Spotlight: Home for the Holidays with ARC’s Mark Taylor

I had the privilege of spending this Thanksgiving with my sister and nieces in Delaware. Tragically, there are far too many men and women locked in California prisons who do not have the good fortune of being home for the holidays.  

Following a three-thousand-mile journey, on Thanksgiving I sat at the table with my family and enjoyed a beautiful dinner. It was the people at the table, not the food on it, that made the occasion a memory that I will always cherish. I envisioned this a million times over when I was trapped in a prison cell. For this dream to come to fruition meant the world to me.  

On Thanksgiving night, I took a moment to reflect and I was suddenly overcome with a deep sadness, because I thought about the guys in ARC classes at Pelican Bay and in the other institutions throughout the state where the Hope And Redemption Team is active. Those guys, and the families that love them, dream of the day that they will be able to sit at the table and enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. It is that reality that energizes me to remain in this fight—the fight to reunify families. 

I say this to say that I am a humble and proud member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. I stand in awe of ARC’s past accomplishments and future aspirations. Thousands of families throughout our state—and beyond, as is the case with me—have been reunited because of our Coalition. And tens of thousands more will be in the future because of ARC. The struggle continues. But we will see the end of mass incarceration and mass supervision in our lifetime. 

On Thanksgiving I celebrated with family. Now I am back in the trenches doing my best to get our brothers and sisters home. For both of these things I am incredibly thankful.  

Mark Taylor is a Life Coach on ARC's Hope and Redemption Team and a former California life prisoner. Four times a week, Mark enters Pelican Bay State Prison to provide hope and rehabilitation services to the men still inside.