Bay City News reporter Ruth Dusseault narrates as San Quentin correspondent Steve Brooks talks with incarcerated men about their Christmas memories and what the holidays mean for those experiencing them from inside of the criminal justice system. (Audio by Ruth Dusseault/Bay City News. Licensing credits below)

Reporter Steve Brooks, who is incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, talks with members of the prison community about the holidays past, present and future. While there are multiple religions practiced in San Quentin, the majority of people there celebrate Christmas. Out of 3,000 incarcerated people, Brooks says maybe one hundred will get a family visit.

“I would say every Christmas was a fond memory for me,” said Deondre Brumfield, who has been incarcerated for seventeen years. He recalls his younger years celebrating the holiday in the free world with family.

“Watching them laugh and dance. You know, crack jokes, run around with each other,” he said. “Just having us all together.”

Steve Brooks is a California Local News Fellow with Bay City News Foundation, reporting from inside San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. His perspective gives readers insight into issues and news from inside the prison. See more of his work at Inside/Out on Local News Matters.

Audio credits

Ambient Soundscape — Glitch Bells by GregorQuendel (https://freesound.org/s/774880/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0)

WINDDsgn_The Wind In The Steppe Or Prairie. With Gusts And Whistles.Artificial 1_EM by newlocknew (https://freesound.org/s/773905/ — License: Attribution 4.0)

MAGShim_Atonal Crystal Chime Transition.Short x20_EM by newlocknew (https://freesound.org/s/773403/ — License: Creative Commons 0)

Christmas Bell 3.wav by erickvillegas1986 (https://freesound.org/s/414317/ — License: Creative Commons 0)

Saddest_Violin_2.aif by Spleencast (https://freesound.org/s/90861/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0)

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.