Diary New Folsom May 4

May 4

Window Earth Mother theater has opened. Right now I can only see the grasses, weeds and boulder tree waving good morning. The turkey parade will be here soon. I'm feeling sore from my run yesterday. It's  a good sore. I'll run again today. I must pick the right time to avoid the yard going down for some fist fight, where tear gas is shot or yard goes down for some other alarm. Usually the fights are over silly shit. Sometimes even old fools still want to be gangsters and get in a fight.

Anyways, good morning Mother Earth. It's 9:30 am and I'm still in the cell. There is a hater cop in the tower who likes running his own program and doesn't care that I have a memo that says I should be released at first yard to run art programs. I washed my shorts, T-shirts and towel instead and wrote letters. I will not let the hater cop spoil my mood, flow and work today. I'll see the Gosling Five later.

Diary New Folsom May 3

May 3

For the first time allergies have hit me and the last few nights have been restless. Sometimes I woke up at 2:30 am and stayed up the rest of the morning. I went to the doctor yesterday for a long overdue diabetic report of my long term sugar level and it was high to 7.4. Today I will start back jogging. I had cereal and coffee for breakfast. The window theater opened my heart and spirit this morning to see some of Mother Earth. Soon the mother turkeys will be bringing their turkey chicks down the turkey trail to the feeding grounds. I ponder do the wild turkeys grow as fast as the goslings? I jogged today and denied myself a soup which turns into sugar and is bad for my diabetes. I have been eating soups every day. The prison food is horrible and a top of ramen noodles with a pouch of sardines or mackerel is exquisite in comparison.

Sad days in the art room. Three weeks ago Marco, our art room clerk, rock'n roller and equipment man transferred, which only leaves Ken, the blues man, Marty, the man of man of many talents and myself as teaching artists. Marty ran the visual arts, music theory classes and was also featured in Michel Wenzer's film At Night I Fly. He was a main stay in all the art room bands. There was a lot of other little things Marty did to keep the art room running, flowing and real. The last day Marty was here we played the One Soul CD. We did Mother's day cards and felt our one soul.

I remember whenever outside guests came inside the art room, Jim Carlson, our brother in the arts and old AIC boss, would have Marty play his guitar and sing his original songs and I would do my poetry readings. Most often the visiting guest artists and other people from the outside world would get hooked on our art programs and come back again and again.

Now there is only art room boss Kari and my co-worker artist Ken left in the art room. Soon Ken will be gone too, and I will also. We will all be scattered on different beaches. Marty will be around here a little longer, but on another yard. I'll be down at Lancaster (LAC) teaching. Perhaps One Soul will see Marty again. I hope I'll get letters from One Soul once I'm gone from New Folsom. If not, stay real One Soul.

Diary from New Folsom 2013

May 2

This morning the theater window opened with a new geese family and four fresh goslings on the backside of the cell block. I had my poetry class today and did silent writing for most of the class. It has been twelve weeks since I ran my poetry class. A free poet came in and did a twelve week pilot program on a grant from William James Association to show how positive Arts In Corrections can be if allowed back inside California prisons. It went well. After silent writing I had my students read their poems. However, it has been a frustrating day. Sometimes it feels like I have very high highs and very low lows, only moments apart. I get edgy and verbally mean or silent and don't answer even when spoken to. Yes, I know that is rude. I don't like being that way, but sometimes feelings of darkness are so thick and sad, I must go silent, and in that silence, I get away for a moment.

Where I Am From

Cottontail and jackrabbits play tag, but only near the evergreen thorn bushes. Where they can dash like a lizard to escape from trouble – land or sky. Before there was a Lancaster prison we used to hunt wild rabbits with greyhound dogs, not for fun but for eating. On the way from the Chow hall sometimes a cottontail rabbit comes out to feed with the sparrows, black birds, pigeons, and ravens near the work center. Cottontail rabbits do not know how I once hunted them down for food and cooked them like fried or barbecue chicken. Rabbit had its own flavor and did not taste like chicken, and the smell from the skillet was a treat. One of the sparrows I feed has one leg, a female, and another sparrow, a male, has no legs and tries to hover in the air like a hummingbird to pick up food. When I didn’t know better and thought that other creatures were for human destruction I shot sparrows with pellets and BB guns. 

First published on The Good Men Project

More about support letters

Legal paper work for three issues; commutation, a Habeas Corpus (to have special circumstances dropped) and papers for the Board of Prison Terms are now done and sent.

There is no deadline for support letters for the Board because first I have to win the Board appearence issue in the court.

Support letters on my behalf are still very appreciated and a great help. It's a good thing if letters include work offers and offers of places to live etc.

Please address letters to The Board of Prison Terms/Board of Parole and they should be sent to me.

Note that the yard and cell no has recently changed! Here's the new address:

Spoon Jackson B-92377

CSP - LAC, A5-141

P.O. Box 4430 Lancaster

CA 93539-4430

USA

Radio Interview (audio)

In a recent interview on the German radio station Deutsche Welle, Kate Laycock talks with Spoon about "how a prisoner serving life without parole became a published poet, took part in a wide range of international artistic collaborations, and found a way to 'go on', even when going on seemed impossible". This program is broadcasted all over the world.

Update for support letters

Realness people, forgive my delay in creating blogs, tweets, poems and letters. I've gotten boxed into a corner, with my back up against a legal mountain to climb, and I have no attorney to guide me, so I have to drive into the law myself and strive for the best. I look forward to getting back to writing art and perhaps a series if vignettes, a few paragraphs each, artful but not analytical. I have to figure out that path as well and use the power of my poetry.

Right now I am deep diving into the laws because there appear to be at least three paths I can create that possibly can lead to my physical freedom. I must do the legal work, and learn how to do the work as I go along. I am not always logical. Sometimes I am a fool and an idiot. I seek wisdom from books and from those around me more versed in the laws. I want to have all legal matters in count as soon as possible. I would prefer to be doing art and I miss doing it like the earth would miss its orbit or companion the moon.

Commutation papers has been sent to the Governor of California. Now there is more work to do, first to get "special circumstances" dropped from my case and second to get to the Board of Prison Terms, because since 1993 I'm supposed to have been going back to the board.

Support letters on my behalf is most appreciated and a great help in this process. Letters can include work offers and offers of places to live etc.
Please address letters to The Board of Prison Terms/Board of Parole and send them to me. 
Recommendations of lawyers that could do pro bono work is very welcome as well.

Spoon Jackson B-92377
CSP - LAC, A5-113
P.O. Box 4430 Lancaster 
CA 93539-4430
USA

More support letters

Spoon is requesting more support letters for other parts of his legal fights besides the commutation papers that is being sent to the Governor of California at the moment. It includes trying to have "special circumstances" dropped from his case and preparation for a future parole hearing etc.
Anyone who wants to write a support letter describing what kind of person he is (from your own point of view and why he deserves a second chance, he says it could also include work offers, recommendations for places to live etc), it would be very appreciated.

I'm not familiar with the correct terms or the system so this is all I can say at the moment.
Anja (friend and blog editor)

Send support letters to Spoon personally at this address:

Spoon Jackson B-92377
CSP - LAC, A2-231
P.O. Box 4430 Lancaster, CA 93539-4430
USA

Request for support letter

Spoon is in the final stages of getting a petition ready to the Governor of California. He is asking to get his sentence commuted. Spoon sent out the request below for support letters a few months ago. Now they are all collected and will soon be sent together with all the paper work.

Dear family, friends and realness people – loved ones across Mother Earth!

I may be just whistling or playing my flute in the dark, where no one else can hear me, but I am asking you to write a letter on my behalf to the honorable governor of California Jerry Brown asking him to commute my LWOP sentence. No LWOP has ever been granted commutation or given a second chance. Thus even if the little light or wave we can create may be like spitting in a pond. Who am I to request a physical second chance? I really don't like waiting to hear back from a government, a group of people in Sacramento who really don't know me, and have them decide my fate. Yet, some friends and fellow artists say I must try. So here I am. With basically no expectations, but realness in my heart and walk.
Either way I will keep flowing and keep realness alive even after my last breath. Peace and realness.

Spoon