Joshua Anthony Hernandez transformed from a Norteno gang shot-caller known as Sleepy G into a jailhouse muralist after two near-death experiences. He survived a September 2021 Percocet overdose that stopped his heart for 45 minutes and left him in a three-day coma, then later suffered a face injury in Santa Rita Jail that prompted empathy and reflection. Hernandez joined a volunteer mural program, painting works with messages like "live, laugh, love" and "Anything is possible," and creating panoramic community pieces. His lawyer described his talent in murals and tattoos and said he is leaving jail in better condition, which may have influenced sentencing.
It took two near-death experiences before 36-year-old Joshua Anthony Hernandez was ready to put his life as a gangster in the rearview mirror. He recovered from a near-fatal drug overdose just in time to get indicted in one of the biggest racketeering cases in California history. Months later, while incarcerated at Dublin's Santa Rita Jail, he was cornered in a cell by three others, his face sliced open in what he now says was a moment that led to empathy and greater understanding of the similar harm he'd inflicted on others.
After that, the onetime Norteno gang leader found a new calling: jailhouse muralist, through a volunteer program aimed at giving Alameda County inmates a positive outlet, court records show. Now in 2024, here he was gaining notoriety among law enforcement for the opposite reason: his passion for art and hard work, painting murals with life lessons and encouragement. One depicts a a colorful tree with hearts that read, live, laugh, love. Another depicts a panoramic of the East Bay, with we are the pillars of our community written in cursive. Another shows a man spray-painting a billboard in red and yellow letters reading: Anything is possible.
The long, bumpy road to gangster to craftsman started in September 2021, when Hernandez took too many Percocet pills and passed out. His heart stopped for 45 minutes, and he went into a three-day coma, he wrote in a letter describing the experience.
Collection
[
|
...
]