Vol. 2 Issue 12 February 2011

February 2011
Published by Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy (SJRA)
Vol. 2, Issue 12
P.O. Box 71, Olivehurst, CA 95961 530-329-8566 [email protected] www.SJRA1.com
'3 strikes' sentence overturned for lack of jury
Reprinted with permission from the San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 10, 2011
A federal appeals court has overturned the
25-years-to-life sentence of a South Bay man
who was caught driving while intoxicated in
1999, six years after a drunken accident that
killed a passenger.
A Santa Clara County judge based his
decision to sentence Rick Wilson under California's "three strikes and you're out" law on
findings he made about Wilson's previous
crime. That violated Wilson's right to have a
jury decide those questions, the Ninth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said
in a 2-1 ruling Tuesday.
The court cited a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court
decision that entitles defendants to a jury verdict on any factual issue that could increase
their sentence. Wilson's lawyer said the ruling,
if it stands, will affect many other three-strikes
cases in which the defendant's record includes
guilty pleas to charges that never went before
a jury.
State courts often allow judges "to look
past the fact of a (previous) conviction ... to
decide facts that were not necessary to a guilty
plea" as the basis for a three-strikes sentence,
said Wilson's attorney, John Balazs.
Deputy Attorney General Peggy Ruffra
said she would recommend that the state appeal the ruling. The 2000 Supreme Court decision didn't resolve cases like Wilson's, she
said, and federal law leaves such sentencing
issues to the states.
The ruling would free Wilson, who has
been in prison since 2000.
Wilson, a salesman at a San Jose construction supply company, was arrested in February
1999 when he ran a red light and refused to
take a blood test. A jury convicted him of a
drunken driving charge that was a felony because he had pleaded no contest in 1993 to
vehicular manslaughter.
The 1993 accident in Nevada (See Page 2)
by Charles Davis · February 21, 2011
forced to drink – water that the state knows is
contaminated with arsenic, a carcinogen that
can cause serious skin damage and circulatory
system problems. And she wanted to do something about it.
But where to start? For years California
officials have been promising to fix the facility's water problem – promising to provide its
more than 5,000 inhabitants water that meets
the standards of the EPA and World Health
Organization. And for years they have failed to
deliver, extending and then extending again
their self-imposed deadlines for when they
―anticipate‖ resolving the issue; indeed, just
this year the supposed deadline for installing
water treatment equipment has been extended
from October 2011 to February (See Page 6)
Photo Credit: Biggunben
Blanca Gonzalez's son spent years at California's Kern Valley State Prison, where she
says he was sickened by the foul water he was
James Ridgeway and Jean Casella |
February 25, 2011 at 5:07 pm |
Over the last two weeks, the ACLU has
adopted a much more vigorous stance
against solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. It has launched a listserv to
bring together lawyers, activists, scholars,
journalists, and others interested in the
subject, and asked the UN Human Rights
Council to look into solitary’s torturous
effects on prisoners in the United States.
On Thursday David Fathi, who heads the
organization’s National Prison Project
wrote a post on the ACLU's Blog of
Rights, which we reproduce in full below,
setting out the group's broad new approach to this issue.
Fathi,who also is an advisor to Solitary
Watch, agreed the ACLU had launched a
new policy. "Yes, we have absolutely established fighting solitary confinement as
a priority issue,’’ he said in a phone interview on Friday. "We are preparing to fight
on all fronts. Historically our work against
solitary was primarily litigation. Now we
support legislation such as the bill in Colorado," which would curtail the use of solitary for prisoners with mental illness and
developmental disabilities. "We hope for
similar bills in other states," he continued.
"In New Mexico, there is legislation that
would require a study of solitary.’’ Fathi
said the ACLU also looked towards the
sort of administrative settlement that took
place in Mississippi, where after lengthy
litigation, "the state basically closed down
its solitary cells" (as we described
here last year). He believes the United
States has turned a corner on this subject
with "a breakthrough in public awareness.’’
Fathi in his blog post puts the number of
people in solitary at 20,000, (See Page 8)
Page 2
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
A Voting Guide for
Currently or Formerly Incarcerated Californians
Requirements to Register to Vote
To register and vote, you MUST:
Be a citizen of the United States of America;
Be a resident of California;
Be at least 18 years of age or older on or before the next election;
Not be in prison or on parole as a result of a felony conviction;
Not have been declared mentally incompetent by a court of law; and
Not be serving a state prison term in a county jail under contract
between state and local officials.
You CAN register and vote if you:
Are in a local jail as a result of a misdemeanor conviction;
Are awaiting trial or are currently on trial and have not yet been
convicted of a crime;
Have completed parole for a felony conviction; or
Are on probation.
Above information was taken directly from the Secretary of State’s website.
. . .Don’t let anyone tell you that you have lost your right to vote forever! When
you get out of prison and off parole, do
'3 strikes' sentence
the one thing that gives you POWER TO
(Cont‘d from Front Page)
CHANGE what is going on in our state
County killed passenger John Haessly, whom and country. Barb, SJRA Editor
Wilson had picked up hitchhiking, and sent
Wilson's girlfriend, Debra Horvat, to the hospital.
According to court records, both Horvat
and Wilson had been drinking. Horvat started
driving but then gave her keys to Wilson, and
Wilson told police Horvat had grabbed the
wheel just before the accident, an allegation
she denied.
At a nonjury sentencing hearing in 2000,
Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy found
that the 1993 accident amounted to two strikes
- manslaughter and infliction of great bodily
injury on Horvat - and imposed the threestrikes sentence of 25 years to life.
State courts and U.S. District Judge James
Ware upheld Wilson's sentence. But the appeals court said Murphy had reached conclusions on issues that should have gone to a jury
- including whether Horvat suffered great
bodily injury, whether she had taken part in
the crime by giving Wilson the keys, and
whether she had caused the accident by grabbing the wheel.
E-mail Bob Egelko at
[email protected].
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/
a/2011/02/10/BA5K1HKGAN.DTL
This article appeared on page C - 2 of the
San Francisco Chronicle
© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
SJRA Editor: Our gratitude to the San Francisco Chronicle for granting us permission to
reprint this article.
The case is Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530
U.S. 466
March 2, 2011—This is still the FEB issue!
Dear Loved Ones—Here it is, the 2nd of
March, 7am and I stayed up all nite working on
the February issue. I hope the printer will be
able to do it today. (Wednesday). It has been
difficult, there is just so much I‘d like to put in
the newsletter, but only so much room.
Keith has been working on putting
together another website: www.sjra1.com
And you have to give it to him for teaching
himself. It is looking pretty good, and we are
collecting a lot of info to put on it. He is trying
to finish it up in the next couple of days. We
won‘t have everything we want on it when he
opens it, but it will have a lot of good info, with
more to come. It is a whole lot better than the
last one. I hope you will tell your families and
friends about it and that we get a lot of people
coming to visit our new website. They will be
able to get all the newsletters there, way back
from day one, March 2009. Many studies and
reports are on it, with more to come. We have a
lot in mind….
Keith has learned a lot since doing that
website. Sometimes being poor challenges you
to try and do things yourself...it always has for
us, anyway. You just have to take the first step
and not be afraid. Even if there are mistakes,
so what! You will find out if you make efforts,
that your talents will expand to new horizons.
I have a request to make about stamps
sent. Only a few of you do this, but it is exasperating….Please do not put tape across your
stamps. It is so difficult to get the tape off
sometimes without tearing the face of the
stamp. Perhaps use the tape on the back of the
February 2011
stamp, as some do, or make a small envelope
and tape that to the letter. But don‘t put so
much tape on that little envelope, that I can‘t
get the stamps out without tearing it off the
letter. But that idea is really a good one!
Also, only a couple of guys have done
this, they are sending me used stamps and they
expect me to do whatever it takes to get the
paper off. I really don‘t have the time to do
that, and if that is your thing, you should do it
yourself.
I am concerned as you are about not having a lot of info on what is going on with 3strikes. I tried to get an interview with Mr.
Romano at Stanford Law, and I thought it
might happen, but it didn‘t.
And Geri Silva is super busy, with so
many things to do. I can relate, because one
person trying to do it all is extremely hard to
do.
I know that information motivates you,
keeps rumors down, and gives you hope. So,
with that in mind, it is my understanding that
Stanford is working with someone, or some
organization to get an initiative on the ballot. I
have heard that a poll is being conducted and
that they will be doing the wording on the initiative soon. The poll is not being done by
FACTS. They are wanting FACTS to be a
grassroots organization that they feel is needed
for the campaign. So IF all of this is true, all
of you who still have hard feelings about
FACTS need to just lay all that aside and forget
about the past. You all need to keep it together,
don‘t be arguing among yourselves about how
you all think you‘ve been betrayed and
wronged by FACTS. It is time to GET OVER
IT! Holding on to anger doesn‘t help you or
anyone else.
SJRA is a supportive group and we will
support any group that can find a way to get
this law amended. It is only natural that
FACTS be involved so closely with Stanford.
After all, they have been around since the beginning.
We are helping those prisoners who want
to help themselves, and a core group at R.J.D.
strikers asked for our support. They requested
a place they could put donations, and after
much persuasion on their part, we began the
R.J.D. Initiative Fund Challenge. These prisoners wanted to make sure the donations they
made would be expressly used for something
toward the initiative. They didn‘t want it used
for office rent, staff, or anything to maintain the
organization, etc. So with that assurance and
trust, we now have a nice account raised by
prisoners and their families, and I‘m sure it will
get larger. We haven‘t made any decisions yet
as to how this money will be spent, only that it
will go directly to some of the costs of the campaign.. Like we have mentioned before, it
could be mailing, printing, etc, and if you have
constructive ideas you should let us know.
God bless you all….
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
Professor of psychology,
University of California, Santa Cruz
Posted: July 26, 2010 06:04 PM
Reprinted with permission
Last month, Utah prison officials took a
death row prisoner named Ronnie Gardner to a
specially designed room, strapped him tightly
into a chair, and draped a black hood over his
head. By a prearranged signal, a group of five
volunteer executioners aimed their Winchester
rifles at a target placed over his heart, and
opened fire.
I met Ronnie Gardner more than 10 years
ago, when his appellate attorneys asked me to
analyze his background or "social history" to
see whether the early trauma and abuse that he
had suffered helped explain the tumultuous
path his life had taken, and to form an opinion
about whether that kind of analysis should have
been presented in his capital trial. This past
June, I testified during a clemency hearing on
his behalf. Our efforts were rebuffed, and
Ronnie's request for clemency was denied. A
few days later, the state of Utah killed him.
Twenty-eight people were put to death in
the United States this year, before Ronnie
Gardner's execution. Aside from the method by
which it was carried out, his was unlikely to
have drawn much public or media interest. But
Ronnie's case garnered international attention
when his words -- "the firing squad, please" -spoken at a court proceeding in April, brought
the true nature of capital punishment back into
clear focus. For a short time, those words and
the event they foreshadowed forced death penalty supporters and opponents alike to reflect
on what it truly means for the state to take the
life of one of its citizens.
Ronnie Gardner's choice to die by firing
squad pierced what Albert Camus called the
"padded words" with which we have smothered
and hidden capital punishment in our society,
preventing us from seeing clearly what it
"really is" and honestly debating its legitimacy.
"The firing squad, please," came as close as
humanly possible to showing the nation, and
the world, what Camus described as "the machine" of the death penalty, making us "touch
the wood and steel" of it.
The truth is that many of the ugly realities
of capital punishment are still covered up in our
society, described with euphemisms that make
the death penalty seem deceptively palatable.
We understandably focus on the terrible crimes
that capital defendants have committed, but we
refuse to examine the origins of their violence.
Thus, we are still a nation that largely ignores
the plight of desperately poor children, does
little to alleviate the suffering of those who are
traumatized by neglect and abuse, and turns a
blind eye toward underfunded, incompetent,
and sometimes callously cruel juvenile institutions that frequently do more harm than good to
troubled and vulnerable young people. Instead,
we rise up in indignation when one of these
profoundly poor, chronically ignored, and
badly mistreated children grow up to become,
as Ronnie Gardner described himself, a "nasty
little bugger," only then paying much attention,
with many clamoring for the death penalty to
be imposed.
Although this part of his story got comparatively little media attention, Ronnie Gardner lived exactly the same kind of life that
many capital defendants have, one filled with
precisely the sort of turmoil, trauma, and tragedy that we now know leads to extreme forms
of violence. He was exposed to virtually every
form of child maltreatment there is -- including
abject poverty, profound neglect, and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The state of
Utah did little or nothing to prevent this maltreatment, and mostly exacerbated its mounting
effects. When the cruelty, criminality, and institutional mistreatment to which he was subjected finally took their toll, Ronnie began to
express his anger and pain outwardly, using
aggression to keep a hostile world at bay.
By then, Utah authorities had thrown up
their hands, claiming they had no alternative.
They put Ronnie in adult prison, although he
was still a teenager. With no help forthcoming
from correctional staff and facing dangers from
much older and stronger prisoners, Ronnie's
problems only worsened. He was eventually
sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of attorney Michael Burdell, whom Ronnie shot and
killed during a courthouse escape attempt.
In theory, the jury that decided Ronnie
Gardner's fate in his capital trial was supposed
to hear the story of his life, presented as comprehensively as possible, and to take it into
account in choosing between life and death.
After all, as we are often told, our legal system
goes to great lengths and spares no expense to
insure that only the truly deserving are condemned to death. Our courts use padded words
-- terms like "super due process" and "death is
different jurisprudence" -- to describe these
procedures, ones that death penalty proponents
claim are so elaborate, careful, and time consuming that, if anything, they provide these
worst criminals with "too much justice."
In fact, however, as is still true in far too
many capital trials, Ronnie Gardner's legal
defense was shockingly inadequate. His original lawyers badly botched the only part of his
1985 capital trial that really mattered -- the
portion where they were supposed to explain
the meaning and significance of their client's
troubled life in order to mitigate his punishment. They proceeded haphazardly and incompetently, with no coherent strategy to save him
from the death penalty. They called only a
handful of ill-prepared witnesses and never
bothered to place his criminal behavior in the
larger context of the trauma he had suffered
earlier. Ronnie Gardner's jury was never given
Page 3
a meaningful chance to weigh the horrible details of his life against the awful things he had
done. The scales of justice, in this case and
many others like it, were never remotely balanced. Indeed, just a few weeks before Ronnie
was executed, several of his original jurors
came forward to say that if they had known
about the horrible upbringing that his trial lawyers' incompetence had kept hidden from them,
or if they had been given the option of sentencing him to life without parole, they would
never have voted in favor of the death penalty.
But it was far too late to make any difference.
Ronnie Gardner's case was painfully instructive about another aspect of the death penalty that our society labors mightily to keep
hidden. The term "lethal injection" describes
the execution process now in widespread use in
most parts of the United States, a method we
have been reassured allows state-sanctioned
killings to be carried out "humanely." It is a
bland, denatured term, one that conjures the
image of an antiseptic, medical procedure more
than anything else. In this way, of course, the
padded words with which we cloak the process
-- "lethal injection" -- brilliantly belie the violent outcome it is designed to bring about. This
seems to explain why the Gardner execution
drew so much media attention and pubic interest. After all, why would someone reject an
obviously more humane procedure in favor of
one that seemed so brutal, even barbaric?
In fact, Ronnie had carefully read the Utah
"lethal injection" procedure, one very similar to
those in use in many other states, and it terrified him. He did not trust the procedure and
feared it could not be carried out correctly. He
worried that he would be left lying motionless
on a prison gurney -- literally paralyzed -- and
publicly put on display for a prolonged, perhaps unbearably long period of time, possibly
in excruciating pain, but unable to move or
express any feeling, as a group of strangers
watched him slowly but imperceptibly die. For
him, the firing squad seemed far less inhumane,
degrading, and cruel. For those who witnessed
the event, of course, and for others who
stopped to contemplate what actually happened, it was another matter entirely.
And this seems to underscore the primary
-- perhaps only -- advantage that lethal injections have over more seemingly primitive ways
for the state to kill: their ability to hide the ugly
truth of what we are actually doing. Yet, for a
brief moment last month, the spectacle of a
firing squad shooting to death a strapped down,
hooded man in Utah reminded us of what the
death penalty is really about.
Craig Haney, a professor of psychology at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, is a leading expert on capital punishment and the author of Death by Design.
Page 4
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
Judith Tannenbaum
Special to AOL News
Feb 4, 2011 – 7:41 AM
Say how ya doing
Outside world?
Do you remember me?
I'm that intricate part
Missing from the whole
The one y'all decided to forget ...
Coties Perry wrote these words 25 years ago at
San Quentin. For more than three decades, I've
shared poetry in public schools and state prisons, and because the youngsters and prisoners
I've worked with are most often unheard and
excluded, I cherish Coties' poem.
Who do we (those of us with some power)
forget when we talk about history, public policy and what it means to be human? Which
children do we nurture? Which do we shun?
These questions led me to say yes when Spoon
Jackson -- like Coties, my student at San Quentin long ago -- suggested that we write a twoperson memoir.
Spoon grew up in the 1960s in a cement shack
in Barstow, Calif. The second youngest of 15
boys, he was beaten both at home and at
school, by white teachers and black teachers.
As he writes in "By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and
Two Lives," the book that we wrote on his
suggestion, "It was equal opportunity paddling
on me back in those days of the Civil Rights
Movement."
I grew up 10 years before Spoon, in a large,
extended Jewish family. Los Angeles isn't that
far from Barstow, but we were worlds apart.
Our mothers both loved us, and we were both
children with lots of curiosity and imagination.
But my life was filled with opportunity,
whereas Spoon's elementary school principal
pulled the little boy aside to tell him, "Boy, you
will never graduate from high school."
The adults around me talked all the time -stories, questions, musings, opinions -- and
they wanted to hear what I had to say.
Spoon, on the other hand, writes, "Pre-prison,
my life had never been one of words. I could
barely read, and I spoke as my father did to me,
in one-word sentences, shrugs or by nodding
my head."
February 2011
could. I began to awaken the sleeping student inside me and took my first steps on
my journey.
Spoon's journey forced him to "wake up":
I checked out all the books I could get from
the prison library and education department. In one notebook I wrote down definitions. I used my favorite words in sentences
in another notebook. I became enraptured
with words and reading. I said certain
words aloud many times and pondered a
word in the way I thought of the garden in
front of the prison chapel, or a sparrow
singing in the tree by the captain's porch.
As Spoon says, "All rehabilitation is selfrehabilitation." But self-rehabilitation is nourished, as Spoon's was back when our prisons
offered a wide range of programming, by opportunities like the ones I was given as a child.
Opportunities all children deserve; opportunities that would certainly lead to fewer people in
prison.
Black History Month honors the forces and
flows that shape a people and our nation.
Coties Perry and Spoon Jackson -- along with
Elmo Chattman, Smokey Norvell and so many
more former students -- are part of black
history. Not only as representatives of statistics
about black men in prison, but also as individuals with particular human experience -- the
child each was, the adult he's become.
Each man: an intricate part of the whole.
Judith Tannenbaum has been a community
artist for 40 years, sharing poetry in a wide
variety of settings from primary school classrooms to maximum security prisons. She has
written widely about this work, most prominently in the memoirs "Disguised as a Poem:
My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin"
and, with Spoon Jackson, "By Heart: Poetry,
Prison, and Two Lives." She serves as training
coordinator for San Francisco WritersCorps.
Read her blog on Red Room.
By Heart—
―A boy with no one to listen becomes a man in
prison for life. He reads for the first time, and
discovers his mind can be free. A woman poet
enters prison to teach, becomes his first listener,
and so begin twenty-five years of friendship between two gifted writers and poets . . . .their book
will open your heart.‖ —Gloria Steinem
But then:
During the months I was on trial, I sat
stunned by all the words the DA used. I had
no idea what these words meant, and I told Both books are available at amazon.com
myself then that I would not let unknown
By Heart is also available at
words trap me. I started studying the dicnewvillagepress.com
tionary in the county jail and reading all I
Disguised as a Poem . . .My years
teaching poetry at San Quentin ―This is
one of the most remarkable works I have
come across during many years in the study
of writing about the American prison experience. It is powerful, moving, and exceptionally significant. Disguised as a Poem is in
part a voyage of discovery into the lives of
others, into prison, and into self. Ms. Tannenbaum writes eloquently and always with
unflinching honesty. In the opening years of
the twenty-first century, when American
society seems possessed by a penal frenzy,
here is a story that needs to be read widely
and understood deeply.‖
H. Bruce Franklin, author of Prison Writing
in Twentieth-Century America
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
Page 5
©
A Book Review by Bruce Swenson
On November 24, 2010, San Francisco 's
District Attorney, Ms. Kamala Harris, became
California's elected Attorney General by a margin of over 50,000 votes.
A couple of years prior to this, she had
been convinced to publish her analysis of our
American criminal system in a book titled,
"
Smart On Crime".
After receiving and studying this book in
the summer of 2009, it is my opinion that Ms.
Harris will be a national rising star, as she
develops her criminal justice vision. She recognizes the social and economic costs of prolonged incarceration in America, and with
California in particular. She readily sees that
we cannot use the same "tools" against the non
-violent offenders, as we must for the violent
ones. It is clear to me that Ms. Harris will be a
sensible supporter to a reasoned approach for
amending our California three strikes law.
Kamala Harris's vision is a non-partisan
one, which boldly captures our system‘s successes, and also reveals its flaws. As a career
prosecutor, Ms. Harris asks the reader to understand there is a need to broaden our community involvement for better public safety. She
explains how we must forge true partnerships
between communities and law enforcement in
order to create a more effective criminal justice system! She offers an array of solutions
which imply that in order to be truly tough on
crime, we must be smarter as we expand our
prevention, intervention, and reentry responsibilities. Public safety must be improved. In
order to do this, she explores the myths about
crime and then explains a need to "rock the
crime pyramid. " With current statistics, she
demonstrates how we have been putting nonviolent offenders into prison for far too long a
time, only to very likely re-commit once returned to society. The point is not lost by her
that people too often come out of California 's
prisons worse than when they entered; thus
elevating the threats to public safety. She says
that, "merely perpetuating the status quo will
be a cost we can ill afford. " Recidivism is a
measure of proof that our correctional system
does not work. Then she points out how our
status quo approach to these non-violent "...
lower-in-the-pyramid " crimes make things
worse, at enormous financial and social costs
too. Finally she warns, "The public can no
longer afford to be in the dark as it needs to
submit to a rigorous assessment over what is
truly delivering safety! "
As I read this framework for Ms. Harris‘s
most inclusive plan for bringing public safety
into smart application, I saw that she could be
our only choice as a candidate running for
California's Attorney General. No other person had put into book form (prior to running
for higher office) a clear plan for her solutions
to these costly issues. About a year and a half
after completing and publishing her work, she
campaigned throughout the state, explaining
her vision to the people. In those final two
months of California 's 2010 election year, I
was sure that she would be another strong
actor in the cast we need for bringing true
reform to criminal sentencing and re-entry.
Let us now support this plan of hers,
even from within our prison system! I ask for
all inmates who will have a chance again to re
-enter California's civil sector ... to study this
plan by reading this book. All prison libraries
should be sure to have copies on hand for
check-out. Most of all, families outside,
should acquire it as well. Let our elected representatives take heed of it too!!!
"
Smart On Crime" means: using the
time and resources that we now spend on
offenders more productively, so as to reduce
their odds for recidivism.
It is not a middle ground between tired
partisan definitions of "tough " or "soft" ... but a
whole new ground focused on effectiveness
by bringing down our failure rates of recidivism.
Part I of this book exposes myths about
crime that have bound us to ineffective approaches in public safety.
Part II illuminates promising new models
that we can build upon and use to make
"
safety" something entire communities both
demand and deliver!
Ideologies
Ms. Kamala Harris is driven by the
notion that "safety" is a fundamental
civil right.
She feels that as a society, we must
demand a much higher return on the
enormous investments we make within
our system.
Good intentions alone are not enough.
We must "measure" the impact of the
steps taken for pursuing those intentions!
We can apply logic and principles of
economics to the fight against crime.
Biography:
Born in Oakland, California, in 1964, to
parents who both were graduates of U.C.
Berkeley. She was firmly influenced by the
Civil Rights Movement of those times. She
majored in economics as an undergraduate at
Howard University, and earned her law degree from the prestigious Hastings Law
School, University of California, San Francisco. In 1990, she became a prosecutor in
Alameda County, California, and in 2002, she
joined the District Attorney's office in San
Francisco. She started the Back On Track
Program, in San Francisco, in 2005.
Dennis Roberts, Attorney at Law
370 Grand Ave., Suite 1
Oakland, CA 94610-4892
PH: (510) 465-6363
FAX: (510) 465-7375
[email protected]
http://www.DennisRobertsLaw.com
http://
www.TheOaklandCriminalLawyer.com
Page 6
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
(Cont‘d from Front Page)
2012 – and then again to August 2012.
After reading an article last fall about
Kern Valley State Prison's dirty water, Gonzalez contacted your humble criminal justice
editor here at Change.org, asking that I write
more about the problem. And for weeks …
well, I didn't – hey, I'm a busy guy, alright?
But after a few more friendly reminders, her
persistence paid off. And now her campaign is
drawing the attention of California's top prison
officials.
Since her petition was first featured here
a few weeks ago, more than 2,100 people have
joined Gonzalez and other mothers of sickened, incarcerated men in California in demanding that the state stop poisoning its prisoners with arsenic-laced water. That support elicited a response last week from the
state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Scott Kernan, who oversees prison
operations – a response that was characteristically underwhelming, but which shows officials are starting to pay attention. Now activists need to step up the pressure and get them
to actually do something about the problem.
Speaking on behalf of her, other mothers
of the incarcerated and the prisoners themselves, who she says are well aware of the
petition, Gonzalez tells Change.org she wants
to thank ―all of you that have participated so
far.‖
―We couldn't have gotten this far without
Change.org,‖ she says – and, more importantly, the hundreds of people who have
helped raise awareness about the campaign to
provide prisoners in California safe, clean
drinking water. ―Please do not forget to post
the petition to Twitter, Facebook and any
other means available to get the word out
there.‖
Around the time Gonzalez first contacted
me, she wrote that it was nothing less than
"ridiculous that there are over 5,000 men in
the prison and no one cares" about the fact
they may suffer serious health problems from
the water they have no choice but to drink. As
the response to her campaign demonstrates,
though, people do care about those behinds
bars -- those who may have made mistakes,
but who deserve to be provided water that
won't sicken them. It's just a matter of getting
California's politicians and prison bureaucrats
to care too.
Charles Davis is a Change.org editor. He pre-
viously covered Congress and criminal justice
issues for public radio and Inter Press Service.
Follow him on Twitter @charlesdavis84.
Prisoners Forced to Drink Dirty, CancerCausing Water
Photo Credit: woodley wonderworks
Overview Letter
Targeting: The Governor of CA, The CA State
Senate, The CA State House, see more...The
Governor of CA, The CA State Senate, The CA
State House, Matthew Cate (Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), and Scott Kernan (Undersecretary of
Operations, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Started by: blanca gonzalez
People at Kern Valley State Prison are
drinking dirty water against their will. And
although a 2008 court order instructed officials
there to do something about the arsenic in the
water, nothing has been done.
Prisoners are being forced into drinking
the water as it is the only thing available to
them. While California is obviously facing
budget strains, that doesn't justify forcing anyone to drink water that's known to cause cancer. That is inhumane. Even animals are treated
better.
Someday those currently incarcerated will
be out on the streets, and when they get sick,
taxpayers will likely have to pick up the bill,
meaning it will cost more in the long run to let
this problem go on unresolved. There's no reason we can't help the more than 5,000 prisoners
at Kern Valley State Prison. Please help end
this cruel and unusual punishment.
February 2011
Charles Davis (Editor)
In a statement provided to Change.org,
Scott Kernan, Undersecretary of Operations at
the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, says he "shares your concern
relative to clean water at Kern Valley State
Prison (KVSP)." He also says his department
is working to install an arsenic treatment facility there. "We anticipate fully resolving this
problem by August 2012."
By contrast, KVSP Warden M.D. Biter
said just six weeks ago that officials
"anticipate resolving the problem by October
2011." Meanwhile, last week a spokesman for
the Department of Public Health told
Change.org the problem would be resolved by
February 2012 -- at the latest.
In 2008, meanwhile, the previous warden
of KVSP, Anthony Hedgpeth, said officials
"anticipate resolving the problem by June
2009."
Sign
Blanca Gonzalez’s
Petition
CLICK HERE
http://www.change.org/petitions/
prisoners-forced-to-drink-dirty-cancercausing-water
If you do not have computer on-line
access, send your letters to the public
officials shown above in middle
column.
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 22,
Page 7
2011
Contact: Quintin Mecke
Office: 415-557-3013; Cell: 415.505.2417
AMMIANO INTRODUCES BILL TO CREATE TIERED
REGISTRATION FOR SEX OFFENDERS IN CALIFORNIA
Sacramento – Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced a bill, AB
625, to create a Tiered Registration system for sex offenders in California. The bill is based on
the recommendations of the California Sex Offender Management Board, which was created in
2006 by Governor Schwarzenegger to improve policies and practices regarding the management
of sex offenders. California is one of only four states (Alabama, Florida, South Carolina) that
require lifetime registration for all convicted sex offenders regardless of offense.
―With the skyrocketing costs of corrections in California, we need to base our management
and enforcement of sex offenders on the research and data available rather than emotion. This
means focusing our efforts and resources on the most dangerous offenders to ensure that the
registry achieves its primary goal – to keep our children and communities safe,‖ said Ammiano.
―California needs to modify its current policy and start devoting our limited resources to
those individuals who pose the greatest risk of re-offending. Common sense and solid research
both agree that not all sex offenders pose the same degree of risk of re-offending. Many pose
very little risk. Unless one accepts the myth that ―all sex offenders are alike,‖ there can be no
defensible justification for treating them all the same and requiring lifetime registration for each
and every convicted sex offender. This puts an increasing burden on law enforcement and does
not make our communities any safer,‖ said Tom Tobin, Ph.D., California Sex Offender Management Board Vice-Chair.
The members of the California Sex Offender Management Board have recommended that
California rethink its registration policies and move toward a smarter approach based on solid
information about what is effective in managing sex offenders.
For the full Sex Offender Management Board report, go to:
http://www.casomb.org/docs/CASOMB%20Report%20Jan%202010_Final%20Report.pdf
(116 PAGES)
NON-VIOLENT THREE STRIKERS
You have endured 17 long years of injustice and now you are taking the fight to amend the
Three Strikes Law to the people. Surely, every taxpayer in California realizes that putting a
person in prison for life for stealing a pack of cheese, a pack of cigarettes, or a package of
razor blades is not what the Voters had in mind! Good luck with your efforts and Stay
Motivated! You are not alone in this fight.
G. Bennett and Son !
This bill will prevent regular people from
filing initiatives with the state, because of
the cost. Politicians will have NO
PROBLEM with funding. THIS BILL
WILL SILENCE OUR VOICES. Contact your State Senator and Assembly
members./Barb, SJRA Editor
SENATE BILL No. 202
Introduced by (D) Senator Hancock
February 8, 2011
An act to amend Section 9001 of the
Elections Code, relating to ballot initiatives.
legislative counsel‘s digest
SB 202, as introduced, Hancock. Ballot
initiatives: filing fees.
Existing law requires a fee of $200 to be
paid by the proponents when a proposed ballot
initiative or referendum is submitted to the
Attorney General for preparation of a circulating title and summary.
This bill would find that the current $200
fee is inadequate to cover the costs to the state
to process a proposed initiative and would
increase
the filing fee from $200 to $2,000.
ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 60
Principal Author: (R) Kevin Jeffries
Existing law defines battery as any willful or
unlawful use of force or violence upon the
person of another. Existing law provides that
battery committed against a custodial officer,
firefighter, emergency medical technician,
lifeguard, process server, traffic officer, or
animal control officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Existing law provides that battery against a peace
officer, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony.
This bill would add felony battery against
the above-named persons to the list of
“serious felonies” and to the list of “violent
felonies.”
(This bill is in Public Safety now-Call your rep)
If you really want change, as you say you
do, it’s a MUST that you let your legislators
know what you want, and remember to
vote. Nothing will change if you don’t.
You can’t rely on others to take care of this
for you. It’s something you have to learn
and do yourself. I was over 60 years old
before I wrote my first letter to my representative or a letter to the editor. But I
finally did it, because it was part of something I had to do to help my son Jeff. I did
it, and so can you. Don’t wait as long as I
did. Your loved ones inside need not only
your prayers, but your action.
Barb Brooks, Editor
Page 8
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
(Cont‘d from Front Page)
which reflects studies of supermax prisons. However, he said that when you take
into account all the different types of segregation, that figure seems conservative
and should likely be much higher.
This week, Colorado state Sen. Morgan
Carroll and Rep. Claire Levy introduced a
bill that would substantially limit the use of
solitary confinement in the state's prisons.
S.B. 176 would restrict solitary confinement of prisoners with mental illness or
developmental disabilities, who currently
make up more than one-third of the state's
solitary confinement population. It would
require regular mental health evaluations
for prisoners in solitary, and prompt removal of those who develop mental illness.
And it would significantly restrict the practice of releasing prisoners directly from
solitary confinement into the community,
where they are more likely to re-offend
than prisoners who transition from solitary
to the general prison population before
release.
The shattering psychological effects of
solitary confinement, even for relatively
short periods, are well known. "It's an awful thing, solitary," John McCain wrote of
his time in isolation as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam. "It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than
any other form of mistreatment." The
American journalist Roxana Saberi, imprisoned by the Iranian government, said that
she was "going crazy" after two weeks in
solitary. Imagine, then, that 54 prisoners in
Illinois have been in continuous solitary
confinement for more than 10 years.
These reforms are long overdue for Colorado
and for the nation as a whole. Solitary confinement is an expensive boondoggle – in Colorado, it costs an additional $21,485 per year
for each prisoner. And all we get for that investment is an undermining of our public
safety. The vast majority of prisoners who are
forced to endure long-term isolation are eventually released back into the community, where
the devastating impact of solitary confinement
leaves them more damaged and less capable of
living a law-abiding life.
The United States uses long-term solitary
confinement to a degree unparalleled in
other democracies, with an estimated
20,000 prisoners in solitary at any one
time, and it's attracting increasing criticism
from international human rights bodies.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee and
Committee Against Torture have both expressed concern about the use of prolonged isolation in U.S. prisons and recommended scrutinizing this practice with
February 2011
a view to bringing prison conditions and
treatment of prisoners in line with international human rights norms. And the European Court of Human Rights has temporarily blocked the extradition of four terrorism
suspects to the United States on the ground
that their possible incarceration in a Supermax prison, where solitary confinement is
the norm, could violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
Last week the ACLU urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to address the widespread violations of the human rights of
prisoners in the United States associated
with solitary confinement. Many of the
measures we call for, such as prohibiting
solitary confinement of the mentally ill and
careful monitoring of prisoners in solitary
for mental illness, are also part of Colorado's S.B. 176. Colorado may be only one
state, but the bill's introduction is a hopeful
sign that the United States may, at last, be
turning the corner on solitary confinement.
Even though the 17 year anniversary for three strikes is set to come and go, no
one should be lighting candles. For nearly two decades, California has dabbled in
the barbaric with 3 strikes. The result has been thousands of men and women
who have lost their lives to prison, families devastated by the loss of a loved one,
and greater financial burdens to our already strained public monies. We all
know that 3 strikes is cruel but not unusual. It is business as usual in counties
across California which increasingly rely on criminal enhancements including 3
strikes to relegate offenders to a life in prison. The fight to end 3 strikes and to
restore fairness into the process will be a hard one. Many entrenched interests
including an ill informed public will stand in the way. We have to be realistic as
much as we have to be bold. We know the truth. We have to present it with confidence and assuredness. And we have to make allies between family members,
prisoners and any person or interest who is tired of the misallocation of public
money for prisons instead of the real health of our communities. This will be our
challenge over the next few years. Let us rise to the moment at hand.
Charles Carbone, Esq.
PRISONER RIGHTS ATTORNEY
POB 2809
San Francisco CA 94126
tel: 415-981-9773
fax: 415-981-9774
www.prisonerattorney.com
[email protected]
Abdullahi W. Mustafaa—I need to contact you. I think
you mentioned this is your ‘religious name,’ and I need to
know your name as listed in my data base.
Thanks, Barb Brooks
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
Page 9
1
(Cont‘d from January issue, Part 5, when Dr.
Krisberg told us about the Fight over the Alameda ―Super‖ Jail for Youth.
The Remix
In the vernacular of contemporary music, a
Remix is a blending of components to reach a
new creative level. One version of the Remix
involves sampling from classic popular music
of the past 50 years that is combined with
complex rhythmic additions and the innovative use of the spoken word. This form of the
Remix seems very applicable to finding the
strategies to ―beat down‖ the players and their
game on behalf of young people. Expressed in
more formal social science jargon, we might
think of the Remix as a pathway to social
reconstruction.
The brief case studies presented in this
paper suggest some ways to resist the War
Against the Young. Some of the best of these
approaches use very conventional methods of
research and the presentation of solid evidence
to stand up to the players. Public demonstrations and community mobilization proved to
be crucial tools against the players and the
game. Many of these direct community action
strategies were very successful during the
Civil Rights Movement and the mobilization
to end the Vietnam War. These successful
social justice campaigns taught us the value of
forging broad community coalitions that bring
diverse groups to the table. These organizing
efforts rest on a profound respect for all people, including the need to listen and respond to
their immediate concerns.
The Remix used litigation strategies, voter
mobilization, and publicity to expose injustices
and to educate the public. While there was
ongoing dialog with the players (―keep your
friends close, and your enemies closer‖), the
progressive groups never lost sight of the lesson that real social change needed to happen
at the grassroots level.
The current generation of social reformers
consists of a variety of very dedicated youth
organizers who are savvy about using the mass
media and come armed with research data to
back up their arguments. Contemporary advocacy groups exhibit an impressive ability to
sustain a diversity of ethnicity, gender, and
age in their organizations. I remember that,
after an early meeting with representatives of
BNB, I confided with a colleague about how
polite and respectful these young people were
with us ―old heads‖ from the 1960s. We were a
lot angrier, I concluded. My very wise colleague educated me that ―They are just a
whole lot smarter than we were in the 1 960s,‖
and had gotten everything they needed with-
Barry Krisberg, Ph.D.
October, 2004
A full report in a series format.
Part 6-Conclusion
out resorting to confrontational tactics. The
new generation of social justice advocates
shows a very sophisticated grasp of how to
balance confrontation and accommodation.
Most important, the new generation of reformers is focused on getting results.
In this Remix of old and new, justice reformers can make a real difference in the lives
of young people. First and foremost, strategies
of social reconstruction demand that the players
not be let off the hook. The cynical leaders in
the War Against the Young must be publicly
held to account for their actions. Second, we
should not assume that most citizens know the
abuses being practiced in their name. Helping
the media to expose abusive and corrupt government practices is an important part of social reconstruction. Equally important is the
ability to put forth real-world examples of
what a better social policy should resemble.
People must be inspired by positive and practical solutions to seemingly intractable problems. The players want us to believe that
―
nothing works.‖
Recently in California, the justice reformers have turned the tables on the players by
using the tool of voter initiatives to usher in
progressive policies. For too long these ballot
measures brought us reactionary social policies such as Three Strikes and Proposition 21.
Just a few years ago, advocates of progressive
reform of state drug policies successfully
passed Proposition 36, which allowed minor
drug offenders to be diverted to treatment
programs in lieu of jail. This measure was
almost universally opposed by criminal justice
system officials. Most establishment politicians avoided taking a public position on the
measure. The proponents employed sophisticated polling and focus group techniques to
craft their message. They learned that most
Californians reported that someone in their
immediate family was suffering from an addiction problem, and that they felt that jailing
their family members was an expensive and
counter-productive approach. Proposition 36
passed by a wide margin.
Another progressive reform measure,
Proposition 66, is designed to amend the pernicious Three Strikes Law and is supported by
65 percent of Californians as measured in a
recent public opinion poll. The Yes on 66
Campaign is utilizing similar and sophisticated electoral strategies to those employed
for passage of Proposition 36. Progressive
reformers have also learned that recruiting
financial supporters, especially via the Internet,
can enable a serious statewide campaign to
build momentum. Another voter initiative,
Proposition 63, places a modest tax on millionaires to help fund badly needed programs
to prevent and treat mental illness. Neither of
these bold reforms could have successfully
survived the onslaught of special interests if
the game had played out only in the Legislature and Governor‘s Office.
The Remix has rediscovered the enormous
power of giving young people back their voice.
Jerome Miller, a champion of the old school
justice reformers, built public support for closing the terrible youth prisons in Massachusetts
in the early 1970s by using this approach. As
Commissioner of the Department of Youth
Services, Miller set up public forums around
the Bay State that featured youthful inmates
who told their stories of maltreatment to civic
and religious groups, and to the media. Their
message was compelling and persuasive. Current reformers are also very attentive to the
value of empowering young people. Groups
such as The Beat Within work with incarcerated young people, encouraging them to write
down their experiences, and then communicate
these powerful insights to the public. Books
Not Bars has organized families of incarcerated young people to share their hopes and
dreams that their children‘s lives can be redeemed. Organizations such as Youth Radio
teach disadvantaged youths to use the tools of
the electronic media to tell their stories.
The players in the War Against the Young
can be very ruthless and the game can be very
―
cold,‖ but the Remix for social justice is
showing us that the rules of the game can be
changed and the players can be defeated. We
have learned that the cynical exploitation of
our frustrations, anxieties, and psychic distance from the young is too harmful to our
communities for any of us to sit on the sidelines. (Cont‘d Page 10)
_________________________
1
The title of this paper takes poetic license
with the Hip Hop phase, ―Don‘t hate the player, hate
the game." This saying is often used to excuse the
behavior of people involved in exploitive and dishonest actions as part of the "survival of the fittest."
The phrase suggests a sense of pride in the abilities
of some streetwise individuals to employ their wit
and resiliency to overcome harsh social conditions
that are often out of their control. By altering this
phrase, I mean to say that the powerful and influential officials who push for destructive legal and
social policies need to be held publicly accountable
for their personal choices. These establishment
players do have the ability to change the circumstances in which they operate.
Page 10
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
(Cont‘d from Page 9)
References
Berkeley Unified School District (2002).
[Berkeley Unified School District Suspension Report, Spring 2001-2002] Unpublished raw data.
California Department of Education
(2004).Retrieved October 13, 2004 from
http://data1cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
searchname.
California Department of Justice, Criminal
Justice Statistics Center (1994). [Juvenile
arrests reported, age by specific offense]
Unpublished raw data.
Ching, C. (2000, February 14). Lock up:
Cracking down on California‘s youth.
What are big corporations backing the
state‘s prison-industrial proposition? Retrieved October 13, 2004 from http://
www.metroactive.com/papers/
sonoma/02.1 7.00/proposition-0007.html
DiIulio, J. (1995). Arresting ideas: Tougher
law enforcement is driving down urban
crime. Policy Review, (72), 12-16.
Edwards, B. (Author). (2000, September 12).
Morning Edition [Radio broadcast]. National Public Radio, Inc.
Ellis, V. (2000). The fall of Commissioner
Chuck Quackenbush. Los Angeles Times.
[Series of articles from March 26
through November, 30.]
Hubner, J., & Wolfson, J. (1996). Somebody
else’s children: The courts, the kids,
and the struggle to save America’s troubled families. New York: Crown.
Krisberg, B. (2005). Juvenile justice: Re
deeming our children. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Krisberg, B., & Temin, C. (200). NCCD
focus: The plight of children whose
parents are incarcerated. Oakland, CA:
National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Murray, C.A., & Cox, L. (1979). Beyond
probation: Juvenile corrections and the
chronic delinquent. Beverly Hills, CA:
Sage.
Ranulf, S. (1938). Moral indignation and
middle class psychology. Copenhagen:
Levin & Munksgaard.
Shrag, P. (2000, February 2). Prop. 21 tale of
Wilson, ghost of politics past. The
Fresno Bee.
Wilson, J.Q., & Herrnstein, R.J. (1985).
Crime and human nature. New York:
Simon and Schuster.
____________________________
-Advertisement-
February 2011
Barry Krisberg, Ph.D. is a Distinguished
Senior Fellow and Lecturer in Residence at
the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. Prior to joining BCCJ, Dr. Krisberg was
the President of the National Council on
Crime and Delinquency from 1983 to 2009.
He is known nationally for his research and
expertise on juvenile justice issues and is
called upon as a resource for professionals,
foundations, and the media.
Dr. Krisberg has held several educational
posts. He was a faculty member in the School
of Criminology at the University of California
at Berkeley. He was also an adjunct professor
with the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota and the
Department of Psychiatry at the University of
Hawaii.
Dr. Krisberg was appointed by the legislature to serve on the California Blue Ribbon
Commission on Inmate Population Management. He is past president and fellow of the
Western Society of Criminology and is the
Chair of the California Attorney General's
Research Advisory Committee.
Dr. Krisberg has received many prestigious awards for his highly acclaimed work and
service.
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
For Immediate Release—January 31, 2011
Californians Call for an End to
Prison Spending, More Money
for Jobs, Education, Healthcare
Contact:
Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director,
Critical Resistance
Office: 510.444.0484
Cell: 510.517.6612
Oakland CA — Leading up to Governor
Brown‘s first State of the State address, organizations and residents continue to demand
that California prioritize healthcare, education, and job opportunities by defunding the
state‘s out of control prison spending. With
Brown‘s speech to focus on his cuts-heavy
budget, organizations like Californians United
for a Responsible Budget (CURB) are calling
attention to the hypocrisy of his proposal to
increase prison spending. ―It‘s a little unreal
to think that Brown would suggest increases
in prison spending when nearly every other
state agency, and every family in the state, is
facing massive budget cuts,‖ says Fresno
resident and director of the Prison Moratorium Project, Debbie Reyes. ―What makes it
sting more is that there are so many ways we
could save money by reducing California ‘s
prison population and placing a moratorium on
prison and jail construction projects.‖
Brown has made it clear that budget reform is necessary to address education, unemployment, or the environment. CURB statewide organizer Emily Harris points out that
cutting prison spending will create the resources that Californians are demanding. Says
Harris, ―with over a dozen counties throughout
California planning expensive jail expansion
projects, we need to force both counties and
the state not to overlook the most reliable, least
expensive, and best solutions for our families
and loved ones: reduce the number of people
in prison and use the saved resources to fund
the robust social services, job training and
education programs that we desperately need
during these difficult economic times.‖
Harris continues, ―Instead of cutting everything except prisons, Brown could free thousands of prisoners and millions and millions of
dollars by making even moderate parole reforms. He could do that today if he wanted.‖
In 2009, a three judge panel ordered the state
to reduce crowding in its prison in response to
deadly health conditions. This order opens the
-Advertisement-
CALIFORNIA LIFER NEWSLETTER
CLN: A comprehensive newsletter mailed
every 6-8 weeks. State and federal cases, parole
board news, statistics, legislation and articles
on prison, parole and correctional issues of
interest to inmates and their families.
CLN also provides services such as copying
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SUBSCRIPTIONS: Prisoners: $25 (or 80
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Page 11
door to two possible responses: either the state
will push ahead on billions of dollars worth of
prison construction and out-of-state transfers,
or the state will reduce its prison population by
an estimated 40,000 people.
People working to fight prison expansion
also point out the billions of dollars that aren‘t
being cut from the budget to fund prison construction. ―For all his talk of austerity, the
Governor is pushing forward on bond-funding
for the monstrous AB900 plan, using at least
$12 billion after interest, for 53,000 new prison
beds--making it the largest prison-construction
project in human history,‖ says Lisa Marie
Alatorre, campaign director for Critical Resistance, a member of the CURB coalition. Alatorre continues ―If implemented, AB900 will
dramatically increase California ‘s debt for
decades to come, while continuing to suck
resources from our disappearing social safety
net.‖
###
Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director
Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin St #504
Oakland CA 94612
510.444.0484
510.444.2177 (fax)
510.517.6612 (cell)
[email protected]
Page 12
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
By Dr. Jason J. Artiglio
C.M.F.
My respect and sympathy to lifers
everywhere. In the December issue, I
emphasized how dreamy it would be for the
California Parole Board to adopt the state
practices of Nebraska. Collectively, in
Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442
U.S. 1 (1979), at least once each year initial
review hearings were held for every prisoner,
regardless of parole eligibility.
Many great ideas have hatched from the
minds of people who decided that it was in
their best interest to help solve problems, rather
than create them by hindering opportunity.
A surefire way to help prisoners, whether
from the bottom or starting from the top, would
be to enucleate an unprecedented system of
approach that would benefit all lifers, be as it
may, Three Strikers or convicted murderers.
As a first-termer, I am currently serving a
25 year-to-life sentence on a plea bargain.
Quintessentially, it is a privilege that I even
have a chance to parole having been in the
system for 13 years now. That said, everybody
like myself, who is eligible for a parole date,
requires specific qualifications before the
Board of Parole Hearing (BPH) will even
consider finding you suitable for parole.
What's in a liberty interest? This is a good
question for many of us lifers since it seems to
be obfuscated by veritable internal political
provisions that permit commissioners or
Governors from routinely denying life
prisoners an affordability to return safely back
into society.
One such example of a political
smokescreen is that of a California Governor
and his appointees or (commissioners). The
California Governor in cahoots with the panel
of commissioners, has been currently playing
the 'number game' with life prisoners, advocacy
groups and citizenry alike, spreading hope of
release and rehabilitation. Obviously, prisoners
are the last concern when it comes to the
budget. Nevertheless, in order to appease
special interest groups the California Governor
has actually been able to persuade people to
believe in parole. California governors have
furthered the delusion that more lifer inmates
have been granted parole in the State of
California. Statistically, only the (BPH) make
the numbers look pretty by lacing and sugar
coating the number of lifer inmates who are
actually granted parole. This illusion creates
the pretense that a larger number of lifer
inmates are actually granted parole.
On an even darker note, the scales tip
toward prisoners when His Superior, the
Governor, in order to appease conservative
parties and politicians, set up smokescreens and
mirrors by exponentially manipulating the
number of parole denials, in effect,
perpetuating a perfect scheme balancing on a
medium. So, even though everybody may look
enthusiastically at the recent number of parole
grants by the (BPH), realistically this isn't the
case.
Suffice to say, most people never advance
to the next phase. This is one surefire way for a
Governor in prison politics to circumvent their
way around a (no parole policy). Statistics
reveal that the parole denial for lifers is the
'same' or even 'greater' than it was prior to Jerry
Brown's election. This is just one of many
foregoing happenings that escalated to
overcrowding. The best thing that Jerry Brown
could do for lifer inmates is to make the (BPH)
more friendly, or, hire new commissioners who
are. Unless Jerry Brown does this very thing,
there is nothing left to talk about.
Every lifer with the possibility of parole is
afforded a state liberty interest. The Lawrence
case obviously makes sense, considering that
people who are trying to reform usually don't
keep repeating the same mistakes over and over
again. The logistics behind the Lawrence case
is very plausible and rational. Interestingly
enough, you could also argue that Lawrence is
not per se a liberty interest, due to so many
other psychiatric and psychological factors,
among other things. A bulletproof plan for
prisoners would be for the people who are
interested in other people‘s welfare and their
own society, would be to send suggestions to
the public eye, local politicians, congress
people and California Legislation. The voters
may create a referendum if they learn how.
They do have the power to actually participate
in making decisions, or even better, legislation
could literally constitute the enactment of such
a proposal head-on.
If I could have my cake and eat it too, I
would resolve a final proposal by stipulating
the requisites that: (1) prisoners are classified
individually and not stereotypically, when
formulating a matrix for
rehabilitative purposes;
(2) the matrix would
consist of a rehabilitative
program organized and
efficient in the area of
specifically targeting the
core value in which a
person was convicted of
a crime. This system
would be based on
individual techniques
used to help aid a person
in the reform of
recommitting their crime
(s); (3) substantially, a
gen eraliz ed agenda
would have to be
fulfilled, in its entirety,
by any lifer, no matter
how long the agenda, no
matter what the crime;
(4) in other regards to
disciplinary
free
behavior, etc., regardless
February 2011
of the length of time of each individual
classification system or rehabilitative course;
upon the completion of the course, an inmate
shall be deemed suitable for parole, having met
all of the necessary prerequisites, calculated to
believe that each graduate should not pose any
such further risk to society, thereby increasing
the probability of reform.
This proposal, in effect, would establish
an absolute guaranteed parole date for lifers.
With all the prison programs currently
operating, it could save mega currency by
spending money solely on rehabilitation
upgrades. This would make for a safer society
and an earned opportunity for lifers to parole
safely back into society. Essentially, the CDC
(r) could generate enough revenue from the
budget by redistributing clumsy program
money and personal interest funds that do
absolutely no justice whatsoever in helping
inmates meet a specific criteria that would
ensure all of us a parole date. As a matter of
fact, if the Legislation wanted to, they could
incorporate the above aforementioned
terminology universally and apply it to all
prisoners.
Wherefore, not only does this plan create
an environment that is prisoner friendly, but,
taxpayers monies would be contributed to a
noble and worthy cause, increasing their hope
for a crime-free environment. In the same vein,
parolees would be able to have the opportunity
to once again coexist with society, and in a
peaceful manner.
Legislation must decide to create a liberty
interest that promulgates, "Once a prisoner
meets particular criteria, then and only then,
will they survive the current parole system and
successfully parole." That is when we will have
a genuine system that works for prisoners and
not against them. Once this happens, the (BPH)
can do their job more effectively,
organizationally and with conviction. This is
one idea that taxpayers can take to the bank.
February 2011
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
Fellow Inmates,
I would like to thank all of you who have
donated to this Initiative Fund. Thank you for
your contributions!
I had hoped that every non-violent, nonserious Third Striker would have participated, but
still I am happy about the results so far, even
though we are still short of our goal.
I do understand that some of you are just
getting the news of this fundraising effort. I am
also aware that some of you have given multiple
times. Some of you who gave are not even
effected by the Three Strikes Law.
I humbly ask that the readers of this article
become Ambassadors for this project, and make an
effort to find those on the yard, and even the contacts you have on the streets, who will help us.
Pass the word, make copies, send letters,
form groups. Be a true voice for this cause.
We need to get the other strikers and their
families involved. Our reward will be freedom.
Failing to do anything can mean death in prison.
No Governor, no Three-Judge Panel, no
legislators and no U.S. Supreme Court are going to
change this law or release any Three-Strikers.
The only way is through the Initiative
process. Do not be fooled to think otherwise.
We are extending our deadline to September
1, 2011 so that we can raise all we can. We realize
we are not going to be the ones to do the major
funding of all the millions of dollars it will take to
get an initiative on the ballot. Our goal is to help
as much as we can, and to show that we care
about ourselves. THIS IS PERSONAL! THIS
IS ABOUT US!
Please identify and reach out to your fellow
inmates of all races who are effected by this initiative. Reach out to your families and communities.
Our goal is that every non-violent, nonserious third striker give twenty dollars by September 1, 2011. If you can give more, please do
so. If we all commit ourselves to this, we can still
reach our goal of $80,000. It‘s reachable! It‘s
doable!
Those who cannot give money, please give
two books of stamps, or better yet, give the
equivalent of $10 in stamps. Twenty-three
(44cent) stamps would be a total of $10.12. Make
it your goal to do this twice by September 1, 2011,
and you will have attained your goal of $20 by
September 1.
Stamps will be very valuable for mass mailings, postage to send petitions out, etc.
We can also help Barbara by getting email
addresses from our contacts on the street. Contacting by email will not cost postage.
I have FAITH in this project, FAITH in you
and your families. WE CAN DO THIS!
So, please get out there and push this project.
Pass the word. Do not hide this newsletter or
article. It is a great tool for us. Give it to someone
or make copies and ask your families and homies
to help. If you do not have that voice to push this
project, give it to another striker who WILL push
this message.
Oh yeah! This is a challenge, too. ―Pleasant
Valley, I give you Props, you‘re in the lead, but
keep checking your rearview mirror.
Eric Kemp and the R.J. Donovan Strikers
STAMPS/
$ VALUE
MONEY
ASP
ASP
CAL
CAL
CCC
50.00
244
107.36
CCC
CCI
47
20.68
CCI
CCWF
98
43.12
CCWF
65.00
175
77.00
CEN
50.00
CEN
CIM
100.00
CIM
CIW
20
8.80
CIW
CMC
266
117.04
CMC
78
34.32
CMF
25.00
COR
217
95.48
COR
760.00
CTF
CRC
371 163.24
CVSP
CTF
DVI
FSP
749 329.56
FSP
HDSP
116
51.04
HDSP
ISP
106
46.64
ISP
25
11.00
KVSP
108
47.52
LAC
60
26.40
MCSP
KVSP
LAC
MCSP
NKSP
PBSP
230.00
CVSP
DVI
145.00
85.00
115.00
159.00
25.00
NKSP
13.64
PBSP
175.00
PVSP 1028 452.32
PVSP
499.00
RJD
606
66.64
RJD
393.00
SAC
88
39.06
SAC
SATF
82
36.08
SATF
SCC
28
9.50
SCC
SOL
14
6.16
SOL
SQ
31
10.00
376
165.44
68
29.92
SVSP
VSPW
20
8.80
VSPW
35.00
392
172.48
WSP
80.00
WSP
175.00
OUT OF STATE
OUT OF STATE
AZ
AZ
OK
9
3.96
Jail
43
18.92
Stamps 5465 $2404.60
—————————-This total amt of stamps
is out of balance with
the monthly Stamp
count in far right.
10.00
OK
VALUE
FREE
TOTAL
$ 3666.00
161.00
$3827.00
MATCH $1235.52
TOTAL
Make Payable to:
Sentencing and Justice
Reform Advocacy
Make notation on check
―Initiative Fund‖
Mail to:
Sentencing and Justice
Reform Advocacy
c/o Barbara Brooks
P.O. Box 71
Olivehurst, CA 95961
DO NOT MAKE PAYABLE TO
Barbara Brooks, S.J.R.A.
R.J.D. Initiative Fund Challenge
STAMPS
151 Stamps brought fwd from Sept 2010
Total value $ 66.44
559 Stamps brought fwd from Oct 2010
Total value $ 245.96
492 Stamps brought fwd from Nov 2010
Total value $ 215.20
SVSP
SQ
Donations to the R.J.D.
Initiative Fund
Challenge
480.00
CMF
CRC
Page 13
5062.52
2808 Stamps brought fwd from Dec 2010
This is total amt to be matched in $ by
RTF (Returning Home Foundation)
805 Stamps br’t fwd from Jan 2011
521 Stamps br’t fwd from Feb 2011
5336 TOTAL STAMPS THRU Feb 2011
MONEY DONATIONS
$ 34-16th Anniv. Project-(Feb-Mar)
$ 205– Sept Donations-RJD Challenge
$ 910-October Donations-RJD Challenge
$ 625-November Donations-RJD Challeng
$ 1013-December Donations-RJD Challeng
$ 443-January Donations
$ 617-February Donations
$3847.00 TOTAL CASH ON HAND
$1235.52 Total Matched Funds for Dec.
$5082.52 GRAND TOTAL FEBRUARY
Page 14
Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy - It’s My Business, and it’s YOUR Business, Too!
February 2011
705 Stamps from January 1 thru January 25, 2011
JANUARY 26 thru 31, 2011
5-Mario Garcia CEN
20-James Covert CCI
5-Robert Harden RJD
2-Mario Carrello
20-James Lee Johnson FSP
20-Lionel Taplin PVSP
8-Charles C. James CMF
20-Gilberto Guillen CTF
JANUARY 26 thru 31, 2011
$ 3-George Luis Vargas PVSP
$ 10-Joseph M. Anderson PVSP
$ 10-Ted Emens WSP
$ 100-Minerva Flores for brother David Gomez (WSP)
and brother Jesse Garza (CEN)
$ 121.44-Returning Home Fdn. Bal. of Matching Funds
$ 244.44-TOTAL DONATIONS 1/26 thru 1/31 2011
100 Total stamps from Jan 26 thru 31, 2011
+705 Total stamps from Jan 1 thru 25, 2011
805 Total stamps in January 2011
************************************************
FEBRUARY 1 thru FEBRUARY 28, 2011
******************************************************
FEBRUARY 1 thru FEB 28, 2011
170-the men at WASCO Mainline A-Yard
20-Oscar Machado CSP-LAC
31-Joseph M. Anderson (various stamps, equivalent to 31 PV
15-Joseph Carrillo for Donna Lee at CCWF, w/Love SVSP
20-Kyle Robbins for Ron Emmal, my long-time friend. CMC
20-Linda Cotton for Marcus Aubry CSP-COR
20-Walter Treen PV
20-Ted Emens WSP
10-Charles C. James for an indigent 3-strike mother confined in
CDCr.
20-Irving C. Humphrey PV
5-Arthur Carrillo KVSP
6-Michael A. Smith PVSP (recd 2/18)
20-James Lee Johnson FSP
22-Cuong Nguyen FSP
4-Douglas Hopper HD
10-Marvalyon F. Gibson Santa Clarita County Jail
18-Armando Aquino ISP
24-David Gomez WSP
6-Michael A. Smith PVSP (recd 2/24)
20-For Donna Lee and Amber Bray at CCWF, from a ―friend
within‖—J.C. at SVSP
20-Terry Ramsey WSP
20-Joe ‗Junkyard‘ Broadway SQ
$ 20-Ann A. Alvidrez for Felix T. Barron PVSP
$ 10-Bernice Cubie CCWF
$ 10-Abdullahi W. Mustafaa
$ 20-Haroldine Medina for Mario Medina
$ 5-Eric Kemp RJD
$ 20-Ruby Boecker for an inmate at PVSP
$ 25-Tony Stitt PB
$ 10-Joseph M. Anderson PV
$ 20-Eugene Dey CTF
$ 50-Clara Cox for Donald Hill CMC
$ 7-Daniel Perez CMC
$ 40-Shanna Meyers and Evelyn Treen for Walter Treen
$ 50-Constance Pedroza for Gabriel Reyes PB
$ 300-David S. Mowatt COR
$ 5-Roosevelt Wallace RJD
$ 25-Barbara Brooks for Jeff Brooks SQ
$ 617 TOTAL DONATIONS-FEBRUARY 2011
$4342.52 BALANCE BRO’T FWD.
$ 244.44 Donations 1/26 thru 1/31/2011
$4586.96 TOTAL DONATIONS THRU JAN 2011
$ 617.00 February 2011 donations
$5203.96 GRAND TOTAL DONATIONS THRU FEB
521 TOTAL STAMPS, FEBRUARY 2011
805 TOTAL STAMPS, JANUARY 2011
2808 TOTAL STAMPS FOR DECEMBER 2010
492 TOTAL NOVEMBER 2010
665 TOTAL OCTOBER 2010
151 TOTAL SEPTEMBER 2010 AND FEBRUARY 2010
5442 GRAND TOTAL STAMPS THRU FEB 2011
If you are keeping track of the donations, save this page.