imprisonment: 1983-2009
Unit 'Boys ICU' at Sylmar Juvenile Hall, where I spent 23 hours a day alone in my cell for the first 33 days of my wrongful imprisonment. (Pretty sure my cell is the first door on the right in this photo.)
Me, looking on mutely as Judge Richard Kolostian sentences me to 16 years to life for the second-degree murder of my mother. I am 20 years old and innocent - Feb 7, 1986.
Weekly visits with Dad were a rare joy at the notorious 'Gladiator School' — the California Youth Authority's Youth Training School (YTS) in Ontario, CA. (Note my black eye, still visible from the fight I was challenged into upon arrival, weeks earlier) - 1986.
A friend at San Quentin's Receiving & Release ('R&R') offered to take some shots for posterity with one of the cool antique cameras he maintained there - 1989.
A polaroid taken on C-Yard, Mule Creek State Prison. Lifting weights helped me pass the endless time, and projected a tougher facade, making life a bit safer - 1991.
Visits with my dad were sacred. They sustained my strength and humanity during the darkest of days. Together, we glowed. Sadly, this was our last visit; he died a few months later - 1995.
Behind my clerk's desk in C-Facility's Education Department at Mule Creek State Prison. As depressing as it looks, this was one of the better prison jobs and it allowed me to work on my case after finishing my clerical tasks - 1995.
A typical dayroom at Mule Creek State Prison, where I spent 19 years of my life. After this photo, the benches in the upper-right were replaced with 40 (later expanded to 60) inmate beds. I was released from one of these 'e-beds' on Aug 13, 2009.
When the 'emergency overflow beds' (aka 'e-beds') arrived, overcrowding became even more unbearable. The groaning, reeking crush of human bodies was inescapable.
My bunk, just hours after my release. Its metal frame is bolted to the concrete floor of a dirty dayroom in Building 11, Facility C, Mule Creek State Prison. This was my last prison housing assignment. (Note the URL scrawled on my prison-issued towel, WWW.FREEBRUCE.ORG, predecessor to this website) – Aug 13, 2009.