san quentin – Daniel Wozniak Is My Friend?

San Quentin Closes Death Row; Daniel Moves Again

Hello readers, and happy new year to you!

Daniel Wozniak started 2022 at a new address.

He was relocated from the Salinas Valley State Prison to the California Medical Facility (CMF) in Vacaville at the beginning of December 2021.

He and at least one other former San Quentin death row inmate made this seemingly lateral move (as far as freedoms and advantages are concerned) for, basically, administrative reasons. They needed to be re-classified.

All the former Death Row inmates were involved in a pilot program moving them to prisons where they could have opportunities to work and earn money at inmate jobs to facilitate paying restitution to the loved ones of their victims. The program was also intended to give DR inmates freedoms and opportunities that are not logistically available at San Quentin.

When the pilot program ended, Daniel and some of the other former SQDR inmates needed to be re-classified. I’ll spare you the minute details of why they couldn’t just be re-classified and stay in Salinas Valley, but they couldn’t… and so they moved again.

As opposed to the huge culture shock of moving from San Quentin to Salinas Valley, CMFV isn’t much of a change, aside from how Daniel says he has an actual window in his cell that is at least “person-sized” and opens up to the outside world.

It appears the pilot program has been successful enough to be put into use with the over five hundred and fifty remaining San Quentin death row inmates. California governor Gavin Newsom recently announced the planned closure of the entirety of San Quentin’s death row within the next two years.

It is the nation’s largest death row, and the only death row in the state of California. So even though the death penalty will still be available as a sentencing option, there won’t be a specific destination to send the condemned.

Personally, I am against the death penalty, but I can understand how losing a loved one to murder could make an individual long for that type of revenge / justice.

How could California’s death penalty hold any real weight for perpetrators or victims without the fear of living the rest of one’s days in that ominous rock fortress known as San Quentin?

Without housing California’s only death row, the prison doesn’t really serve any specific purpose that can’t be fulfilled by more modern prisons in the middle of nowhere. San Quentin is located on a very nice piece of property that could be turned into valuable real estate for the state.

Daniel made a claim that Newsom’s wife is a “land developer,” and it was obvious he was saying that California’s governor was more interested in making money than saving lives.

Daniel was wrong. Jennifer Siebel Newsom is documentary filmmaker, producer, and actress. Maybe the idea of her being a land developer just made for more of an interesting story to pass from inmate to inmate..?

As with the pilot program that included Daniel, the main justification given for moving inmates is less humanitarian and more goal based.

“For the first time in California’s history, eligible death-sentenced individuals may be housed in general population areas where they can have more access to job opportunities enabling them to pay court-ordered restitution to their victims when applicable,” — Vicky Waters, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Is Governor Newsom trying to completely abolish the death penalty in California?

In 2019, Newsom did put a moratorium on executions in California for as long as he is the governor, but he talks more of reforming the death penalty, not overturning it.

“We’re one of the few industrial nations in the world that still sentences its population to death,” he said. “I look forward to advancing more leadership on reforming the death penalty here in this state and, hopefully, across the country.”

I have to wonder how many of the men on San Quentin’s death row (and women at Chowchilla) look at this mass relocation as positive or negative. Daniel’s said there weren’t a ton of volunteers willing to join the original pilot program, and he claims two inmates committed suicide just to avoid the possibility of being forced to move in the foreseeable future.

I did find articles about the two suicides, but there was no specific reason given for why the men took their own lives. One of men had only been on death row for a month. The other, since 2004.

Daniel believes the forced closure and re-location of every prisoner on death row will actually lead to numerous inmate deaths, therefore “speeding up” the execution process for a number of cases. He’s positive quite a few of those who have sat for decades on death row will take their own lives before allowing themselves to be moved from the familiarity of their tiny cells.

Daniel, however, is much more comfortable and had freedoms and opportunities he never had at San Quentin. The fact that he may be able to work to pay restitution may be cold comfort for the surviving loved ones of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi.

‘Rona on the Row – An Update on Daniel Wozniak and COVID-19 at San Quentin Prison

The tests came back, Daniel Wozniak, along with at least 159 other death row inmates, is infected with COVID-19.

Daniel is, so far, completely asymptomatic. He took the actual test more than five days ago, so it’s unlikely he will end up experiencing any symptoms from the virus.

Soon after the results came back, a guard with a large roll of red tape walked up and down the tiers, marking the cells of the infected inmates. A friend of Daniel’s who was being walked to the showers commented on seeing that tape on every tier.

Now a nurse comes to his cell twice a day to check his temperature and ask if he’s having any symptoms.

Nurses, guards, and all other non-inmates staff at San Quentin are now dressed in full protective gear at all times.

“They look like Dustin Hoffman in the movie Outbreak,” Daniel remarked.

Daniel hears alarms going off almost hourly. He’s been hearing calls of “man down” from areas throughout the building, but he has no idea if inmates are being removed from their cells. He’s not sure where they would be taken, anyway, since the prison’s hospital is full.

Daniel did see a stretcher being carried out on a recent Wednesday night. He learned from me that this was probably Richard Eugene Stitely, a 71 year old who had died, but whether or not Stitely was infected is to be determined.

It’s impossible to say how many inmates at San Quentin are actually infected with COVID-19. Daniel Wozniak has no idea of the circumstances on the prison’s mainline. Clearly there are hundreds of positive cases, and overcrowding has to be exacerbating the problem of keeping the healthy separated from the sick.

Perhaps some readers have trouble sympathizing for men who have been condemned to die, but this prison is filled with so many more people than the 740 or so who are on death row. There are almost 50 sick guards, and the ones that are still healthy are working double and triple shifts to cover for guards who can’t come to work.

This situation is terrible for everyone in and out of that prison.

Read my previous post on COVID-19 at San Quentin.

COVID-19 In San Quentin

You may have seen some news stories about how many prisons and jails have been dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19 making its way through the inmate population.

In what initially may have seemed like a logical solution, “healthy” inmates have been transferred to prisons with no verified COVID-19 cases. 121 inmates from Chino Prison were taken to San Quentin, and since they were not tested for COVID-19 before arrival… they brought the outbreak with them.

Petri Dish

Within two weeks, San Quentin went from having no cases to — as of this writing — having over four hundred. The number goes up every day.

The question on the mind of Daniel Wozniak and many other prisoners is where, exactly, are the infected prisoners being held? The many guards he’s asked have no answers.

Taking Measures

When it was discovered there were COVID-19 cases in San Quentin, the prison emptied out the Advanced Correction (A.C.) unit in order to safely isolate sick inmates.

The A. C. unit, also known as Solitary, was meant to house those who had broken rules. At San Quentin, that unit only holds a hundred inmates, so that doesn’t even come close to having enough space for all those currently sick, let alone ones who may yet become ill.

Where are the others?

Daniel has noticed that guards now wear clear face plates over their masks, and heavy duty gloves. In fact, while I was talking to him on the telephone yesterday, guards were spraying the air with what looked like a pesticide.

Unlike the San Quentin inmates in general population, Daniel Wozniak gets his own cell. He at least has a semblance of social distancing. Most inmates are stuck sharing cells, which would make it easy for Covid-19 to spread from prisoner to prisoner.

Daniel Wozniak isn’t necessarily concerned about his own health. He doesn’t want to get COVID-19, of course, but he is young and healthy and would likely be just fine. That cannot be said for many of the people around him.

In the Dark

Right around June 19th, 2020, the prison tested every inmate at San Quentin for COVID-19. Even though the number of reported cases continues to rise, as of the 24th, the inmates haven’t been given the results of their own tests.

What They Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Us?

I have to wonder if there are prisoners who don’t even know they are sick, but are being counted as infected when the numbers are released to the media. I’m not usually one for conspiracy theories, but having no place to safely house infected inmates could mean the sick are just staying put. If this were the case, would the inmates be kept in the dark for the sake of keeping them calm?

In the 1998 movie Armageddon, an asteroid “the size of Texas” hurtles toward Earth, and when it hits, all life will be obliterated. In the movie, the government chooses to keep this information hidden from the public in order to avoid the complete terror and chaos that would result from people learning of their inevitable destruction. Thankfully, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck lead a misfit team of NASA recruits on a mission to destroy the asteroid and save the world. The people who were in danger never even knew how close they came.

You see where I’m going with this, right? I don’t think it would be that surprising if the warden at San Quentin would attempt to keep the peace for as long as possible.

We’ll see what the future brings. I’ll keep you updated.

And Now, This

On the HBO series Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver did an extensive story on how COVID-19 has been burning through our prisons and jails. He explained how prison outbreaks can be dangerous to so many more people than just the inmates.

I understand if some readers don’t have a great deal of sympathy for the incarcerated, but continued outbreaks of Coronavirus are a threat to everyone.

Here’s the Last Week Tonight segment:

Is Daniel Wozniak Leaving San Quentin?

Hi there readers!

I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, but I’m still in regular contact with Daniel Wozniak. We talk on the telephone often, so I get continual updates from Dan about his life on the infamous San Quentin’s Death Row.

The truth is, there hasn’t been much to share with you.

No News is… No News

One day Daniel and I spent half an hour talking about the various possible sandwich combinations one could create when given three pieces of bread, a decent sized tube of peanut butter, a decent sized tube of jelly, and a banana.

His personal favorite option is: three “stick” (or half) sandwiches with peanut butter, jelly and three slices of banana on each.

Lately, the convicted murderer of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi has been living an existence that seems more tedious than terrifying.

But Wait! There’s News

Now, though, there’s a chance the tedium might be reduced.

All condemned inmates recently received a ten page informational packet about a new protocol being introduced to death row this year: CITPP, or, the Condemned Inmate Transfer Pilot Program.

Consequences of Proposition 66

You might remember that in March of 2019, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, put a freeze on executions. He promised that none would take place while he was in office. But the Governor’s actions didn’t change the law in California, or the fact that the 2016 election saw the passing of Proposition 66, which was essentially intended to speed up the state’s execution process.

Work for Prisoners, but Not at San Quentin

According to Daniel, there is another lesser known aspect of Prop. 66 that allows condemned inmates to be assigned jobs behind bars. Prison work doesn’t exactly pay well, but it gives a person something to do that’s worthwhile and fills the time.

Death row prisoners don’t have the opportunity to work at San Quentin, where the mainline is a level two security prison, but condemned inmates need to be in at least a level three security prison in order to work. To solve this problem, inmates would need to be moved to other prisons. Enter CITPP.

Placement is voluntary, and Daniel Wozniak is planning to volunteer.

Still on Death Row, Just Not on “Death Row.”

There are a couple stipulations for entering the program.

For one, inmates with disciplinary infractions are disqualified. Some inmates who have been on death row for decades, and don’t know any other life, might not want to leave. Daniel said he wouldn’t be surprised to see inmates deliberately “getting into trouble” to avoid being eligible for the new program.

Two, once an inmate is accepted to the program, he can’t just change his mind and go back to San Quentin any time he wants. That said, technically the inmate is still awaiting a death sentence. If all appeals were denied and an inmate was facing the needle, he’d be moved back to San Quentin for the deed to be done.

I wonder if this change would be upsetting to family and friends of victims. Does the punishment of a death sentence seem less effective if the inmate is no longer segregated and mostly confined to his cell?

Where Will Daniel Wozniak End Up?

There is a good possibility Daniel Wozniak will be moved to a different facility within the year.

There were quite a few location options listed in the CITPP information packet. Even though Daniel might have a preference as to where he’d end up, I don’t know if the inmates really get any say in that decision.

How a Move Might Affect Access to the Truth

It is likely Daniel would end up quite a bit closer to Orange County. That would make visits easier, but if our conversations are recorded, as they were at the Orange County Jail, it also could also limit his ability to be “completely honest” with me regarding the truth behind the murders of Julie Kibuishi and Sam Herr.

At San Quentin, Daniel can speak openly during our visits, and he has told me his story to the best of his recollection.

There is a great deal in Daniel Wozniak’s story that I actually believe, but definitely not all of it. I often still have “questions of clarity” because it is a complicated and convoluted tale. If he’s moved to a prison where he can no longer speak without fear of being recorded, my opportunity to get more of the story from his perspective may be seriously limited.

It’s important to me that I finish this book, because if even ten percent of Daniel’s version of events is true… well, let’s just say it’s scary to think that other people may have gotten away with murder.

Death Penalty Moratorium in the State of California

Hello Readers!

I know. It seems like a long time since you’ve heard from me.

Since I am hard at work on my book, I feel like I’m “talking” to you every day. I do miss our regular chats, but until recently, there really weren’t any new developments happening regarding Daniel Wozniak or his case.

Click to view Governor Newsom’s executive order proclaiming a moratorium on the death penalty in California

However, the brand new governor of my home state of California made an executive order recently, and I knew it called for a blog post.

On March 12, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom told the world that for the duration of his term in office (four or eight years), California would not execute any of its death row inmates.

Dramatically emphasizing his point, Newsom had the San Quentin execution chamber disassembled… essentially.

Technically, the most recent method used to execute prisoners at San Quentin was lethal injection. There also still existed the necessary equipment to complete a gas chamber execution. Newsom made sure neither would be possible.

Uniformed officers were photographed carrying a gurney table, with the arm restraints protruding from the sides, out of the prison. Looking at the picture reminded me of the execution scene in Dead Man Walking where Sean Penn is restrained to the table and they stand the table up so he can face the witnesses. He says his last words positioned as a man about to be crucified.

San Quentin’s table was loaded onto a truck next to a couple of intimidating apple-green steel chairs (with restraints for arms, legs and head) that had been removed from the still-functioning gas chamber.

Was Gavin Newsom worried if he left the table and chairs, employees of SQ would suddenly start executing prisoners willy-nilly for the first time since 2006?

Whether you support the decision or not, it’s obvious this was a dramatic political move to show Newsom means business.

I have a friend on death row, but I’ve never believed Daniel would be put to death by the state of California. I’ve always viewed his sentence as being more like “life without the possibility of parole.” There were already over 700 people on death row before Daniel Wozniak even arrived at San Quentin, and there hadn’t been an execution in nearly ten years.

I don’t envision Daniel being a free man again.

However, I honestly figured the voters of California would eventually get rid of the death penalty. Long before Daniel’s appeals would be exhausted, I just assumed all death row prisoners would have their sentences commuted to LWOP (life without the possibility of parole).

In 2016, while Daniel was still in the Orange County jail awaiting his fate, voters had the opportunity to abolish the death penalty through Proposition 62.

Fifty three percent of the Californians who voted chose to keep it. In fact, another proposition on the same ballot (Prop 66), with the intended purpose of speeding up the execution process, won by around fifty-one percent.

I voted the opposite on both propositions. I’m against the death penalty.

But. I didn’t lose a loved one to murder.

Daniel is on death row because he was found guilty of murdering two innocent people. A jury decided Daniel should pay for the lives of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi with his own life.

I was in the courtroom when the decision was handed down. I saw the reactions of the Herr and Kibuishi families upon finally learning the fate of the man who was responsible for all their pain and loss.

Above all, they looked relieved, I think. It had taken six years, but they finally knew Daniel Wozniak was facing the justice they wanted.

When I heard about Gov. Newsom’s announcement, I immediately thought about how upsetting this might be for Sam’s and Julie’s loved ones. A quick search revealed a story on CBS where Steve Herr shared his feelings about the Governor’s decision:

The governor “was going against the will of the people.” Herr said the news was “very upsetting… We’re obviously disappointed, highly upset.” Herr acknowledged that it was unlikely he would ever see Wozniak executed anyway, but it was comfort to him and his family knowing the killer was on death row.

“I’d like to hear (Newsom) explain to me and the victims why he thinks the death penalty is not the appropriate consequence” in Wozniak’s case. “He’s going to have to deal with the victims’ families. He has no idea how we feel. None whatsoever.” — from the CBS article

The Governor’s decision came as a surprise to many people, and I wanted to talk to Daniel about it. I wanted to know what happens next for him. I wanted to know how the people on the row were taking this presumably good news.

It turns out the reactions are mixed.

Most inmates are also wondering what will happen next. The timing of this isn’t lost on them; Proposition 66 was supposed to go into effect next month. Now, they are guaranteed there won’t be any executions for at least four years.

This comes as a welcome relief to some men. Daniel told me how an older inmate I’d met during one of my visits was on the “hotlist” of the twenty inmates who were first in line to be executed when / if California started up the process again. Daniel doesn’t know anything about this man’s crime; he doesn’t want to. The human being he knows has hope again and a new appreciation for life, and for Daniel, that was a nice thing to see.

Some inmates are jumping the gun a bit by attempting to taunt the guards with clever jabs such as, “Ha ha ha, we’re not on death row anymore.”

Seriously what kind of frickin’ idiot tries acting superior to a person who is gainfully employed and gets to go home every night because they aren’t locked up for doing something atrocious?!

Dude, you are in the exact same place you were yesterday!

Daniel told me not all the inmates on death row are thrilled with this new situation. There are men who are miserably unhappy and actually “just want to die and get it all over with.”

Overall, though, there’s a consensus with most DR inmates. They all know there are some innocent people among them. San Quentin has put people to death for crimes they didn’t commit. That is the main reason Newsom’s moratorium on executions is seen as a positive step toward possibly abolishing the death penalty completely.

It’s likely Gavin Newsom’s main goal is to bring the choice back to the California voters in the 2020 election. The winning margins on Props 66 and 62 were small; it’s possible the wave could shift. Some voters might see no point in continuing to fund a death row that won’t be putting anyone to death. In 2018, the Catholic Pope even spoke out for the first time against the death penalty. Who knows how many votes that could change?

For now, life for death row inmates hasn’t changed. Daniel and I were talking on the phone when he received some mail from the prison. Included was a copy of Newsom’s proclamation and another paper basically telling the prisoners “For now – business as usual.”

Death row inmates spend the majority of their time in a cell and they are never transferred anywhere without being handcuffed. They spend yard time individually locked in even smaller cells. Same old same old.

Still, it’s probably nice knowing the table and chairs are gone.

Daniel’s New Home

Hi Everyone! Yes. It has been a while since you’ve heard from me.

I am going to be honest with you, folks. I had NO idea how much time and work it takes to write a book. My hat is off to anyone who has ever completed the task. That being said, I’m chipping away at my book, and I’m pleased with my progress so far.

An Update on Rachel Buffett’s Court Case

Many of you want to know what’s up with Rachel Buffett’s case. It appears to be on hold. As of this writing, there is nothing on the court schedule for Rachel’s trial through the end of May, which is the farthest date available on the Orange County Courts search.

An Orange County Register article about her February court appearance states that DA Matt Murphy “said he has been working to resolve the case in a possible plea deal, but Buffett’s defense lawyer, David Medina, said he and his client are prepared to go to trial.”

I guess they are feeling pretty confident about proving Rachel’s innocence in court. She has not been charged with murder. She’s currently only facing around three years behind bars for lying to the police after the murders of Sam and Julie. This doesn’t mean the authorities don’t want to charge her with murder; they just don’t have a way to prove it.

For now, Rachel remains out on bail.

And hopefully doesn’t know where I live.

Meanwhile, At San Quentin…

Daniel Wozniak, though, is tucked away on death row in San Quentin State Prison for the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi.

His only change of locale comes from moving to a different cell. And that’s what happened last week.

Prisoners have no say in where they’ll be housed. They can make requests, but if an inmate isn’t “content with his neighborhood,” he can’t asked to be moved without a good reason.

In the past couple of months, a number of prisoners were released from the AC (the Adjustment Center), and back into main death row housing. Daniel got a bunch of new neighbors. Soon after, the noise level, and the number of “shenanigans,” increased a great deal.

Nevertheless, to ask the guards to move to a more peaceful area in San Quentin State Prison is akin to asking an usher at the Super Bowl if you can be seated in a quiet spot in the arena.

What’s an inmate to do?

Well, Daniel had a lucky break – literally – when both the sink and the toilet in his cell became inoperable. For some reason, there was no water coming into Daniel’s cell at all. The California Department of Corrections has a policy that an inmate cannot be confined to a cell without access to water for an extended period of time, and the issue in Daniel’s cell wasn’t going to be a quick fix.

The guards didn’t want to be running to get him bottles of water all the time, so the simplest solution (suggested by Daniel) was to move Daniel to another cell that had recently become vacant on the same tier.

You wouldn’t think it would make much of a difference, but Daniel claims it’s actually a lot quieter and calmer on that end. It’s easier to study and read.

Yes. It certainly was timely and beneficial for Daniel that his cell had plumbing issues just when he was contemplating a move to a new area.

Not So Much a Change of Scenery as a Change of Cells

The details that go into changing prison cells are interesting. Things I’d never even consider worrying about could lead to an inmate being sent to “the hole.” This would mean a loss of many privileges such as telephone time and having visitors. It’s really important to obsessively clean your new “home” before you move in.

And I will get to that in a minute. First, I feel the need to mention something many of you might have been thinking as you read the intro to this post:

“Who the hell cares if Dan Wozniak is living in a peaceful environment when two innocent people are dead because of him?”

Like many of you, I’m fascinated by this prison world. So when Daniel tells me what it’s like to move from cell to cell, I think it will make an interesting blog story.

I’m still acutely aware of why Daniel is living in a cell in the first place. It could be said that he deserves much worse than where he is now.

Sam Herr is dead. Julie Kibuishi is dead. Daniel Wozniak is alive. It is not fair. If Daniel had to share a cell with six other people, subsiding on only bread and water, he’d still be lucky he gets to wake up every morning.

That being said, let’s return to prison life.

New Digs, No Trust

We have all watched movies and TV shows where a prisoner has his cell searched by the guards. Uniformed men completely trash the inmate’s living space. They are looking for hidden contraband and they know inmates can be ingenious when it comes to stashing their stash.

Weapons are the most dangerous finds. A piece of metal can be easily be sharpened into a knife. Illegal drugs and other contraband “somehow” manage to make their way behind bars as well.

When inmates are aware that a search is about to take place, smuggled cell phones are slid far away from the cells and out onto the tier walkway. Toilets are repeatedly flushed. An institution-wide cell search can take days because of the thoroughness of the officers.

Knowing this, Daniel has learned never to trust that a new cell is safe to move into. During his seven years of incarceration at the Orange County Jail, Daniel was obligated to change cells twenty times. He got very good at moving and cleaning.

Daniel is clearly proud of his knowledge and experience of prison living.

He laughs as his early days as a “new fish” at the OC Jail when he barely swept inside a new cell. That changed when he met a fellow inmate with a strange infected wound covering the better part of his arm (which required daily bandage changing by the jail nurse), and Daniel’s eyes were opened to what kind of germs could have been left over from past tenants.

He jokes about “swabbing the deck” like a pirate because he doesn’t want to end up with a hook arm or a peg leg.

Getting ill is actually the lesser of two possible concerns that can arise from an inadequate “treasure hunt.” If you don’t look for all the “booty,” it could be “your booty on the line.”

Are we seeing a bit of a theme in this recent letter?

Daniel treats every new cell as if the previous occupant was “his mortal enemy who was hell-bent on framing (him) for a crime, but the guy died of Ebola while in the process.”

Once arrangements had been made for Daniel to change cells, one of the guards gave him some boxes so he could pack up his belongings. The guard then walked a handcuffed Daniel over to his new digs and locked him inside. The guard got a rolling cart and brought Daniel’s boxes over to him. The boxes were put inside the cell. The door was locked. The handcuffs removed.

The whole move took about thirty minutes and Daniel didn’t even need to find a friend with a pickup truck.

Cleaning Detail

The first order of business, before unpacking anything, is to make sure every square inch of the space gets washed, soaped, scrubbed and disinfected. This is a three-part process for Daniel.

He uses the state-issued powder soap and water to get rid of the surface grime.
He uses an anti-bacterial bar soap to deep clean the entire cell. He buys the soap himself. It’s usually Dial.
He makes a concentrate with powdered laundry soap and water and goes over it all for a third time. Daniel buys the laundry soap as well. It’s usually Gain. He likes the smell.

All the cleaning and scrubbing is done with a dedicated washcloth and steel wool. While cleaning, Daniel looks for any hidden surprises that may have been left by other tenants.

This time around, he found an old sewing needle. He flushed it down the toilet. He did not touch the needle with his fingers.

Ummm yeah. We are all imagining the dozens of ways that needle could have been a petri dish of horror.

When the cell had been scrubbed cleaned and combed over, finally Daniel could move in and set up his new place.

Clotheslined

When he moved into his previous cell, Daniel found that the inmate before him had hung laundry lines across the cell and attached “netting” from the lines. This created some extra storage and a place to dry clothes that had been washed in the sink (with the Gain).

Wanting to reenact what he’d become accustomed to in his last cell, Daniel took his own line and started to hang it from one of the holes in the metal bed frame…

Side note: The “lines” are usually made out of string from old boxers. Sometime knitting wool is used. Inmates who take arts and crafts often have different colored wool available, but that needs to be washed first, or you could end up with a colored stripe across all your clothes.

Daniel looped his line through the bed frame and tied it. Then he gave it a tug to test its stability. It easily came apart.

But it wasn’t the line that gave way – it was the bed. A loose piece of “cleverly camouflaged” metal had separated from the top of the bed frame, displaying its sharp and pointy edge.

Ta Da – Shank

This was not going to flush down the toilet.

Having such an item found in your cell is a very bad thing. But you also do not want to take it directly to a guard. Looking like a snitch is not the best way to make a good impression with the new neighbors.

What to do?

Well, an inmate could take that shank and place it in a “You Save ‘Em” interdepartmental mail envelope. He could address it to an officer, add an anonymous note of explanation and then casually drop it in with everything else during mail call, so the sender’s identity could remain unknown.

Yes, an inmate, who doesn’t want to be identified, could use that tactic to get rid of dangerous contraband found in his cell.

That was the end of Daniel’s new cell being the prison version of Mary Poppins’ bag, and no more surprises turned up. Daniel went to bed.

Mandatory Yard

The next morning, he woke up to the announcement of “mandatory yard” call. All inmates know yard time is only mandatory on institution-wide search days.

Daniel, like all the other inmates on his tier, would be handcuffed with zip ties (for passing through a metal detector) and escorted to the yard until the search was finished.

He didn’t get back in his cell until 9 pm, but at least he knew he wasn’t about to end up in the AC because of the former tenant’s bed-knife.

It does give you pause to think about one of those fine death row fellows having a sharp weapon in his grasp. It’s no wonder the guards always cuff the prisoners before opening the door to their cells.

Daniel returned to his new home to find a receipt on his cot:

Visiting Day Two, or, Oh Come On, I’m Still Too Sexy For the Prison?

After all the inconveniences during my Saturday visit, I was determined to avoid any issues on Sunday. I didn’t bring a toothbrush. I left my Fitbit in the car (which meant losing so many precious steps), and I wore pants!

On a side note – I showed some friends the dress that caused me trouble on Saturday. One of them said, “Add another inch to that dress and you could be Amish.”

Nonetheless, I wasn’t going to argue with the San Quentin prison guards about my dress length. So I decided to wear a pair of simple Old Navy capris pants to the second visit. They are black with white polka-dots. I’ve worn them to volunteer at the student store for my kid’s middle school. Imagine Audrey Hepburn’s style circa 1962.

Well, it turns out my body type is a little more “all about that bass” than Audrey’s.

It took three guards to confirm that my curves are a security risk (thank you?), and they were seriously not going to let me go in for the visit. I was genuinely surprised and horribly embarrassed.

Often there is a visitors’ assistance group on hand to loan clothing in these situations, but they were not open that Sunday.

One guard asked me if I knew where Target was. I told him I didn’t know where anything was.

You guys know I have a terrible sense of direction.

I started to think about other clothes I had back at the hotel. Since I’d only packed for the weekend, I didn’t have a lot of extra stuff. I knew I had a pair of jeans, but denim is on the no-wear list.

“Do you have any emergency clothes in your car?” asked Target-suggestion guard.

I had to tell him I didn’t.

“It’s pretty common for visitors to keep extra clothes in the car,” he continued. “Why don’t you ask the other women if someone can loan you a skirt or something?”

Clothes Angel

So I walked back into the main waiting area and made an announcement/request to everyone in the room. A woman near the end of the line held up her hand and said, “Yeah. I think I have something. What size are you?”

“Medium? Like size six?”

She walked me out to her car and dug around in the backseat. Then she tossed me a white skirt (with a built-in slip) and told me to try it on. I put it on over my pants and we went back to the check-in building. In my opinion, a white skirt is more attention grabbing than black pants, but the extra layer of clothing got me approved for the visit.

I asked the woman how I could get the skirt back to her, and she told me to just keep it because her visit was going to end before mine.

I thanked her profusely and made a mental note to keep extra clothes in my car. Maybe one day I can pay it forward and help out another visitor with a wardrobe malfunction.

The woman who rescued me was named Angel. Seriously. How perfect is that?

Angel, if you end up reading this one day; thank you for literally “saving my butt.”

Why The Extra Concern That Weekend?

Daniel broke into laughter as soon as he spied my bizarre ensemble. He was pretty sure he knew why there was so much extra security that weekend when it came to female wardrobes.

Remember that screaming and belligerent inmate who had been dragged past Daniel’s cell early Saturday morning mentioned in my last post? Daniel had heard through the prison grapevine that inmate had been enjoying some oral gratification from his female visitor. Unfortunately for the “trying to be happy” couple, there was a mom with her young child visiting in the next cage, so the amorous activities were reported and halted immediately.

Informants?

Daniel and I conversed while eating fruit cups and “calorie free” ice cream. He was in a chipper mood.

He introduced me to an inmate in a nearby cage. The two of them talked about another inmate who is a suspected snitch.

The topic of jailhouse informants is still prevalent in Daniel’s life. Even though the Orange County informant scandal didn’t have any specific relevance for his own case, he believes a lot of important information came out during his trial that can help other inmates find justice.

Does Thou Not Protest Enough..?

Daniel regularly explains to me that he doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on having a fulfilling life. He tells me he’s content. There are so many people on this planet without even the basic necessities, whereas Daniel has food, clothing, water and shelter. On top of that there are of the bonuses of watching TV, visiting with friends, reading great books, and generally just being able to enjoy many of the things life has to offer.

Daniel never complains about what he’s lacking.

Which is good, because unlike Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi, Daniel still has a life.

I do sometimes worry about him, though. There’s a part of me that wonders if he just puts on a happy face when I visit or when we talk on the phone. Is his real life actually much more miserable than he ever lets on?

A Dangerous Place Full of Dangerous People

Even though he introduces me to fellow inmates and acts like everybody is chummy, this place is still a maximum-security prison. The people behind those bars are dangerous, or at least they can be dangerous in certain circumstances. And Daniel is one of them.

If a man is already on death row, what does he have to lose? So, no matter how much Daniel tries to convince me that his life is hunky-dory behind bars, I’m always waiting for something bad to happen.

Often Daniel tells me about a stabbing or a shooting that took place in some other part of the prison. I can never find anything on the Internet about it, but I’m not sure what is actually considered newsworthy.

For example, on Sunday I had to sit in my new pretty white skirt and wait 15 minutes for an alarm to be turned off before I was allowed to enter. Shots had been fired somewhere on the prison grounds.

That’s all they told us. This wasn’t newsworthy.

I didn’t spend our entire five-hour visit grilling Daniel about his crimes, but I do ask a lot of questions. Throughout the past two years, I’ve been piecing together Daniel’s version of the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. It varies greatly from the story given in court, but Daniel’s account doesn’t make him look any better.

He never claims he’s innocent. In fact, I believe he’s been quite forthcoming with me, despite his worries that I might end our friendship because of the horrible things he’s done.

I won’t, though. Daniel is my friend, but I long ago accepted he deserves to be right where he is. I know that Daniel Wozniak would never hurt me personally; I get locked in a cell with him with no trepidation at all.

Does that mean I can guarantee Daniel is no danger to society? I can’t.

Obviously, there is a side to my friend that can be sent over the edge. His motives help me understand why he did what he did, but they will never make his choices acceptable. I reiterate this to him constantly.

What If

When we talk, I can’t help playing the “what if” game with him. I go crazy thinking about all the opportunities Daniel had to stop the course of events that led the murders of Sam and Julie. I don’t need to point any of this out to him. He’s spent seven years thinking about it.

I still have to say it to him, though. Just for me. It’s so I know he’s continuously regretful about destroying two families.

Even with all of this, Daniel still looks forward to my visits. As do I. We are friends. If there were no blog, we’d still be friends. If there were no book, we’d still be friends.

There is a book though. And I plan to answer all of the questions I’ve gotten on the blog. (Yes, I have much to say about Rachel).

Another “Sexy” Visitor

After the visit was over, I was walking back to my car and ended up in a conversation with another exiting visitor. She was a tall, thin, seventy year old woman (she told me her age), and she was not what you’d describe as curvy. But she was lamenting about how the guards had made her cover up her white blouse with her sweatshirt for her entire visit.

Her: “I wore this exact same blouse a month ago and they didn’t complain about it being see-through then.”

Me: “I think the guards were being super strict this weekend because one of the inmates was caught getting a blowjob yesterday.”

Her: “Oh that explains it. One time I was wearing big thick cable knit sweater, and the guards could still tell I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath it. I had to put on one of the loaner bras that the visitor helper group keeps in stock. The only people in there were me and a little boy getting a trade out for his camouflage T-shirt.”

Me: “They were closed this morning. I had to borrow this skirt from another visitor. I was lucky she had it in her car.”

See guys? I wasn’t the only one with clothing issues.

We headed to our cars and told each other to have a nice day.

Rear View Mirror

When you’re heading west on the 580 freeway, San Quentin is the last exit for Marin County. Driving home from my visit, I could see San Quentin reflected in my passenger side mirror as I crossed the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. The prison got smaller and smaller and I felt such heartbreak for all the destroyed lives it represents.

If You’re Going To San Quentin, Be Sure Not To Wear Anything In Your Hair (Part One: Prep)

In California, a lot more effort is required to visit a prisoner who is on death row versus visiting someone in a county jail.

When Daniel Wozniak was in the Orange County Jail, there were rules and regulations that had to be followed to visit. Daniel had to put me on his “visitors list.” During the visit, I needed to put my possessions in a locker, go through a basic metal detector, etc. My visits with Daniel at County were non-contact visits, but the contact-visit people went through the exact same process I did.

Getting Into San Quentin (Without Committing A Crime)

San Quentin State Prison is a completely different animal. Just north of San Francisco, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California (opened in 1852), and it’s the only one to house a death row for men. Prison is much more intimidating than jail, and there are so many steps necessary to visit an inmate.

Long before I could actually visit Daniel at his new home, I had to be approved by the prison. The inmate needs to request a visiting form, and then he mails it to the visitor. Daniel sent me the form, I filled it out, and mailed it to the sergeant in charge of visiting. After about a month (the normal waiting period), Daniel was informed I’d gotten the A-OK, and it was his job to pass that information on to me.

Once a visitor is approved, an appointment needs to be made. In the OC Jail, visits were granted on a first come, first served basis. On visiting days, an inmate was allowed only one visiting session a day. I often saw people being turned away by the deputies because someone else had beaten them to the punch.

There was no fear of that happening at San Quentin. I needed to make an appointment. Normally appointments are done by telephone, with assigned days and times to call and reserve for the upcoming weekend. However, since I live in Orange County, which is a six to eight-hour drive from San Quentin, I wanted to set up an appointment farther in advance.

For that, the visitor can make a visiting request by mail, if it is done at least one month ahead. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you’d like a direct reply, otherwise the sergeant will inform the inmate that an appointment has been scheduled.

I first learned about San Quentin being on lockdown a couple of weeks ago because I was added to a visitor’s mailing list when my request was accepted.

I was approved for extended visits on both days I’d requested. I was scheduled from 9 am – 2 pm, on Feb 10th and 11th.

I booked a hotel in the city of San Rafael, which is about five miles from San Quentin State Prison. No surprise – the hotel did not list San Quentin in the local attractions section on its website. “We have a pool, a weight room, and we’re just a hop, skip and a jump from California’s death row.” Conveniently, I have some very close friends who live in the San Francisco area, so I made plans for my non-death row time as well.

The Rules

Before I could pack my suitcase, I needed to learn a completely different set of rules from the ones for visitors to county jail. The restrictions on clothing were much more stringent. This is from the CDCR’s 28-page guide booklet for visitors:

At least the restrictions about color were limited to clothing and not hair, because I was sporting an array of all the Barbie furniture hues at that time. Phew!

Practice Run

For this first visit, I decided to drive from Orange County instead of flying. I wanted to have control over as much as possible. I might not be allowed to wear chambray blue or shower shoes, but I can make sure I don’t have to deal with a cancelled flight or lost luggage, and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting a cab or an Uber to get me to the prison on time.

Obviously, I had some concerns that I would somehow, some way, mess things up. I didn’t want to be denied the visit after all this preparation. I was also really looking forward to seeing Daniel again, and I know he felt the same way about seeing me. This was going to be our first unrecorded conversation.

I figured I’d drive up a day early so I could do a practice run and make sure I would be able to find San Quentin from my hotel. Anyone who knows me would not put it past me to get lost, even though the prison was less than six miles away. Daniel told me his mom got all twisted around when she’d visited him the first time. He couldn’t understand how that was possible, since the prison, which occupies 275 acres on Point San Quentin, juts right out into North San Francisco Bay. “How can you miss the place?” he asked me on the telephone.

I’ll tell you how.

Your car’s navigation system just drops you onto a little tree lined road and says, “You’ve arrived at your destination.”

There were little blue and yellow and white beach cottages along the road and I was reminded of trips to Catalina Island. I was not at my destination. I couldn’t even see the prison from that spot.

At least I knew to head towards the water. I started to see the prison peeking through the trees, but I had no idea how to get to it, and find its “front door.”

I ended up on E. Sir Frances Drake Blvd, where I, too, felt like I was attempting to circumnavigate a large land mass. I finally found a small road that went downhill into the prison. Admittedly, I was pretty sure this wasn’t the main entrance, but at that point it was the only entrance I could see.

The guard, who stood in front of a guard shack to my right, opened the gate for me. I couldn’t exactly tell if he wanted me to stop or not, but I figured I’d better ere on the side of safety. I needed directions anyway, so I rolled down my passenger side window and asked if this was the correct entrance for visiting.

“Who are you visiting?” He wasn’t hiding his irritation.

“A prisoner. A death row prisoner. Umm, not today though. Tomorrow. Today I’m doing a practice run, so I know where to go tomorrow. Is this where I go?”

“No. You need to turn your car around.”

I pointed to an open area just inside the gate. “Can I just pull in there and flip around?” My car is not small and I am not tall. At this point, there were other vehicles lined up behind me, including a UPS truck.

“No.”

“OK. Sorry.” I proceeded to do a fifteen-point turn to get my car heading back to Frances Drake.

I ended up driving kind of alongside the prison looking for another entrance road. Somehow, I ended up missing the surprisingly small sign marking the turn I needed to take.

That’s when I got stuck driving across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The sky was clear and blue. It had rained the day before, but now the sun was out. It was a lovely scenic view… That’s what I told myself to keep from feeling like an idiot.

It wasn’t until I headed back across the bridge that I finally got a full view of the prison in all its glory. The place is huge and menacing. Photographs don’t do it justice. I can’t imagine being driven through its gates and knowing it would be your home for the rest of your life.

When I got back on the prison side of the bridge, the sign to turn was more clearly marked (or I knew to where to look this time).

I drove slowly through this residential area for a couple of blocks. I knew the property around there had to be super expensive. Waterfront views in the San Francisco area to not go cheap. A small three-bedroom house can easily fetch over a million dollars according to local real estate websites.

I finally got to the very end of the cul-de-sac, and there was the prison, The largest piece of real estate in the neighborhood. In 2009, there was even a proposal that the state should sell San Quentin and re-build the prison on property that didn’t have an ocean view. That didn’t happen.

This wasn’t an official visiting day, but there were still a number of cars in the visitor parking lot. It was the first of three large lots, but the only one you could enter without going through a guarded and gated checkpoint first. The white wooden guard shack was weathered, but no less intimidating. I carefully drove down the steep narrow road entering the lot and parked my car.

Self-Guided Tour

I walked halfway back up the road and looked at the wooden building that had a small “visitor entrance” sign over the door, that was probably hung up in 1972, and not touched since. The place was grungy and deserted. A puddle of water on the cement floor told me the roof probably leaked during the most recent storms. I didn’t want to imagine an alternative scenario that would cause a floor puddle.

On the right side of the narrow interior was a wall of beat up blue metal lockers. Who knew the visiting area at the Orange County Jail could look so clean and modern by comparison? County had plenty of plastic molded chairs for the waiting visitors. San Quentin had a couple of old benches.

I spent some time looking around and snapping pictures of the numerous informational bulletins hung all over the wall. Many of the signs re-iterated the clothing and other visitor rules I’d seen online. If the guards deem your clothing to be unacceptable, you can borrow some used clothing they have available for such a circumstance. It reminded me of how my son’s middle school has a similar policy when kids forget their PE clothes. The loaner PE clothes are pink.

There was a locked door heading into an office check point and metal detector. I figured I had the gist of the place, and I was glad I’d made this practice excursion. It made me feel less stressed about coming back the next morning.

Ye Olde Prison Gift Shoppe

On my way out of the parking lot, I saw a small wooden sign shaped like a pointing hand hanging outside a building just in front of the main prison gates. It said “Hobby Gift Store.”

I parked my car alongside the road next to a one-hour parking sign. I had to check it out. A San Quentin gift store was the kind of thing that would have grabbed my attention long before meeting Daniel.

Unfortunately, the store was closed, but I could see inside the front window. The store was a place to sell crafts and art work made by the inmates in classes. (Daniel later told me there is a long waiting list to get into those classes. They are very popular).

I took a couple more pictures before a guard came around from the gate and suspiciously asked me if I needed help. Once again, I explained that I was taking a test run for my visit the next day. I guess I could have said I’m a writer working on a book. That’s true, too.

I decided it was time to get out of there for now. I was going to be spending enough time around the place that weekend. I took a deep breath of fresh air and headed back to the hotel to get some writing done. Along the way, I stopped at the Redwood Café and got a grilled cheese sandwich and a café latte to go.

Lock Down

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what to write here. There’s not much new happening with Daniel’s appeal yet. And if there’s any new information I’m learning about alternate motives for the murders, Daniel’s actual timeline on the day(s) Sam and Julie were killed, or the chance that Sam’s cell phone wasn’t always in Daniel’s possession, I’m saving it for now.

That leaves us with Daniel’s daily life on death row as the main blog topic.

On Thursday January nineteenth, I got the first of numerous emails from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) stating that parts of San Quentin State Prison were on lockdown. That included East Block where Daniel is housed. Visits and inmate programs were cancelled until further notice.

Unfortunately, there was no reason given for the lockdown, but my imagination had field day. I couldn’t find anything online about a prison riot, inmate escape, or hostage situation, so I decided it couldn’t be too terrible, right? But what warrants locking down a maximum-security prison?

The Flu!

San Quentin is experiencing a major flu epidemic. Inmates have flooded a local hospital and the SQSP infirmary is overflowing into other areas of the prison. Inmates are on a “modified” schedule until further notice. This has included the cancellation of most inmate programs and classes, the elimination of yard time, and being forced to wear masks when moving about the prison. And all visits were revoked indefinitely.

I had a visit planned for that weekend, but luckily, I’d cancelled it because I didn’t want to drive in the snow over the grapevine.

Last October, the inmates were offered flu shots. Daniel declined. He thought it was illogical because the possible side effects of the shot were the exact same as the list of flu symptoms. I’ve never had a flu shot. I know people who swear by having one every year, but I don’t get the flu very often and when I do, it’s short lived (knock wood).

Daniel is not sick, by the way. He tells me he pretty much never gets sick. He’s blessed with a strong immune system and he’s very careful to keep his cell clean. Also, he’s made sure to wipe down the inmate phone with bleach before using it. I guess that’s not much different from me wiping off a grocery cart handle with a Clorox wipe.

Not having the flu hasn’t kept Daniel worry free. So far two inmates have died. One was an older man, but the second was a man in his thirties only a couple of cells down from Daniel. It must be scary to be sick in prison. During an epidemic like this, I’m sure it’s not that easy to get to see a doctor. I figure it’s also nerve-wracking to be healthy and yet locked down with numerous contagious sick people.

The Reality of Prison

I envision this world of Daniel’s, which is so how far removed my own, and it makes me even more curious about how he lives. I mean that in terms of living and coping.

I think everyone has a mental picture of what we think prison is like. If you’re anything like me, you’ve even wondered how you would handle being incarcerated. A lot of it would depend on where you were locked up, and for how long, of course. Could I survive the world of Orange is the New Black? And when I do imagine this awful scenario for myself, I’m always innocent of the crime. Doing time you don’t deserve seems unlivable.

You just have to watch the ID Channel to know innocent people get put in prison all the time. Of course, that’s usually because they let the police question them without a lawyer. (Come on, even if you can’t afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.) That’s the first thing you learn from watching Dateline.

Imagine if Scott Sanders had been Daniel’s defense attorney from the beginning. I bet Scott Sanders imagined that himself quite a few times during the trial. Whenever I re-watch Daniel’s confession video, I can’t help thinking, “Shut up, stupid. Ask for a lawyer.”

Daniel Wozniak is guilty, though, and should be behind bars. So, I don’t really feel bad for him that he didn’t have the wherewithal to ask for a lawyer. Because Daniel is remorseful for his crimes, and he knows be deserves to be punished, doing his time is made somewhat easier.

Of course, the fact is, Daniel spending the rest of his life behind bars won’t bring back Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. Even if Daniel is one day executed by the state of California, he will still have had a much longer life than either of his victims. Nothing about that is fair. I’m hopeful Sam’s and Julie’s families find a little bit of solace in knowing that Daniel Wozniak isn’t walking the streets. His life is greatly restricted. He’s lost his freedom and his future.

Long before I met Daniel Wozniak, the thought of San Quentin’s Death Row would bring to mind images of bars and bricks surrounded by ice cold water. The thought of doing life in that prison, or worse yet, being on death row, would give me the same chills down my spine that I experienced while touring Alcatraz prison. That’s still the case, but now I also imagine inmate yoga classes (which are currently cancelled because yoga takes place on the yard).

I understand some people may look at Daniel’s current existence and feel it is far too cushy and “livable” for the likes of a cold-blooded murderer. I get that. Admittedly Daniel is living a full life behind bars, but it’s not a life I would want to live. Daniel will never be as relaxed and comfortable in his cell as I am right now in my house.

He might argue that one with me. He’s a strong proponent of prayer and meditation as a way to inner peace. I’d still rather be in front of my fireplace, a glass of wine in my hand, and my family surrounding me.

What Do You Want To Know?

Readers – Please let me know in the comments if there are any specific aspects of Daniel’s life that you’d like me to cover.

The next post topic will be on Daniel’s ex-fiancée, Rachel Buffett. I was in court during her “pre-trial” hearing on Friday January 27^th, and her case has been postponed again. She’s back on March 17^th (St. Patrick’s Day!)

Bye Bye Birdie

Daniel has been on San Quentin’s death row for a couple of months now and he’s settling in quite nicely. It will probably be at least a year or so before there is any action regarding his appeal, which means he won’t be going anywhere for a while.

San Quentin’s condemned unit is a well-run machine. Daniel’s life is much more scheduled now. He’s taking classes regularly, he attends various religious services, and he goes to dental appointments.

Daniel was recently assigned to yard group six, and can go outside every day. He assured me that it is a very safe group, and that’s why he requested it specifically. The inmates in this group aren’t in gangs (or have dropped out of gang life). Yard group six hasn’t had a violent incident in eight years. Also, Daniel already had a buddy in that group he met when they were both locked up in Orange County.

The condemned unit of San Quentin has a fair and organized yard use system. There are six large outdoor areas on one side of the prison and one smaller outdoor area on another. The inmate groups rotate from day to day, meaning each group will be in the smaller yard once a week. On Daniel’s first day out with the group, they were assigned to the small yard, and even then, he was still impressed with the size.

I was looking forward to hearing all about Daniel’s first outing with his new group. Did he have fun? Were the other inmates nice? Is there a tetherball court?

I may be a little too used to questioning my kids after their first day of school.

But the first thing Daniel told me was how he had come close to getting his first major write-up since being incarcerated.

Uh oh. My mind immediately went on a tangent; graphic scenes from episodes of Oz were playing in my head. Did another inmate come at him with a shiv? What’s a person supposed to do then? You have to defend yourself if another person attacks you with a sharpened ring pop. Maybe he mouthed off to a guard? That didn’t seem like Daniel at all, but if he’d made a joke that wasn’t taken the right way, he could be heading to solitary confinement for the next five years.

“I had a bird in my pocket.”

A pocket bird. I didn’t see that one coming.

Daniel was an amateur magician in his teens, so maybe he was planning to practice tricks in his cell?

Bird-man of San Quentin?

Daniel had noticed a small bird, possibly a sparrow, walking around amongst the thirty or so inmates who had come out for yard. Daniel thought the bird looked injured, and the little guy wasn’t flying at all. He suspected this was a baby that had fallen out of a nearby nest.

Inmates get a sack lunch each day they can bring out to the yard, so Daniel tried to offer the bird a small piece of bread from his sandwich. The little fellow didn’t immediately trust Daniel’s offering. For the next thirty minutes, Daniel calmly followed the bird around the yard’s running track, repeatedly putting out his hand to offer bread.

I asked him if he tried throwing some bread to the bird to gain its trust. He laughed and admitted that was probably a good idea and wished he’d thought of it.

Nonetheless, “Birdie” finally came around (or was just tired of all that walking), and took some bread from Daniel’s hand. By the end of yard time, this little bird was standing on Daniel’s index finger and eating out of the palm of his hand.

At that point, Daniel decided “Birdie” needed a warm safe place to recuperate for a while. He figured he could make a comfy little bed on the empty shelf in his cell. When yard time ended, he gingerly placed his fine feathered friend in the pocket of his jacket.

They would have made it too if that bird had just laid low in the pocket for a couple of minutes.

When inmates return to their cells after yard time, they go into a small gated area to be handcuffed before entering the prison building again. It’s sort of like a chamber lock system. The inmate stands facing the yard, with his back to the guard. The inmate’s hands are behind his back, where the guard can see them, waiting to be cuffed.

The guard who was preparing to cuff Daniel was, rightfully, taken aback when Daniel’s jacket pocket starting jumping around. Daniel is lucky the guy remained calm and didn’t shoot him immediately. Instead he asked Daniel what the deal was and learned about the bird in the pocket. Despite Daniel’s urge to give the bird a good home, the guard told him he couldn’t bring a bird into the prison.

Oh well. It was a nice thought. Daniel took the bird out of his pocket and put it on the ground, and “Birdie” walked back toward the yard. Daniel plans to keep an eye out for him, so he can share his lunch.

Of course I know trying to rescue a baby bird does not make up for committing murder. I don’t think there is anything Daniel could do that would redeem him in that regard. But I wanted to share this story because it shows the side of Daniel Wozniak most don’t get to see, or don’t believe exists. This is the Daniel I know. This is my friend.