Pelican Bay UNLOCKED » Pelican Bay UNLOCKED Paul Critz

Here’s a double-shot of UNLOCKED to get back into the swing after too many months locked down due to COVID; and this spin is a little different. Two new class rosters, new location on the Yard (Chapel clerks, REPRESENT!), and a new stress on teaching the art of podcasting. Previous episodes have focused on the what the guys had to say. Starting with Episode 9, the guys are also learning how to say what they want to say. That means learning how to record, proper mic technique, how to edit in the digital space, as well as more abstract things like how to use these tools to construct a suitable sonic space for the listener…but first comes learning what plug goes in which input, how to adjust gain to limit room noise, how to politely tell a roomful of your cohorts to shut the f*** up!



In this episode, we meet the (mostly) new B Yard class. Tracy Paul returns from the Dining Hall, but everyone else is new to the scene. And every second of recording and editing was done by guys in the class.

Here’s a double-shot of UNLOCKED to get back into the swing after too many months locked down due to COVID; and this spin is a little different. Two new class rosters, new location on the Yard (Chapel clerks, REPRESENT!), and a new stress on teaching the art of podcasting. Previous episodes have focused on the what the guys had to say. Starting with Episode 9, the guys are also learning how to say what they want to say. That means learning how to record, proper mic technique, how to edit in the digital space, as well as more abstract things like how to use these tools to construct a suitable sonic space for the listener…but first comes learning what plug goes in which input, how to adjust gain to limit room noise, how to politely tell a roomful of your cohorts to shut the f*** up!



In this episode, you meet the new A Yard class. And Barry, again. He’s still here for this episode. (Tune in next time for more on Barry’s transfer and what the future holds for this UNLOCKED alum.) Henry makes an appearance from the pervious class, running the new guys through the interview process. The recording and editing of this episode was done entirely by the A Yard Audio Journalism Class!

Kunlyna Tauch – K – was an integral part of the UNLOCKED crew until his transfer to Lancaster in 2021. Since that time, he’s continued his journey, working the programs in his new Level Three home, going to school, training dogs, and collecting the documents he’ll need to file for commutation. He is a remarkable young man, a writer, a father, a community-builder.







In this episode, we get to know this dynamic man-in-blue. K shares his story, from killing a youth in Long Beach as a teenage gang member, to finding a purposeful life behind bars. We also hear from two people on the outside who have worked extensively with K, and who, along with the producer of this podcast, would be excited to have this man as a neighbor.









K’s story not only represents the redemptive arc of his own thoughtful life, but also the possibility of redemption faced by so many more prisoners today. K’s story is exactly how California’s prison reforms should play out: With a man given the opportunity of leaving prison a better man than when he came in.

Larry Vickers has been inside since he was 16 years old – another Black man who came of age behind bars in California. You’d expect him to be angry, a product of this often violent, traumatic environment. You’d expect him to be resigned to a dead-end existence, institutionalized, conditioned. You wouldn’t be blamed for these expectations; but they would prove that you did not know Larry Vickers.







In this conversation from 2019, before COVID, Larry Vickers discusses his decades-long journey from the San Joaquin Valley to Pelican Bay and beyond with A Yard’s Abdul Hafiz. From the rough ’90s through the Ending of Hostilities, Larry’s story is set against the backdrop of truly transformative times in California’s prison/judicial system; as he works through the legislative possibilities now available to him, Larry’s story also typifies the struggle so common among men incarcerated before they became men.



Abdul Hafiz introduces the interview from his new home – for now – at Solano.



What Does It All Mean? Written by Barry Woods and read by the A Yard Crew kicks off the episode.

David Nguyen walked out of Pelican Bay one day back in February, into the arms of his family – a free man. While incarcerated, David made the most of the programming available. He helped establish the inmate newspaper. He graduated from college, one of the first two inmates to do so at The Bay, and the first in his family. He’s a positive, upbeat guy. And now he’s a free man. End of story, right? Time served…









For ever person who is released from prison, an entirely new chapter of life begins, one fraught with as many pitfalls and challenges as prison itself. Finding work. Re-growing relationships. Even facing the dizzying sensory overload of the bread aisle in the supermarket.



In this episode, we explore what it means to get out, and what the newly-formerly incarcerated need to thrive in their new lives on the outside. First, we check in with David as he emerges from quarantine in Southern California. Then we talk with Brian Yang, former Pelican Bay inmate, about the struggles he’s faced since his release in 2019. And last comes Mark Taylor, Hope and Redemption Life Coach for the Anti Recidivism Coalition, who wraps it all up by sharing his personal experience getting out and the work he’s doing now to help others surmount the challenges of being free.



All three interviews that comprise this episode can be heard in their entirety on the Sidebars page; you can also check out the video of David’s first morning as a free man.

Alfred Sandoval has been in prison since the mid ’80s. More than three decades. In that time – time mostly spent in the SHU – he’s seen a lot of changes and taken part in history. Alfred was on the Short Corridor at Pelican Bay for the hunger strikes and court cases, for The Awakening. He’s one of the original signers of The Agreement to End Hostilities.



Alfred Sandoval



Alfred’s personal journey has taken him from the streets to Death Row, and then back to the main line. In many ways, this OG of OGs, this worst of the worst, has lived the changes that have happened in California’s prisons; and in some very specific ways, he’s played a pivotal role in bringing about those very changes.



In this episode of UNLOCKED, Alfred talks with B Yard’s Mike Swanigan about how prison has and hasn’t changed over the years and about how Alfred’s personal growth and experiences mirror the larger challenges facing both inmates and staff inside The Bay.



You can hear a wider-ranging group discussion with the B Yard Crew and Alfred on the Sidebars page.



Where truth meets reality…