Distancing oneself from gang violence in search of a better life is not easy. Neither is rejoining society after years in prison. But according to Antonio Hernandez, both can be done.
“Back then on the east side, if you grew up in a (certain) neighborhood, you start banging,” said Antonio Hernandez, also known as “Tone” or by his stage name as a Christian rap artist, “Nu Tone.”
Hernandez, a 37-year-old Stocktonian and father of three daughters, is a case manager at Friends Outside, a Stockton nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people find their footing once they’re released from prison or jail. Hernandez works in the group’s housing program, also known as the “Welcome Home Team.”
He said he draws on his experience of narrowly escaping gang life to connect with people in his community who are looking for a way forward. Part of his training is to teach “positive parenting” to adults trying to raise children in environments where violence is not uncommon.
“My whole life I’ve noticed it’s been normal, even though it’s not normal,” he said. “It’s not supposed to be normal for kids.”
In April, at the Stockton Civic Auditorium, Friends Outside hosted its first Second Chances Month celebration and resource fair to showcase the community’s dedication to helping formerly incarcerated people build futures for themselves and their families.
“We’re meant to make mistakes,” said Michael Sorensen, Executive Director of Friends Outside, “and we’re meant to learn from those mistakes. At some point, what we do to pay for those mistakes needs to be a learning lesson, but we need to get over it. We need to be able to get on the other side. And if you’ve been incarcerated, there’s never the permission to get over it.”
Friends Outside offers a range of services for currently and formerly incarcerated people, including peer-support, family liaison programs for those still serving time, mental health resources, drug and alcohol programs and guidance on housing, employment and healthcare.
But the group has broader aims, too, including helping people move past circumstances that lead to prison before they get there, and disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.
“We believe that family is important, and to stop generational incarceration, then we need to be able to support the children by supporting their parents,” said Melissa De Jesus, Director of Southern California Programs at Friends Outside.
For 14 years, Hernandez has worked with current and former gang members across the city who are looking for a way out. And he knows what it’s like to grow up with a parent in prison. When he was 5 years old, he said, his father went to prison for 12 years for crimes related to gambling and addiction. Hernandez said he never joined a gang or got arrested but that most of the male role models in his life, his uncles and cousins, were affiliated with gangs.
“This is the neighborhood you grew up in,” he said. “All my friends that I grew up with are dead or in prison, but I still run around with their sons, like I see them in Stockton.”
His mother encouraged him to maintain a relationship with his father while he was in prison through regular phone calls. But when his dad was finally released, Hernandez said, he didn’t hear from him. He said he learned later that his father had been deported to Mexico, where he started another family.
“When he got out, he ghosted me,” Hernandez said. “But I told him I forgive him. I feel like when you’re in the system, too, you know, some fathers don’t understand.… My mom is over here, she’s struggling, and I’m struggling growing up without a dad, so he didn’t understand that process.”
Hernandez credits his grandfather, Francisco, who passed away two years ago while battling COVID-19, for teaching him how to build a life that was different from much of what he saw in his neighborhood.
“He taught me how to work, taught me how to go get it,” Hernandez said. “He migrated from Mexico and he became a US citizen here. He told me ‘What do you want to do in this life? Go out and accomplish that.’ So that really stuck with me.”
For anyone who has not had to rejoin society after serving time, the Friends Outside event was like a tour of the challenges formerly incarcerated people face as they work to separate their crimes from their identities, and their pasts from their futures. For starters, they need housing, education, healthcare and legal services, to name a few. During the resource fair, there were public defenders, educators, healthcare professionals and probation officers on hand to help.
Felix Mata, director of reentry programs at Friends Outside, is a former Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the District of Hawaii and Probation Administrator for the federal courts in Washington D.C. He said he was aware how probation, as a branch of law enforcement, can be both a stressor and support to formerly incarcerated people.
“Most of the probation officers, they want you to succeed,” he said. “They want you to become a well-being, tax-paying citizen out there. But the challenge is, because we are monitoring you and looking over you, we are also having the mandate that we need to look out for the best interests of the general public.”
Hernandez said he believes the real key to helping community members transcend their circumstances is to give kids the resources they need before they become involved in things that land them on probation.
“I think we should have case managers for the kids growing up,” he said. “I feel like if we catch them young before they go through all the trauma, we might be able to help save a lot of them before they get to the gang banging life.”
The Friends Outside celebration comes at a time when funding for public services, such as housing vouchers and medicaid coverage, are under threat by the Trump administration.
“I think there probably is not a community more affected by what’s going on in DC than San Joaquin County, and specifically, folks in rooms like this one,” Rep. Josh Harder, District 9, told The Intersection.
Harder and District 13 Assemblywoman Rhodesia Ransom attended the celebration to show appreciation for the work of Friends Outside and declare support for their formerly incarcerated constituents.
“If we can help formerly incarcerated people thrive, we’re helping our entire community,” she said. “If you’re coming from incarceration and every door is closed in your face, this community is not doing good. We want you to be able to live happy, healthy lives in our community, because everybody benefits from that.”
During the resource fair, San Joaquin County Public Defender Judyanne Vallado, and two paralegals, turned a breakout room into an “Expungement Clinic.” There, people were offered legal advice and help filling out expungement forms in hopes of having criminal convictions removed from their records to increase their chances of gaining employment.
“I believe they deserve someone who will be there to represent them and have their best interests, because, you know, you can’t give up on everybody,” said Issac Gonzalez, a 25-year old Stocktonian and paralegal intern at the San Joaquin County Public Defender’s Office. “Some people, they just grow up in bad environments, and they don’t really have that guidance to help them get on track.”
Armando Peraza, a Friends Outside family liaison who works at Mill Creek Prison in Ione, utilized the clinic’s services to try to get his last remaining felony charge, from the 1980s, dismissed. He credits Friends Outside with helping him reach his goals after prison by helping him navigate resources and, ultimately, offering him employment.
“I like going into the prisons and working with the felons,” he said. “I’m also a minister. I teach there, I preach there. I do a lot of programming there. It’s a blessing.”
Earlier this year, Lynette DeRouen completed her sentence at the Central California Women’s Facility, a prison in Chowchilla, after serving 13 years. With Hernandez’s support, she was able to secure rental assistance funds, sobriety and tenants’ rights courses, and help with her resume as she looks for work.
“Friends outside is very, very, very resourceful,” she said. “I know that since I’ve been out, since February, I’ve grown in that little short time working with Friends Outside. Especially with Tone. It’s helping me stay clean, stay focused. It’s working on my self worth.”
Hernandez said in the few months he has worked with her, housing and job placement have been his top priorities. Thus far, though, they have not been able to find an employer willing to give her a job.
“It’s hard for me as a case manager, even all these years, to help them get jobs,” he said.
“Most employers said they’re ‘second chance’ when they’re not.”
Hernandez said he loves his job, but he will be leaving it soon. In July, he will transition back to a job he used to have with the City of Stockton’s Office of Violence Prevention. He said he’s hopeful that the city can find a way to partner with Friends Outside so he can continue to work with the same population. Before he moves on, one of his last tasks will be to finalize everything DeRouen needs to move into permanent housing.
“These are human beings that need help, and if we don’t help them, then who will?” he said. “You gotta have passion to help them. It ain’t just a job.”
Housing vouchers, case managers, positive-parenting certifications and more are available for San Joaquin county residents who have a history of incarceration. You can learn more by visiting FriendsOutside.org or visiting its office on 1148 W. Fremont Street in Stockton.
Vivienne Aguilar is the health equity reporter at The Intersection, a project of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact Aguilar at vivienne@cvlocaljournalism.org.
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