FIRE KEEPERS CORNER IC
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MeetMarthaPreble
PROGRAMMATIC UPDATES:
COMMUNITY PRACTITIONER &
See page 4 A Moment of Reflection
NO WARNING SHOTS
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Solano’sCommunityEvent
In New York, Project Restore Bed-Stu ect
le have now transitioned into the facilitation planning stage for Project Restore Flatbush. As the expand across neighborhoods, we are continuing to train the cohort while also utilizing graduates from Project Restore Bed-Stuy as co-training participants in Project Restore Brownsville This peer-led development model continues to strengthen the work from within the communities themselves
What we are witnessing is the natural snowball effect of the process: every cohort builds new leaders, every neighborhood strengthens the next, and the capacity for healing and facilitation grows with each cycle of engagement.
Our next programmatic update comes from Memphis, Tennessee, at Shelby County Jail. Led by Al and Guido Lewis, the Memphis cohort continues to demonstrate remarkable consistency and commitment. After two years of ongoing work, the program has become a regular and dependable circle-based healing space within the facility. The continuity of the work has helped establish trust, accountability, and meaningful opportunities for emotional healing and growth.
In addition to the ongoing circles, we are beginning to deepen engagement with sheriff’s staff and institutional stakeholders, strengthening collaboration around the broader impact of the work. Looking ahead, we are preparing to expand further into the correctional environment, with plans to begin work within the juvenile justice system during the next quarter. As always, we remain grateful for the facilitators, participants, organizational partners, and institutional supporters who continue helping carry this work forward.
James Mcleary, PRB Graduate & Felix Mickens
IC Community Practitioner Partner
As an experienced facilitator and jewelry artist, Martha’s mission is to “bring light to the world through creating beauty and connection”. After many years of supporting women on their healing journeys (as a leader, facilitator, and mentor in an international women’s organization), she now finds deep fulfillment serving as facilitator for both men and women at Inside/Outside Circle Intensives. Her wide range of life experiences and challenges has earned her a broad perspective and wisdom. Martha is passionate about contributing to the Inside/Outside community (and world!) by helping folks connect deeply with themselves, their truth, and their paths to healing. Her profound empathy for others' suffering and challenges has shaped her lifelong commitment to the art of attentive listening. Martha’s compassionate feminine presence is steady, grounded, and powerful, bringing balance, safety, and clarity to our circles.
She will “ go there” with you and stay with until you find what you need.
At the upcoming Giffords Center for Violence Intervention Com on Conference, Eldra Jackson III and Aaron Burris of Inside Circle wi as part of the growing national conversation around violence interv ir presentation centers on a core belief: violence cannot be understood only through crime and enforcement, but also through unresolved trauma, chronic stress, survival conditioning, and emotional disconnection within impacted communities. Drawing from years of work in New York City, New Jersey, Memphis, Dallas, and California, they will explore how healing-centered engagement and restorative practices can interrupt cycles of retaliation, fear, and violence before they escalate. The presentation reflects Inside Circle’s broader mission to position emotional healing and relational restoration as essential tools for violence reduction. Through healing circles, mentorship, accountability work, and emotional processing, Inside Circle is helping pioneer approaches that address the internal conditions often driving violence beneath the surface. As the field of community violence intervention evolves, Eldra and Aaron hope to contribute to a growing movement that recognizes healing not as secondary to public safety, but as central to it. I N S I
I N S I D E C I R C L E : H E L P S P R E A D T H E W O R D
W h i l e t h e r e w i l l b e m o r e r e s o u r c e s t o s h a r e o n c e t h e h e a l i n g h o m e o p e n s . A n u m b e r o f o u r
c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s h a v e r e q u e s t e d r e s o u r c e s t o s h a r e w i t h t h e i r f a m i l y a n d f r i e n d s .
C u r r e n t l y , o p e n t o t h e p u b l i c I n s i d e C i r c l e o f f e r s w e e k l y v i r t u a l c i r c l e s l e d b y R i c k & H e a t h e r , a m o n t h l y p o d c a s t l e d b y E l d r a a n d q u a r t e r l y o u t s i d e c i r c l e s g u i d e d b y D r a g o n C l a n E l d e r s . P l e a s e h e l p s p r e a d t h e w o r d I n s i d e c i r c l e o r g
F r e e W e e k l y M o n & W E d V i r t u a l C i r c l e s : R e g i s t e r a t
h t t p s : / / i n s i d e c i r c l e . o r g / e v e n t s /
M o n t h ly P o d c a s t o n S p o t i f y & A p p l e M u s i c : E l d r a J a c k s o n I I I
B a y A r e a O u t d s i d e C i r l c e s : F u l l S c h o l a r s h i p s a r e a v a i l a b l e a t
h t t p s : / / i n s i d e c i r c l e . o r g / e v e n t s /
H E A L I NG HOM E C OM I NG S O ON
firekeepers corner
There comes a moment in doing time when a person has to ask a hard question: Am I only surviving this environment, or am I learning how to live within it? Most people enter prison carrying far more than a sentence We carry grief, rage, shame, abandonment, fear, and stories about ourselves written long before the cell door closed. For many, prison did not create the pain it simply removed the distractions that once helped us outrun it.........That is why emotional healing matters.
Healing work, circles, accountability, and honest connection are not luxuries inside these walls They are survival tools for the spirit A person can be physically confined and still discover an inner freedom no institution can take away The walls are real The time is real But suffering grows when we allow the environment to define our entire inner life. The institution may control movement and physical freedom, but it does not have to control meaning, purpose, or spiritual direction......This is also how change begins moving outward into the world.
There is a difference between being in prison and living imprisoned One is physical The other becomes emotional, mental, and spiritual Circles and healing spaces matter because they interrupt isolation. They challenge the stories trauma taught us to believe. They remind us that numbness is not peace, anger is not strength, and emotional shutdown is not freedom. Healing asks us to honestly examine what shaped us and imagine something beyond it.
When a person sincerely commits to healing, something begins to change Not instantly, but steadily The way they speak changes The way they listen changes Possibility begins showing up where hopelessness once lived. The world responds differently to people who are no longer at war with themselves. For those serving time, this work is not about denying the realities of prison. It is about reclaiming authorship over the inner self. Refusing to let trauma or bitterness become the final identity Healing is not weakness it is strength
Many people wait for freedom before they begin living differently But real transformation often begins long before the gate opens. Some leave prison physically while remaining emotionally incarcerated. Others begin freeing themselves internally years before they walk outside........The Invitation Is always to treat each circle like it could be your last. Participate honestly. Sit with discomfort instead of running from it. Speak truthfully. Listen deeply. Allow yourself to imagine a version of life that is not completely dictated by your wounds Because healing is not just about feeling better It is about becoming free enough internally that, when opportunity arrives, you are capable of receiving it.
A celebration of Recovery & Reform
o r g a n i z at i o n s f r o m t h e o u t s i d e c o m m u n i t y. T h e
d ay wa s f i l l e d w i t h c r a f t s , r e s o u r c e s , f o o d ,
m u s i c , a n d c o n n e c t i o n .
O n d i s p l ay wa s a n i n c r e d i b l e r a n g e o f
c r a f t s m a n s h i p a n d a r t i s t i c ta l e n t f r o m t h e
c r e at i v e m i n d s c o l l e c t i v e i n c l u d i n g h a n d m a d e
c l o c k s , c r o c h e t e d m a s t e r p i e c e s , d e ta i l e d m o d e l
s h i p s , c l a s s i c c a r s a n d p l a n e s , pa i n t i n g s , h a n d -
pa i n t e d h at s , a n d c u s t o m s k at e b o a r d d e c k s . T h e
F r e s n o S k at e b o a r d S a lva g e P r o j e c t wa s a l s o i n
t h e h o u s e , s h o w c a s i n g t h e i r h a n d - pa i n t e d
s k at e b o a r d d e c k c o l l e c t i o n a n d s p e a k i n g f r o m
the stage as guest presenters. The creativity and level of artistry throughout the event was truly remarkable. Beyond the artwork, there were numerous resource-based groups hosting information booths, pool tables, and food stations that encouraged connection and conversation The entire event was set against the backdrop of a live musical performance featuring No Warning Shots, solo performances and spoken word poetry. The music brought an uplifting and positive energy that felt somewhere between a block party and an intimate concert venue
One of the most powerful parts of the day was simply looking around the room and seeing staff and incarcerated men coming together with smiles, conversation, laughter, and heads boppin’ to the music. It was a heartfelt event that celebrated artistic expression, human connection, and the shared desire to create a prosocial environment that supports the wellbeing of both staff and inmates alike.
A big thank you to the CSP-Solano administration, CSp-SOlano men In blue and all of the event organizers for helping pioneer such a meaningful and inspiring community event
LOVING POTENTIAL
By Manny Moreno (SCC)
SHOW ME A GREATER POTENTIAL IN CREATOR THAN THE EXCELLENT GROWTH AND MATURITY OF A SEED PLANTED IN A FERTILE PLAIN WHERE THE BEAUTY OF TRANSFORMATION TAKES ITS FORM. A NUTRIENT RICH ENVIRONMENT OF FLUIDITY AND ATOMIC MATTER FOR THE PERFECTION OF TIME TO FORM LOVE, THE ESSENCE OF FORMS, BIRTHS, TIME SHAPING THE CREATION WITH ITS INTANGIBLE VALUE, TO SHAPE ITS FORM.
SHARING YOUR VOICE
We believe it is important for the outside community to hear your voice. We've highlighted quotes from the words you sent us and shared on our social media under the title #VoicesFromTheInside. We've also highlighted quotes from the meditations and poems from the Folsom Prison Daybook.
Bridging Circles
Pen Pal Program
Program Guidelines
Inside Circle has been building an Outside Circle community over the last few years supporting women and men from the street - a.k.a the un-incarcerated - on personal growth journeys in the same way we’ve supported you men behind bars for over 20 years. We all need to check-in with a community. We all need to be heard. We all need to know we have not been forgotten. They have medicine to share and need to feel that they can be of service to others, to you. Can you reflect on your life and share a part of yourself, your medicine, on paper? Can you check-in by hand?
We have a beautiful community of people that would love to write to you In order to participate in the program, we ask that you understand and respect the following guidelines:
Pen pals are only allowed to send you letters, they are not allowed to send you gifts, money, packages etc
Pen pals are not allowed to contact anyone on your behalf such as friends, family, lawyers, or judges
This is a pen pal service, not a dating service Please respect your and your pen pal's boundaries
Pen pals are instructed to preserve their anonymity and to keep communications confidential. In turn, we ask that you respect their anonymity and keep their communications to you confidential.
Pen pals are advised to check their judgments and be open to the background of others, and we ask the same of you.
Pen pals are encouraged to not pry into places in your life that you do not wish to share, we ask that you show the same respect.
If you find these guidelines agreeable, we ask that you please fill out the attached form, sign your name, and return it to us at the following address: Inside circle, 2443 Fillmore St. #380-4123, San Francisco, CA 94115. This will assist us in moving the process along to match you with a pen pal. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for holding the light strong.
If you have already completed this form, you are on our waiting list.
Full name:
CDC Number: Date of Birth:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Are you trained in Victim Offender Dialogue?
Date Signed Participant Signature
INFO CARD
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND MAIL THIS BACK IN THE ENVELOPE PROVIDED.
FIRST NAME: ________________ MIDDLE NAME: ___________ LAST NAME: ________________________
MAILING ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________________
CDCR#: ________________ D.O.B: ___________ CLASSIFICATION SCORE: ________ HOUSING LEVEL: _______
# OF SERIOUS/VIOLENT 115’S...before joining group: _________ and #after joining group: _____________ ?
HOW LONG DID YOU SIT IN GROUP? ___________ ARE YOU CURRENTLY MENTORING OR FACILITATING? (Y/N) _________
WOULD YOU SIT IN GROUP AGAIN IF ABLE? (Y/N) _______ ARE YOU INTERESTED IN STARTING A GROUP? (Y/N) _______
SURVEY
I A M M O R E C O N N E C T E D T O S O M E T H I N G G R E A T E R T H A N M Y S E L F
I F E E L L E S S A L O N E
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. . I F E E L I A M W O R T H S O M E T H I N G
I B E L I E V E T H A T L I F E H A S V A L U E
I A M B E T T E R A B L E T O C O P E W I T H S T R E S S .
I A M M O R E I N C O N T R O L O F M Y L I F E A N D A C T I O N S
BELOW IS SPACE FOR YOU TO CHECK IN AND SHARE HOW YOU'RE DOING PHYSICALLY, INTELLECTUALLY, EMOTIONALLY, AND SPIRITUALLY THERE'S ROOM FOR MORE ON THE BACK
CHECK-IN (CONTINUED)
IF YOU HAVE ANY POEMS TO SHARE OR WORDS THAT HAVE MOVED YOU LATELY, WE'D LOVE TO HEAR THEM AND INCLUDE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER.