(From a July 22 @VoicesofSanQuentin Instagram post)

Chris Skull paroled on Monday July 13, 2020. During his incarceration Chris said he would look at his street clothes — Levi’s, brown leather belt and dress shirt — and dream of one day putting them on again. The clothes became a symbol of freedom. He said when he put his clothes on, “It was just like so much inexpressible joy. Happy. I mean, I was all a range of motions. I’m laughing and crying and jumping, lying down on the ground. I  mean, I was doing everything.” [smiley icon]. Because Chris was head of Inmate Advisory Council he had a single cell and says he started talking out loud to himself in the final hours, “‘Chris, you’re leaving.’ I’m telling myself stuff that so maybe I believe it. Like ‘Chris, you’re going home. Chris, you’re getting out.’  I mean, I’m telling myself some crazy things!” 

Chris says that when lifers get released, they are given a date, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting out. Anything can happen. And for a moment, Chris thought he wasn’t going to make it. The morning of his release as Chris started moving things out of his cell, the CO told him to stop and Chris thought to himself, ‘Uh-oh, here we go. I’m a lifer. They could stop this at any time.’ Luckily it turns out that Chris was going to be released during the second guard shift, instead of the first. Chris left his state issue “prison blues” and shoes in the cell. If Chris didn’t have “dress outs,” he’d be charged $68 by the state to walk out of the prison with state clothing. “It was so unreal, surreal that words can’t even express it. I was like, this is really happening. And it’s sinking in more and more…” 

Today Chris is checking out of quarantine and into transitional housing… but he wasn’t contacted by a parole officer, he was told by the front desk of the motel where he’s been … Stay tuned for updates.  Please go to our profile for a link to learn how to support the men inside and urge for more releases! #stopsanquentinoutbreak #human #carenotcages 

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Prison Journalism Project is happy to share our writers and reporters’ stories with your print and online audiences. You are free to republish them under a Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted on the page. You can use the URL or copy and paste the story into your CMS.

Here are our ground rules:

• You must credit Prison Journalism Project. In the byline, we prefer “[Author Name], Prison Journalism Project.” At the top of the text of your story, please include a line that says: “This story was originally published by Prison Journalism Project” and include a link to the article.
• No republishing of photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
• No editing the content, including the headline, except to reflect changes in time, location and editorial style. For example, changing, “today” to “last week,” or San Quentin to San Quentin, California. You can also make minor revisions for style or headline size, and you can trim stories for space. You must also retain all original hyperlinks, including links to the Prison Journalism Project newsletters.
• No translation of our stories into another language without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
• No selling ads against our stories, but you can publish it on a page with ads that you’ve already sold.
• No reselling or syndicating our stories, including on platforms or apps like Apple News or Google News. You also can’t republish our work automatically or all at once. Please select them individually.
• No scraping our website or using our stories to populate websites designed to improve search rankings or gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
• Any site our stories appear on must have a prominent and effective way to contact you.
• If we send you a request to remove our story, you must do so immediately.
• If you share republished stories on social media, please tag Prison Journalism Project. We have official accounts on Twitter (@prisonjourn), Facebook (@prisonjournalism), Instagram (@prisonjournalism) and Linked In.
• Let us know when you share the story. Send us a note, so we can keep track.

Levi’s, Brown Leather Belt and Dress Shoes

by @VoicesofSanQuentin, Prison Journalism Project
August 21, 2020

<h1>Levi’s, Brown Leather Belt and Dress Shoes</h1> <p class="byline">by @VoicesofSanQuentin, Prison Journalism Project <br />August 21, 2020</p> </p> <p>(From a July 22 <a href="https://www.instagram.com/voicesofsanquentin/?hl=en">@VoicesofSanQuentin</a> Instagram post)</p> <p>Chris Skull paroled on Monday July 13, 2020. During his incarceration Chris said he would look at his street clothes — Levi’s, brown leather belt and dress shirt — and dream of one day putting them on again. The clothes became a symbol of freedom. He said when he put his clothes on, “It was just like so much inexpressible joy. Happy. I mean, I was all a range of motions. I’m laughing and crying and jumping, lying down on the ground. I&nbsp; mean, I was doing everything.” [smiley icon]. Because Chris was head of Inmate Advisory Council he had a single cell and says he started talking out loud to himself in the final hours, “‘Chris, you’re leaving.’ I’m telling myself stuff that so maybe I believe it. Like ‘Chris, you’re going home. Chris, you’re getting out.’&nbsp; I mean, I’m telling myself some crazy things!”&nbsp;</p> <p>Chris says that when lifers get released, they are given a date, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting out. Anything can happen. And for a moment, Chris thought he wasn’t going to make it. The morning of his release as Chris started moving things out of his cell, the CO told him to stop and Chris thought to himself, ‘Uh-oh, here we go. I’m a lifer. They could stop this at any time.’ Luckily it turns out that Chris was going to be released during the second guard shift, instead of the first. Chris left his state issue “prison blues” and shoes in the cell. If Chris didn’t have “dress outs,” he’d be charged $68 by the state to walk out of the prison with state clothing. “It was so unreal, surreal that words can’t even express it. I was like, this is really happening. And it’s sinking in more and more…”&nbsp;</p> <p>Today Chris is checking out of quarantine and into transitional housing… but he wasn’t contacted by a parole officer, he was told by the front desk of the motel where he’s been … Stay tuned for updates.&nbsp; Please go to our profile for a link to learn how to support the men inside and urge for more releases! #stopsanquentinoutbreak #human #carenotcages&nbsp;</p></p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2020/08/21/levis-brown-leather-belt-and-shoes/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org">Prison Journalism Project</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/prisonjournalismproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-PJP-favicon-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=292&ga=" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

1