and vast plains stretch all the way to the horizon.
It is here where I have witnessed the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets, thick brush strokes of deep indigo with sherbet pinks, reds, and yellows painted across the sky. Even when it is overcast with angry gray clouds, the sun breaks through, shining its heavenly rays, reminding us of what lies behind the gloom. ”

So that got me wondering, where exactly is Avenal?  Where would one see this sherbet sky?  I pulled down the photo from the internet.    And then I realize that I have seen the sign denoting Avenal along I-5, just near Kettleman City (good stop for In and Out).

Honestly, folks have heard me describe my time invested at Twin Towers as my happy place, which seems like an oxymoron.  But I realize that my friend put into words what I witness - -which is the personal transformation these MHA’s have experienced in this role of sacrificial service to others.  So many have told me that being entrusted with this responsibility, steeped in purpose and redemption, has changed the whole trajectory of their lives. 

Dear Governor Newsom

So, the second letter.  A “Hail Mary” pass to the Governor, knowing that he leads a state of nearly 40 million people and probably has a whole team assigned to open letters that are addressed to him in someone’s handwriting.

But in my letter, I ask if he could find time to visit the FIP on one of his trips to Los Angeles.   I assure him it will “knock his socks off” and I would hope he could see the glimmer of something that could be replicated in the state prison system.

Some of the alumni of the FIP write me from prison and tell me that their hearts are broken because they see the very men who they used to care for in the FIP assigned to the general population in prison, and they are struggling mightily.  I’ve seen where a federal judge has called out conditions in our state system – calling for a more humane way to care for SMI inmates.

The MHA’s serving their prison sentences are motivated and ready to do this work.  And one of the OG’s who helped to conceive this innovation, Craigen Armstrong, will be returning back to prison soon after a retrial and sentencing hearing this fall.

So – maybe someone in the state will take notice of what LA County has achieved – truly a bright spot that is worth emulating.

Freedom in Hope

When I leave the jail and let the heavy metal doors of the sally port thud behind me, I often wonder how I personally would handle the oppression of confinement.  My friend at Avenal leaves us with this observation about what freedom truly means:

“Over the years, I’ve noticed people from the “free” world more miserable and negative than the people that had/have life sentences. Why is that? Because their mind is imprisoned by the electric fence, gun towers, and razor wires of their dogma. It is imperative to have discernment. To be open-minded. To be free if one wants to get more out of this beautiful experience we call life. ”

So much wisdom from a man who has been incarcerated for 19 years, but I have witnessed his heart in action.  I hope the Governor opens my letter.  I hope CDCR might consider trying something like the FIP in a state prison.  The peer support Mental Health Assistants are ready to help!  There is freedom in hoping for all of this.