SUNNY JACOBS

JOURNEY OF HOPE...
from violence to healing™

Board 2001 - 2003

JOURNEY PARTICIPANT
Indiana, California, Texas, North Carolina

“Life has given me many challenges, which I choose to take as opportunities to learn and grow.  This is my choice.  I learned this on death row.  I chose life, health, forgiveness, and love.  That choice saved me from bitterness and hatred that would have destroyed me from within.  I have dedicated myself to an end to violence – in all its forms.  This is the way I honor the lives that were sacrificed along the way.  This is the way I give back to the universe.  Love is the answer.  Fear is the enemy.  We must choose the world we want and work towards making it happen every day in our own lives.”

Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs                   

Los Angeles, California

Sunny Jacobs spent seventeen years in prison in Florida, including five on Death Row, for murders she did not commit.  When she was exonerated and released in 1992, it was too late for her husband, Jesse Tafero, who was executed for the same crimes in 1990 – before his innocence could be proven.  Now a certified yoga instructor, Sunny credits Yoga for her survival and her sanity during her many years of incarceration.  She presents workshops across the country on “Survival Yoga” where she shares the techniques she used to turn her solitary confinement cell into a “sanctuary”.  She also speaks regularly against the death penalty and works with young people to promote non-violent conflict resolution.

Reprinted with permission from Not In Our Name: Murder Victims Families Speak Out Against the Death Penalty, a publication of Murder Victims Families For Reconciliation, Barbara Hood & Rachel King, Editors; MVFR

YOGA ON DEATH ROW  LIFE ON PURPOSE INSTITUTE -- By W. BRADFORD SWIFT

SURVIVAL YOGA

WRONGLY CONVICTED OFFER SOME TIPS   APNews -- By Arlene Levinson

THE HUNGRY SOUL: GRIST FOR THE MILL   TO HELP MEND THE WORLD -- By Mike Farrell

DEATH OF INNOCENTS    FAIRFIELD CO. WEEKLY -- By Jayne Keedle

I HAD NOTHING...THE WORLD I LEFT NO LONGER EXISTED

THE EXONERATED

Sunny with Bill, Micki and Sue

Sunny with Tim Robbins