There’s Always Hope
Dear AVA, I would just like to thank you for sending me your paper and continuing with the awesome work on your end. I only know that it is a pleasure to have your paper passed through my bars by some...
View ArticleNuthin’ Comin’ But It’s Free
Dear AVA, I was just about to write you to see if you knew whether the documentary “Rivers of a Lost Coast,” featured at the Anderson Valley Film Festival is available to the public or not. Then I...
View ArticleSolo Either Way
To the editor, I want to acknowledge and commend Mr. Bruce McEwen for the bold journalism displayed in his report in your Off The Record section on March 3, 2010. I respect anyone unafraid to call a...
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The Killa Nook
Dear AVA, This is Mr. Gutmann, “The One and Only!” You might remember me Luke Gutmann from an article you published a while back titled “Something Nice” by Bruce McEwen. I was the one who was...
View ArticlePrison Poetry
Editor, Dateline San Quentin State prison, South block, Alpine section, entry 2: Play now, Pay later. Picking up the pieces one day at a time. I find myself stranded somewhere between nowhere and...
View ArticleBook Up On Diabetes, Doc
Editor, A Short-Term Death Sentence — On February 19 while in Mendocino County Jail I was tested at 4am and had low blood sugar of 59. I was given 25 units of Lantus but I only took 15 units. I was...
View ArticleThree Strikes & A Suicide
Dear Editor: The man in the cell next to mine hung himself yesterday. I knew him for almost four years. He had what I have: an unreasonable Three Strikes sentence. They dragged him out of his cell...
View ArticleLet Lifers Handle The Money
Dear AVA, This is Tony B. live from San Quentin. I’ve been busy, in case you guys have been wondering. I finally made it out of West Block after three months. I was moved to North Block last week. Now...
View ArticleLife With The Lifers
AVA, This is Tony B., still at San Quentin Hotel, Resort and Spa (SQHRS), live with the lifers, still having a great time. I am so glad I’m here. It’s Friday night and I still haven’t recieved a single...
View ArticleHope For The Addicted
Editor, I’m writing to say thank you for all you’ve done for me and the others who benefit from your terrific newspaper. I’m also writing as a rebuttal of the piece you carried on Frances Seymour who...
View ArticleWelcome To Hell
Dear Editor, Tehachapi State Prison. Thanks so much for the subscription the last eight months. It’s really helped keep me in touch with the outside world and my mind off my daily struggles behind...
View ArticleWhere’s My Meds, Mitch?
Dear Mr. Anderson, Greetings from San Quentin where I am serving four months for parole violation. I am humbly and respectfully asking for a free subscription to your newspaper which I have been a fan...
View ArticleMutual Combat, Not Murder
Editor: Please sir help me by posting my cry for help in the AVA for a few weeks to come as my life is in the hands of this county’s judicial system and Linda Thompson. Thank you kindly. I am writing...
View ArticleFree Sub, The Hard Way
Dear AVA, Were I asked at any point in my life where I saw myself at the age of 51, the answer would invariably have been: Dead. Not from any romantic notion about leaving a good-looking corpse (that...
View ArticleDreaming Of Kryptonite
Editor, In watching across the lobby of the local clinic I see two little girls and a boy playing at a table with Plato and all the accessories that go along with it. There are great big smiles on...
View ArticleAwesome Wordology
Dear AVA, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. “Awesome” is the most phenomenally iconic word ever. Actually I buried and mourned it long ago, interred it with a host of other cheapened, diluted,...
View ArticleLife Inside
Editor, On October 24, 2011, I was taken out on a medical transport to San Joaquin hospital and the following took place. We were transported with a set of leg irons and a chain around the waist that...
View ArticleSomething’s In The Air
Editor, Tehachapi State Prison, 2012 — Prison is a hustler’s paradise where only the strong survive. It’s full of buyers and sellers and everyone is a con-artist. Hence the term con-artist. The weak...
View Article20 Minutes From Disneyland
Dear Editor and readers, Thanks again so much for the support and subscription all this time I’ve been down. It’s made this state tour almost bearable. I’m currently locked down in Chino, California on...
View ArticlePublic Deal Makers
Editor, Public Defenders are a joke. This letter is for anyone being misrepresented by the Public Defender’s office. I say misrepresented for many reasons: They practice no law, they just cut deals...
View ArticleBongo Bill
Editor: My name is William Joseph Newport CDCR#K14307, aka “Bongo Bill.” This letter has been a long time coming. I was a homeless man who had a more or less meager form of existence in the town of...
View ArticleIt’s Not Pretty
Editor Oh, the irony! I have gone from living in a gorgeous Victorian apartment on sunny San Bruno Avenue to dwelling in a hideous cage in perpetually foggy San Bruno jail. My alleged crime is...
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