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Off Highway 101, 20 minutes north of San Francisco, you’ll find San Quentin State Prison. And tucked under the prison’s East Gate, a gift shop.

The prisoner-crafted items are homespun takes on the usual fare. If your documents keep escaping, for example, the San Quentin Paperweight — with a watchtower, rocks and hammer, and ball and chain — goes for $10. And there’s more: jewelry, mugs, and music boxes.

Vernell Crittendon, San Quentin’s information officer, says the shop attracts mostly tourists, but that employees and their families are also customers. “People aren’t offended by the dark humor,” he says. “In fact, we’ve had many positive comments.”

Prisoners choose what to make and then reap most of the revenue — 10 percent is taken off for the General Inmate Welfare Fund, which pays for inmate entertainment (such as movies). The craftsmen spend the rest on art supplies or sundries (deodorant, shampoo), or send money to family on the outside.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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