The Geography of Death Row: Essays from Inside San Quentin

Abstract

The eleven essays collected here for Proud Flesh are part of Steve Champion’s unpublished memoir, One Day Deep: Meditations on Death Row. Adisa has been living on Death Row in San Quentin for 24 years, writing poetry and essays for most of that time. He was mentor, friend, and co-author of Stanely “Tookie” Williams, who was executed by the State of California on December 13, 2005. (Williams writes about his relationship with Adisa in his 2004 memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir.) Adisa and his friend, Anthony Ross, carry on the political and humanitarian work they begun with Tookie in the 90s--the three men worked together in a tight-knit study group for many years--in their inspirational pamphlets, such as “The Ninth Ground” (co-authored by Williams) and “The Making of an O. G.: Transcending Gang Mentality.”