SamBrownMusic

My name is Samual Nathaniel Brown. I am an artist, an educator, a philosopher, a spoken word poet, and an organizer. I paroled from Lancaster in December of 2021, after serving 24 years in California State Prisons. I did a great deal of maturing spiritually and physically in those 24 years, and through my own healing and transformation, have been able to create pathways for others to realize their potential through social-emotional learning. In addition to my personal experience, I also bring many skills, many of which were honed during my incarceration. After thousands of hours of engaging in all of the self-help programs I could access inside, I learned to lead and facilitate those programs. I went on to found the 10P Program in New Folsom Prison in 2014. The program was geared toward e ectuating emotional literacy and showing people that change is possible within themselves. We prepared men to step back into society better than when they came in. The program has a proven success record and has expanded to two additional prisons. Lancaster State Prison now has a 10-year waitlist to join the 10P program. This program is closely linked with the Theory of Emotional Illiteracy-Based Criminality, which I also pioneered while inside. I also developed partnerships with the California State University in Sacramento, the McGeorge School of Law, and multiple non-profit organizations working in the criminal legal space. I co-led a program teaching college and law students about victim-o ender mediation. I brought college students inside to do mock mediations with the prisoners and sta and held numerous workshops with law firms to teach men about their rights. My story and my work inside prison has been published in numerous books, anthologies, and newsletters. I was the co-executive producer of a documentary, “Step Inside The Circle: Childhood Trauma Behind Bars”, where I brought 250 men together to talk about childhood trauma on film. I took the time to become a carceral scholar and rediscover the transformative nature of education. I graduated with honors with two Associates Degrees in Social Science and Sociology, and a Bachelors in Communications Studies. I co-founded the Anti-violence Safety and Accountability Project (ASAP), which works to break the cycle of harm by dismantling systemic racism, providing healing to the impacted, and generally o ering the tools of justice that communities need to transcend violence. I am a musical artist, a two time “Louder than a Bomb's” statewide spoken word poetry champion, co-author of the children's book "Do You See Me", and 2021 recipient of the Davis Vanguard Justice Award, alongside my wife Jamilia Land. I am also the original author of ACA3, a bill I drafted while incarcerated, which will amend the California Constitution to end Involuntary Servitude, modern-day slavery, in California State Prisons. I am committed to continuing the deep community work of breaking cycles of violence, healing, and dismantling systemic racism.