Have a gander at this:
The blue line in the above graph shows the total number of inmates in California’s prisons each year from 1930 to 1980.
Now check out the total number of inmates in California’s prisons from 1980 to 2008:
That’s a 700% increase in 18 years!
700%! That’s outrageous! I’m so glad you’re back to writing and “doing your thing”. I will be sharing everything you post here.
(Merry Christmas!)
Great!! Can’t wait to read all your stories. We’ll be following you.
Excellent news! I will be sharing this with all my friends once again!
Good on ya mate! Glad to hear the journey will continue, I will be sharing these as well! Be safe.
Wondered what had become of you and your insights from behind the walls. Missed your missives, and so glad you’re back. It’s a story that needs to be told, and with the looming rise in crime rates as a result of the ill-concieved AB 109, it’s a dilemma that needs to be explained as it unfolds. Hope you’re able to assist in educating the public as to how these issues are intertwined. Not an easy task, my friend, as AB 109 is sure to play out as an increasingly ugly mess on the local level.
So great to see you are back. 700% is insane! Looking forward to the stories to come.
Way to keep rockin’. It takes alot to do what you’re doing and you should know that people appreciate it. Rock on!
Awesome. This is incredibly important work. Can’t wait to keep reading.
Crazy stats. Keep up the great storytelling and contextualizing, man. “We are the 700%”?
I taught, yes TAUGHT animation in prison. YES, …animation. To inmates in the California Department of Corrections system through UCLA Arts Reach & the William James Association. There were 12 state prisons in California art the time I moved to Southern California in 1979. When I left for the midwest in 2003 there were over 80 state prisons.
California possessed a higher education system that was the envy of the country. Practically free when I moved there. Proposition 13 was passed and the golden dream transmogrified into a prison nightmare. The dollars moved from education to incarceration.
‘Law & order’ was the name of the game.
Thanks for all the positive feedback, everyone! I’ve been hitching along California’s southern border for the last week and it has sure helped to have support while finding my way back to the groove.
Was just thinking of you. Hope all is well out there in the great unknown!
Let me know if you make it back towards Chicago at any time, would love to burn the midnight oil.
7732063340
Teo