Just when we were enjoying our Contact Visits with Drew at Pleasant Valley State Prison  things changed. His Mom, Dad and Drew’s Girlfriend and his Friends were all making the 3 hour trip to visit and now Drew is in LOCKDOWN.  He was put into LOCKDOWN on March 23rd Wednesday. We are not sure when he will be out of LOCKDOWN. So lets talk about the positive Contact Visits we were enjoying. We were able to sit with him at a table and also go outside and walk in a grass yard for 4 hours. He could get a visit on Saturday and Sunday.  It was wonderful. We could hug him and give him a kiss (only 1 hug when visit begins and 1 hug when visit ends) We were able to eat lunch with him. We purchased food out of the vending machines. We could not share food with him. He had to have his own food. So if we bought a bag of popcorn, we had to buy “two” bags of popcorn.. Men are allowed to touch and play with their children. Pleasant Valley State Prison is an all male prison. It was wonderful to actually joke with Drew and see him not behind a glass window. Of course the prison will tell you nothing about why he is in LOCKDOWN accept “something happened on the yard”. From what we know Drew and his cellie(this is the other person he shares a cell with) were out in the yard.( he rarely gets out into the yard) Drew walked over to another part of the yard to take his canteen slip over to the place you drop them off at and stopped to talk to some other inmates. With that something happened in that part of the yard and everyone there was gathered up and put into LOCKDOWN. His cellie went back to their cell and then the rest of the prison with white guys was also put on LOCKDOWN. Drew was able to get a message to us, that he was ok physically as the prison would not give us any information about his health. So again like San Quentin Drew is locked in a cell by himself(in a special LOCKDOWN CELL) and will get small portions of food. Last time he was in LOCKDOWN he lost 16 lbs. He can write to us but he cannot call us. Strange at San Quentin when he was in LOCKDOWN he was not allowed visits but here at Pleasant Valley he can get a 1 hour visit once a week behind glass. Again he has to go before a board and tell them what he knows if anything about whatever happened in the yard. They could keep him in LOCKDOWN for 60 days, 90 days etc. Here is an article in the S.F. Chronicle March 18, 2011 about an inmate who put together a suit against the prison system about a  7 MONTH LOCKDOWN at Corcoran State Prison. This inmate like Drew was NOT INVOLVED IN THE INCIDENT THAT TOOK PLACE AT THE PRISON. Here is the link : www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/18/BAAT1IE439.DTL&  Please read the comments after the article. LOCKDOWN is very inhuman, no showers, no fresh air, no human contact. Why are inmates that are not involved in the incident put on LOCKDOWN?. On another note on the Pleasant Valley State Prison website they have several vocational trainings courses they talk about inmates being offered. Their are NO PROGRAMS FOR VOCATIONAL TRAININGS . We had asked his Counselor at San Quentin to send him some place where he could obtain training. We also requested that he be sent some place close by his parents and friends. They never honored either request. Drew was trying to obtain a job before this newest LOCKDOWN situation. He has been let out of his cell to do different jobs but at this point he had not been chosen to get a job. Every job they gave him he said he worked really hard at in order to prove to the prison guards that he was capable and trustworthy. One of the prison guards told him that he could see Drew was a hard worker. Remember when he worked at Jamba Juice(he had only worked their 4 months) he was just going to be promoted to Team Leader. He was already opening the store in the morning. For Drew to obtain a job within the prison system it is difficult once again because of his sentence. (16 years to life) He is classified as Closer B, (he has to be at this classification for 1 year) which means he has a curfew. He always must be in his cell by 6:30pm at night. He can only make 1 phone call a month for 15 mins. He has to go through several security checks a day. Which means he has to stand at his cell door with his identification pressed up to the door window. The Prison Guard must walk past each inmate that is classified as Closer B look at the identification and the inmates face to make sure this is the inmate that they have in custody.  This classification and security checks makes it difficult for him to be considered for a job within the prison. Remember Drew has been in prison/ jail for 3 years and he has NO WRITE UPS. This is really, really good and it is amazing as the prison guards can write you up for “anything”. Through all of this Drew continues to have a positive attitude. When he gets out of LOCKDOWN he will try again to obtain a job and he is also thinking about Correspondence Courses. Continue to send your positive thoughts to him and as always he welcomes your letters and cards. Thank you for your support. His Appeal lawyer is working on his Appeal. His address again is:

Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield
CDC# AD 5648
Pleasant Valley State Prison

P.O. Box 8500

Coalinga, CA 93210

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT- Justice4Drew.com

February 14, 2011

Hello Everyone, Happy Spring. Please, if you would like to continue to receive this update, keep us updated with your email information. You can email us at justice4drew @gmail.com or you can call his Mom (Ellie at (510) 295-9615.) Y
You can also read the updates on his Facebook page Justice For Drew and his website www.justice4drew.com .

We continue to try to get the word out about Drew’s situation.  Feb 14th Oakland Tribute published a Letter to the Editor see link below :
http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/letterstotheeditor/tribune/ci_17366606                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

    Andrew/Drew was in Reception at San Quentin for 5 months.(Some inmates are kept up to a year in Reception.)  While in Reception he was put in lockdown with all the other white inmates twice. Lockdown is solitary confinement. The prison system punishes everyone in the same group for something one person did.  This is a violation of the Geneva Convention, but in America, they do it regularly all the time.
     In lock down, prisoners are given smaller portions of food and Drew lost 16 pounds. We were not allowed to visit when he was in lockdown.
     And then suddenly, Drew was gone.  San Quentin would not give us any information. After a lot of research from his Dad, Bill, we found out that he has been moved to Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.  Coalinga has some vocational programs including Small Engine Repair, Welding, Plumbing, Building Maintenance and Auto Body Repair. Drew  may also be able to do some correspondence courses to obtain college credits.    
    Coalinga is a 3 hour drive from the Bay Area. Although we did hope that they would send him to a place closer to us, we are grateful that Drew is still in California.  On Nov 30, 2010 the Chronicle reported that Gov Arnold Schwarnegger is shipping out of state to “private for profit prisons. The State of California is under court order to reduce the prison population and this is Arnold’s solution to ship people out of state so none of their family can visit. “The plan is to ship 5,800 inmates to private prison bring the total to 15,000.  Our annual cost was $51 million a year, it will go up to $365 million.   This is a link to this article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/30/MN9C1GFTB2.DTL