CDCR Star

CDCR NEWS

Avenal correctional officers honored at ceremony

Josh Butters, The Sentinel

AVENAL – When two people needed help recently, three Avenal State Prison correctional officers took action and potentially saved their lives. The three were honored by the state and received Medals of Honor for their actions recently.

While carpooling home together, llieutenants Mike Tuntakit and John Mendiboure came across a person waving down help for a driver whose car was overturned and gone down a steep 100-yard embankment. With the car beginning to smoke, they used a rock to break a window then pulled the driver, who was unresponsive, from the wreck.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Solitary confinement for California inmates cut sharply

Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle

California has greatly reduced solitary confinement in its prisons and has nearly eliminated its long-term use under a year-old legal settlement, lawyers for the prisoners reported Monday.

The state had 9,870 prisoners in isolation cells in December 2012, shortly after inmates filed a class-action lawsuit against the prison system’s use of solitary confinement. That total was down to 3,471 as of August 2016, a 65 percent reduction, said the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the inmates.

The center also reported a 97 percent reduction in the number of inmates kept in solitary confinement for 10 years or more: Out of 1,557 held in long-term isolation before the settlement, prison officials have transferred at least 1,512 to general prison housing and recommended moving 20 more.

Author: Scott Peterson living in 'the best" conditions San Quentin has to offer

The Modesto Bee

By San Quentin prison standards, convicted Modesto murderer Scott Peterson is living large on Death Row.

"Scott Peterson is living inside a single cell, inside NorthSeg; the exclusive, the best that you can ever hope to serve," Nancy Mulane, author of Life After Murder: Five Men in Search of Redemption, told Geraldo Rivera.

The author says he has access to an outdoor shower and toilet, and takes advantage of a rooftop basketball court that has protection against the sun.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

California’s Prop. 57 tackles sentencing of juvenile offenders and parole

KALW

Daniel Mendoza is starting classes at U.C. Davis as a junior and sociology major this fall. But just a few years ago, he was looking at life in prison for a long list of charges—including murder. How Daniel got from there to U.C. Davis is connected to California's Proposition 57.

When Mendoza was 14, he was hanging out with a rough crowd. One night, he and some friends jumped a man on the street. In the chaos, somebody pulled out a knife and stabbed the man. After a two month investigation, Daniel and his friends were arrested. In court, Mendoza found out that the D.A. had decided to direct file his case.

Proposition 61 Gives California Mandate To Lower Drug Prices, Not Tools

Ben Bradford, Capital Public Radio

No California ballot fight has attracted more money or bigger names than Proposition 61.

Proponents call it the only initiative in the country that could rein in rising drug prices. Pharmaceutical companies have spent nearly $110 million to oppose it.

But politics aside, experts see a problem with the measure. They question whether California could implement the law and what the consequences would be, if it can’t.

County hopes employers, former criminals can connect

Laura Urseny, Chico Enterprise-Record

Chico >> For the second year in a row, employers throughout Butte County are invited to host a table at a job fair sponsored by correctional agencies for those with criminal records.

The job fair, Nov. 2 at the Chico Masonic Family Center, 1110 W. East Ave., is designed to help those with a record find employment, according to Amy Asher of Butte County Probation Department.

Probation, along with the Sheriff’s Office, Office of Education, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Alliance for Workforce Development are sponsoring the job fair.

OPINION

California needs criminal justice reform but not Prop. 57

The San Diego Union-Tribune

America needs far-reaching criminal justice reform. The U.S. warehouses many nonthreatening individuals in costly prisons without good reason. Our nation has less than 5 percent of the world’s population and, astonishingly, about 22 percent of its prisoners. And research shows that mass incarceration isn’t keeping us safer. Other industrial democracies have somewhat lower to far lower crime rates, according to the Numbeo database.

This is the bitter fruit of a tough-on-crime era in the late 20th century that led to much harsher prison sentences. The approach ignored the most elemental finding of criminology: Crime is a young man’s game. An FBI study of crime statistics in the 1990s showed that 18-year-old males are nearly 10 times as likely to be as arrested as males aged 45-49 and more than 20 times as likely to be arrested as men aged 55-59. This wrongheaded crackdown explains why the Justice Department reports that from 1993 to 2013, there was a 400 percent increase in inmates aged 55 and over in state prisons.

Prop. 57 will fix our prisons and improve public safety

Jan Levine, The Sacramento Bee

As a Superior Court judge for nearly a decade, I got a close look at a justice system that was failing too many people. I am supporting Proposition 57 because I believe it would begin to address that failure.

Beginning in the 1990s, California spent years incarcerating more and more people at an ever greater cost to taxpayers and society – with little but sky-high recidivism to show for it. As a result, our state prisons are dangerously overcrowded, and their administration is being overseen by the federal government. It has mandated that California get its prison problem under control or risk having a solution imposed by federal officials.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

The Golden State Warriors team up against the San Quentin Warriors

Louis A. Scott, KALW

Warriors fans probably think of the Spurs, Clippers or Cavaliers as their biggest rivals. But there’s another rivalry just out of sight of the public eye — the Golden State Warriors versus the San Quentin Warriors.

For the last several years, Dubs stars like Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant have stopped by the prison yard to shoot some hoops. The superstars don’t play, but the team brass does, led by General Manager Bob Myers. A couple years back, the inmates recorded the game, and that’s the subject of today’s San Quentin Prison Report.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

A Safe Trick Or Treating Guide For Parents And Kids On Halloween

California prison officials released a safety guide for parents to help keep kids safe this Halloween.

Perry Smith, KHTS

The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, which otherwise might seem like a nontraditional nexus for child safety on Halloween, actually has a longstanding tradition of supporting best practices on our nation’s spookiest night, dating back to 1994.

One of the reasons for Operation Boo is the high percentage of sex offenders who are not monitored by the state, officials said.

The state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation notes there are almost 114,000 sex-offenders statewide in California; and the CDCR is only responsible for supervising around 5,860 of them.

Parole denied for man convicted in 1982 killing

Kelly Puente, The OC Register

A state board on Tuesday denied parole for a former Anaheim man convicted of killing his friend who was beaten and tossed out of a Cessna airplane in 1982.

This was the fourth parole bid for Lawrence Cowell, convicted in 1989 and sentenced to 25 years to life for killing Scott Campbell. He will be eligible for parole again in three years, said Orange County Senior Deputy District Matt Murphy.

“We’re glad the board agreed with our assessment that Cowell still poses a danger to the community,” Murphy said.

DEATH PENALTY

Death penalty opponents exaggerate cost of executions in new ad

Alexei Koseff, The Sacramento Bee

If voters approve Proposition 62 this November, California would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Rather than focusing on moral arguments, supporters of the initiative have sought to make the campaign an issue of fiscal sensibility.

In a new television ad, Ron Briggs, who managed his father’s successful 1978 ballot measure to expand California’s death penalty, says it was a mistake, emphasizing that the state would save money if it abolishes capital punishment. But the spot paints an exaggerated picture of the cost by juxtaposing unrelated figures.

California Voters Are Confused About Plastic Bag, Death Penalty Propositions

Ben Bradford , Capital Public Radio

California voters who oppose the death penalty and those who want to challenge the plastic bag industry may accidentally cast ballots against their views.

40 percent of likely voters who called themselves “anti-death penalty” in a new Capitol Weekly survey also favored Proposition 66. That measure would look to hasten executions.

California correctional officers launch pro-death penalty campaign

Alexei Koseff, The Sacramento Bee

With polls showing California voters poised to abolish the death penalty in just two weeks, the state correctional officers’ union is underwriting a major drive to save capital punishment.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association on Monday released a pair of ads encouraging voters to reject Proposition 62, which would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, and support a competing measure, Proposition 66, that aims to expedite the process and resume long-stalled executions.

Propositions seek to address California's death penalty

Dan Ashley, ABC 7

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Phyllis Loya lost her son more than a decade ago. Pittsburg Police Officer Larry Lasater was shot pursuing two robbery suspects. One of them, Alexander Hamilton is on death row.

"And they were laughing at my son being killed. They were remarking how they ratatatatted other officers who tried to aid my dying son," said Loya.

Dionne Wilson knows the same pain. Her husband Dan was on patrol in San Leandro when he was called to an apartment complex where a group of men were drinking outside. She says one of them, Irving Ramirez, was on probation and in possession of drugs and weapons.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell weighs in on upcoming ballot measures

Rob Hayes, ABC 7

SAN DIMAS, Calif. (KABC) -- Voters will be tasked with deciding on several measures during Election Day on Nov. 8, including measures that could have an impact on public safety.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and other law enforcement officials voiced their opposition to Proposition 57 and 62 and their backing of Proposition 66 on Tuesday.

Prop 57 Would Give Power To Try Juveniles As Adults To Judges, Not Prosecutors

CBS SF

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) — Santa Clara County has one of the highest rates in the state for trying children as adults. Proposition 57, on the November ballot, would make that decision up to judges, not prosecutors.

For many teenagers accused of violent crimes, juvenile hall is just a stopover on the way into the adult court and the prison system.

Pastor Sonny Lara of Firehouse Ministry is a former gang member and now a youth outreach minister.

Slain officers' families oppose California prison initiative

Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Family members of two California police officers fatally shot to death this month spoke forcefully Tuesday against a November ballot initiative that would change California's sentencing laws by giving corrections officials more control of when criminals are released.

Tania Owen, widow of slain Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Owen, said Proposition 57 would endanger public safety and criticized Gov. Jerry Brown, the sponsor of the measure.

OPINION

California’s death penalty can be fixed by speeding up appeals

Anne Marie Schubert and Richard Riggins, The Sacramento Bee

The death penalty is reserved for the most heinous of killers.

The crimes committed by death row inmates are so brutal and depraved that a jury of their peers rendered the ultimate sentence. Death sentences are rare – only 10 to 20 cases a year across the state – but they need to remain available for the worst of the worst.

The death penalty in California is broken, but with simple reforms, it can work again. We urge voters to vote “no” on Proposition 62, which would repeal capital punishment.

California’s death penalty is beyond repair and should be repealed

Donald Heller, The Sacramento Bee

Almost 40 years ago, I wrote California’s current death penalty law. I attempted to write a constitutionally sound law that would be fair and equitable. As a Republican and as a former prosecutor, I believed and still believe that people who commit heinous crimes should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I thought that the death penalty was appropriate for willful and intentional murder.

Unfortunately, history and irrefutable data has shown that the death penalty is dysfunctional and costly, and may well have resulted in the execution of an innocent person.

California’s death-penalty flaws can be fixed

Birgit Fladager, The Fresno Bee

Abolishing the death penalty and reducing sentences for depraved criminals to life in prison without the possibility of parole is a bad idea that needs to be defeated this November.

Proposition 62 is backed by Hollywood elites and billionaires who have no stake in the game and are working to thwart justice. They have never suffered the agonizing pain that victims’ families experience, nor have they dealt with these heinous criminals on a regular basis.

Jaycee Dugard urges a 'No' vote on Prop. 57

Sami Gallegos, KXTV

Jaycee Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped from her South Lake Tahoe home while walking to the bus stop in the summer of 1991.

That's when Duggard's nearly 20-year ordeal -- one of California's most infamous kidnapping cases -- began. Earlier this summer, Dugard released a book detailing her life in captivity.

Dugard was repeatedly raped and held captive in a backyard by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. She was given a television. At 14 years old, she gave birth to her first child by Phillip. At age 17, she had her second child. She learned everything about pregnancy and childcare from her television.

Jaycee Dugard opposing Jerry Brown’s prison reform initiative

Adam Ashton, The Sacramento Bee

One of California’s most famous kidnap victims is opposing a parole overhaul backed by Gov. Jerry Brown that would make more inmates eligible for early release.

Jaycee Dugard, who spent 18 years in confinement after being kidnapped by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, wrote on Facebook that she fears Proposition 57 could speed the release of former criminals.

CDCR NEWS

23 arrested after raids uncover nearly 4 tons of pot in Calaveras

Jason Anderson, Record

Twelve people were located in a small residence off of Argonaut Lane. Eleven others were located at another residence nearby. They were arrested on suspicion of numerous crimes, including marijuana cultivation, marijuana sales and conspiracy to cultivate and transport marijuana, authorities said.

The names of those arrested were not released. The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation was ongoing.

The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, the California Department of Corrections, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Calaveras County Code Enforcement assisted in serving the search warrants.

Oak Glen Conservation Camp minimum security prison has storied background

Harvey Kahn, IECN

The State Department of Corrections has announced it has signed a contract with San Bernardino County allowing more long term jailed felons the chance to serve out sentences at one of the state’s minimum security conservation fire camps. Department spokesperson Bill Sessa said in a phone interview that there are many perks including earning time off sentences.

The Oak Glen Conservation (Fire) Camp was the first such facility and with a prison population of 160 is the largest among 43 in the state. The site was established 90 years ago by the former San Bernardino County Forestry Department. Sessa explained the plan is part of new legislation aimed to reduce the prison population. “People are not going to be let out of prison early and we are not lowering our standards. No one with a pattern of violent behavior is accepted. “You get one chance. If you are disruptive in any form, you are returned to an electronically fenced facility.”

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

The Pioneer visits San Quentin

Kevin D. Sawyer, The Pioneer

Students and faculty from California State University East Bay’s student-run newspaper, The Pioneer, visited the San Quentin State Prison in July.

A couple of years ago the idea struck me to reach out to my alma mater — California State University Hayward — from San Quentin because I wanted those on a familiar education path to experience some hidden truths about prison.

Several years ago, I initially invited The Pioneer to visit San Quentin News, an inmate-run newspaper, where I am the associate editor. One by one they have accepted the open invitation, beginning with former Pioneer editor-in-chief, Yousuf Fahimuddin and the paper’s past student sales executive, Yesica Ibarra, later followed by former student photojournalist, Valerie Smith.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

California prosecutors turn to YouTube to re-argue case against

Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register

It’s a standard line in almost any Hollywood legal drama: A prosecutor tells a herd of reporters he won’t answer a question because “I don’t want to try this case in the court of public opinion.”

In real life, that premise might be changing.

Go to YouTube this week and punch in the words “Orange County District Attorney and Kenneth Clair” and you’ll find a legal drama playing out almost exclusively in the court of public opinion.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parents Concerned Over Possible Registered Sex Offenders for Halloween

"Operation Boo" requires registered sex offenders to adhere to certain restrictions

Omari Fleming, NBC LA

State officials are cracking down on registered sex offenders, just as Halloween is around the corner.

It's called "Operation Boo," which requires that all registered sex offenders to adhere to certain curfews and restrictions between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m., starting on Halloween night. They also cannot put up Halloween decorations or give out candy to trick-or-treating children.

Why Gov. Jerry Brown is staking so much on overhauling prison parole

John Myers, The Los Angeles Times

Few California voters likely know much, if anything, about the state Board of Parole Hearings — from the qualifications of the 12 commissioners to their success in opening the prison gates for only those who can safely return to the streets.

And yet Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping overhaul of prison parole, Proposition 57, is squarely a question of whether those parole officials should be given additional latitude to offer early release to potentially thousands of prisoners over the next few years.

DEATH PENALTY

Another View: What to know about Proposition 62 and 66 – Death Penalty

Randi Swisley, Auburn Journal

Two propositions on the November ballot address the death penalty. They are discussed together here to allow easier reference as your make your decision on how to vote on each of them.

Proposition 62 asks voters if the death penalty in California should be eliminated and replaced with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Today, people convicted of first-degree murder that includes “special circumstances,” such as multiple victims, hate crimes, or killing for financial gain, can be sentenced either to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, or to death.

Why Are Prison Guards Backing the Death Penalty?

Eric Markowitz, Capital & Main

Of the 17 propositions on this year’s California ballot, few are as divisive as the issue of capital punishment. There are actually two separate initiatives targeting the death penalty: Proposition 62, which would abolish the death penalty and replace it with prison without the possibility of parole; and Proposition 66, which would speed up the process to send condemned murderers to the death chamber.

According to campaign finance disclosures compiled by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, much of the pro-death penalty campaign funding is coming directly from police and prison guard unions. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) alone spent $498,304 on Prop. 62, while the Peace Officers Research Association of California spent $455,000 and the California Association of Highway Patrolmen ponied up $250,000 to keep capital punishment.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

How a Second Chance Led Ex-Con Jay Ly to Some Stinkin Crawfish

Agnes Constante, NBC News

For Jay Ly, every workday is different.

Sometimes, he gets up at 6 a.m. to meet with contractors at the two currently under construction locations of a Cajun restaurant that he co-founded with friends called Stinkin Crawfish. Other times, he's at the restaurant's three existing branches, fixing the occasional clogged drain or broken power outlet.

He's also busy coordinating with a friend and business partner about the two new locations, which are slated to be up and running by early 2017, perhaps even sooner.

Arroyo Grande cross burner arrested on gun charges

Cal Coast News

In June 2012, a San Luis Obispo jury convicted Hernandez of arson, terrorism in the form of a cross burning, terrorism in the form of arson targeting a person’s race and conspiracy to commit a crime. Hernandez also received a hate crime enhancement.

But, a California appellate court ruled in Aug. 2014 that the convictions of arson and terrorism in the form of arson are not valid when coupled with the cross burning count. The appellate court ordered a local judge to discount the two invalid convictions and re-sentence Hernandez.

Jail state: Juvenile justice overhaul rallies Sacramento faith community behind Prop. 57

California law enforcement opposes yet another reform measure, cites loopholes

Scott Thomas Anderson News Review

When she was 12, Jamie Savoy let out a cry for help that she says no one answered.

Facing abuse from an older adult, Savoy says she lashed out in self-defense and was repaid with a two-year stint in juvenile hall before getting turned back to the streets. The pain of being treated like a criminal at such a young age, however, set her on a self-destructive path of more crime. After she turned 18, the criminal justice system claimed her again, labeling Savoy a felon for life.

Twenty-five years after her first arrest, those scars are why she’s working with Sacramento Area Congregations Together to build support for California’s Proposition 57.

ELECTION BRIEFS: Prop 57 - Criminal sentencing

Meradith Hoddinott, KALW

Proposition 57 is all about how people get in and out of California’s prisons. It can be broken down into two parts.

First Prop 57 would change the way young people are tried in court. Right now, prosecutors can decide if defendants — as young as 14 — should be tried as adults. Prop 57 would ensure that they first get a hearing in juvenile court. There, a judge would decide if they should be transferred to the adult system. Stakes are high because sentences in the adult system are a lot harsher.

Jaycee Dugard speaks out on Prop. 57

Patrick May, The Mercury News

Seven years after she was freed from captivity, Jaycee Dugard has kept a relatively low profile. Despite writing a couple of best-selling first-person books about a life defined by her 1991 kidnapping and subsequent near-slavery, her precise whereabouts remain a mystery. Dugard is single, according to interviews, and spends her time focusing on her children.

But now Dugard has come out with a political statement on Facebook.

“I’d promised myself I would not use FB for anything political but I’m asking you all to vote NO on prop 57,” Dugard wrote in a missive posted Oct. 21 at 4:21 p.m., referring to the state ballot proposition that would reduce time served for many criminals. “Other survivors like me should not have to worry when and if their rapist and/or their captor will get out. Phillip and Nancy Garrido kidnapped me in 1991 after he was released from prison having only served 11 out of 50 years for a previous rape.”

Man accused of killing 2 Palm Springs police officers in ambush faces death penalty

Richard Winton and Matt HamiltonContact, The Los Angeles Times

The man accused of killing two Palm Springs police officers during an ambush-style attack will face the death penalty, Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin announced Wednesday.

John Felix, 26, faces two counts of murder with the special circumstances of multiple murders, murder of a police officer in the line of duty and lying in wait.

Clearlake City Council to consider opposing Prop 57 and awarding visitor center repairs

Elizabeth Larson, Lake County News

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council is set to discuss taking a stand against a proposition sponsored by the governor that would lead to new parole and sentencing provisions, and also will consider awarding a bid for work on the city's visitor center project.

The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, for a closed session to discuss negotiations for properties at 14440 and 14480 Olympic Drive before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Jewish community frames Prop. 57 as social justice cause

Eitan Arom, Jewish Journal

Martin Cruz owes his freedom to the California juvenile justice system.

His childhood essentially ended at age 8, when he saw a friend shot five times and killed. Soon enough, he was part of a gang, and at 16, after years of cycling in and out of the juvenile justice system, a district attorney tried to send him to adult court.

“If I had been sent to adult court, I would be done,” he told an audience at Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) on a recent Tuesday evening. “I would probably still be in prison today.”

OPINION

Most Americans don’t like the death penalty, right? Wrong.

Charles Lane, The Washington Post

You’d think Proposition 62, a referendum to abolish California’s death penalty and replace it with life without parole, including for the 749 current occupants of death row, would win easily on Nov. 8.

Democrats dominate this state; their 2016 national platform advocated an end to capital punishment. Former president Jimmy Carter, left-populist icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the state’s major labor unions and 38 newspaper editorial boards are urging a “yes” vote.

Editorial: Prop. 57 moves prison reform forward

Ventura STAR

Proposition 57 has the potential to reverse how we view, and handle, the release of prison inmates in California.

Gov. Jerry Brown drafted the initiative to, in part, overturn an action he took in 1977 during his first stint as governor, when he signed legislation that banned open-ended sentencing. That, he believes, has led to the explosion of prison inmates in the state, which peaked at about 173,000 in 2006 and spurred federal court orders to reduce our prison population.

Prop. 57 puts every Californian in danger

John Phillips, OC Register

Every once in a while the American people decide to change their mind on a contentious, hot-button issue of the day. It usually happens gradually, as people age and newer generations with different opinions replace them. We’ve seen this happen on a large scale with policy regarding civil rights, gay marriage and how we treat the mentally ill.

As we look back on these changes, most would say they are for the better, but rapidly shifting attitudes toward drugs and addiction have the potential to take the Golden State to a very dark place – in the form of Proposition 57.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Scott Peterson deserves death for ’02 double murder, mother-in-law says

Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee

With misty eyes and firm resolve, Laci Peterson’s mother stood before news cameras in Modesto once again to remind people what it means to lose loved ones at the hands of a killer.

“I support the death penalty because some crimes just warrant the death penalty,” Sharon Rocha said Thursday, less than two weeks before a statewide election that could decide whether capital punishment is abolished or expedited in California. She and a roomful of authorities hope voters reject Proposition 62 and embrace Proposition 66.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parole denied for convicted Manson follower Charles 'Tex' Watson

Matt Hamilton, The Los Angeles Times

A California review board denied parole Thursday to Charles “Tex” Watson, the self-described right-hand man of Charles Manson and a key figure in the Manson family’s 1969 killing spree in the Los Angeles area.

Watson, 70, was initially sentenced to die in San Quentin’s gas chamber for his part in the murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others. In 1973, his sentence was commuted to life in prison after the state Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

Parents Concerned Over Possible Registered Sex Offenders for Halloween

"Operation Boo" requires registered sex offenders to adhere to certain restrictions

Omari Fleming, NBC LA

State officials are cracking down on registered sex offenders, just as Halloween is around the corner.

"Operation Boo" keeps California sex offenders inside during Halloween

abc 23 News

California law enforcement officials decided against requiring sex offenders on parole to put up "do not disturb" door signs on Halloween.

Following last year's mandate, one sex offender sued, stating the signs violated rights and made it easier for people to target sex offenders.

DEATH PENALTY

'I am 25 and still afraid of the dark': Victims' families wrestle with grief as they weigh the death penalty on the ballot

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

On a cool afternoon in October, Sandra Friend sits near a patch of green clover outside her small country home near Yuba City, thinking of her late son as the wind rustles through the trees. Friend, 43, says she wants “California voters to know what kind of offenders are on death row,” men like Robert Boyd Rhoades, who sodomized, tortured and killed 8-year-old Michael Lyons two decades ago.

She recalled that investigators said the wounds her son endured were deliberate: Rhoades stabbed the 63-pound boy 70 to 80 times with a fisherman’s knife and kept him alive for hours.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Focus of prisons is to rehabilitate inmates so when they do get out, they are not burden to society

Ken Mashinchi, abc 23 News

The California prison system could be undergoing a significant change.

A federal mandate to lower prison population has led to bills like AB 109 (realignment) and Prop 47 (making some felonies into misdemeanors). Proposition 57, which is on the November ballot, is a two-part proposal designed to affect non-violent criminals as well as juveniles.

Through 23ABC’s interviews with public safety officials, the juvenile angle was not met with much opposition, so it will be discussed first.

Local law enforcement leaders say Prop 57 is 'deceptive,' will roll back victims' rights, lowers criminal penalties

Elizabeth Larson, Lake County News

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As voters prepare to decide on a slate of statewide ballot measures, local and regional law enforcement leaders have come out with a strong warning against Proposition 57, which they say will endanger the safety of the communities and citizens they serve.

They're also concerned that it will undermine the authority of local elected judges and erode four decades' worth of advances in victims' rights in California.

Gov. Jerry Brown has developed Proposition 57, The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, and also is campaigning vigorously for its passage.

Police chiefs oppose Prop 57

Dave Williams, The Community Voice

Initiative designed to reduce state’s prison population

Proposition 57 on this November’s ballot is called “The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, but police chiefs throughout Sonoma County are vehemently opposed to this ballot initiative.

Cotati Police Chief Michael Parish is the president of the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chiefs’ Association, and he believes passage of Prop. 57 will allow for the early release of child molesters, those who rape unconscious persons, gang members who commit drive-by shootings, or those who commit assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence causing trauma.

OPINION

Why Marc Klaas is wrong about Proposition 57

Michael B. Salerno, The Sacramento Bee

Proposition 57 would not release criminals convicted of crimes such as kidnapping, rape and murder, as argued by victims’ rights advocate Marc Klaas (“Prop. 57 would release violent criminals and undermine the rights of victims,” Viewpoints, Oct. 25).

It would simply allow parole consideration for nonviolent offenders who have already served their base sentences, giving them an incentive to earn earlier release. Voters should approve Proposition 57 to make long overdue refinements to felony sentencing.

Prop. 57 would change Brown’s legacy and simplify sentences

Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown dramatically altered California’s criminal sentencing system when he was first governor a generation ago.

Now he is asking voters to partly change it back by giving corrections officials more say in when criminals are released and stripping prosecutors of the power to decide when juveniles should be tried as adults. He says both would help rein in a legal code that he believes has tilted too far in favor of get-tough policies.

Victims’ Families Have Different Opinions on California Death Penalty

Kay Recede, FOX 40 News

MODESTO -- Laci Peterson’s mother spoke in favor of Proposition 66 in Modesto on Thursday.

She, along with district attorneys, sheriffs and other law enforcement leaders in the Central Valley rallied in support of the proposition that would amend the state’s death penalty system by shortening the time of legal challenges.

However, those who oppose argue, a "yes" vote would create trouble for taxpayers and more heartbreak for victims' families.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Operation Boo keeps children safe on Halloween

Sheyanne Romero, Visalia Times –Delta

Parole agents went inside the house looking for pornography and Halloween candy. What they found led a sex offender back to prison.

“We always find porn,” said agent parole agent Tony Avitia, who works out of the Department of Adult Parole Operations in Hanford. “Even when they know we’re coming, we still find things they shouldn’t have.”

Right away they found marijuana. Bad news for the parolee.

CDCR urges parents to use Operation Boo

The Recorder

To help prevent sex offenders from ruining anyone’s Halloween, especially kids, the state will conduct its 23rd annual Halloween children’s safety project Operation Boo.

The project, which is administered by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Division of Adult Parole Operations, is aided by law enforcement partners statewide.

To aid parents in the process of ensuring their kids are safe on Halloween, the state has created the Operation Boo Parent Patrol, an online guide that gives suggestions for non-threatening ways to teach children how to spot and avoid potential sexual predators.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

CEC Awarded New In-Prison Treatment Program at Kern Valley, California

PR Newswire

WEST CALDWELL, N.J., Oct. 31, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Community Education Centers, Inc. (CEC) is proud to announce the newest addition to its In-Prison Treatment Services division awarded from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The new program "Men's In-Prison Rehabilitative Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) Program" will begin on or before January 1st at the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California. This new program increases the CEC roster of in-prison treatment programming locations for the State to six, in addition to a reentry center and Referral/Placement Office for Los Angeles County.

DEATH PENALTY

Laci Peterson's family takes stake in California's death penalty debate

Sami Gallegos, abc News 10

California hasn't executed a death penalty inmate in more than a decade.

Whether or not you're in favor of capital punishment, both sides of the debate say the system is flawed.

Two competing ballot measures going before voters this year offer distinct solutions -- repeal the death penalty, or approve an attempt to shorten the process. The latter measure, Prop. 66, speeds up the process by amending statues that allow for legal challenges, which cause California's backlog of death row executions.

Propositions 62 & 66: Repeal or reform? Death penalty voter decisions

Brian Melley, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES —€” California's dysfunctional death penalty faces a fate in November that seems fitting: voters can put it out of its misery, or fix it so it does what it promises.

California's ballot initiatives — one would repeal capital punishment, the other would speed up appeals so convicted murderers are actually executed — are fueled by those who agree only that the current system is broken, leaving murder victims' kin grieving and the condemned languishing on death row.

In California, more than 900 convicted murderers have been sent to death row since 1978 — but only 13 have been executed. Many more have died of natural causes and no one has been put to death in more than a decade after a judge ordered an overhaul to the state's lethal injection procedure.

OPINION

Domingo, Moore, O’Neal: Prop. 57 will give…

Jethroe Moore, Charisse Domingo and Molly O'Neal, The Mercury News

At the heart of California’s Proposition 57 is a belief that with meaningful rehabilitation, programs, and support, those impacted by the criminal justice system can change. This is especially true for young people, who have their whole lives ahead of them.

Prop. 57 provides comprehensive criminal justice reform for both adults and youth.

It eliminates the ability of prosecutors to directly file charges against youth as young as 14 in adult court. It would return discretion to judges, and require them to consider adolescent brain development, the youth’s role in the offense, the youth’s background, the seriousness of the offense, the impact to victims, and other important factors.

Why death row won’t be closing any time soon

Charles Lane, New York Post

Los Angeles — You’d think Proposition 62, a referendum to abolish California’s death penalty and replace it with life without parole, including for the 749 current occupants of death row, would win easily on Nov. 8.

Democrats dominate this state; their 2016 national platform advocated an end to capital punishment. Former President Jimmy Carter, left-populist icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the state’s major labor unions and 38 newspaper editorial boards are urging a “yes” vote.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Operation Boo: Parole agents check homes of violent child sex offenders on Halloween

Alecia Reid, KRON 4

SANTA ROSA (KRON) — Children look forward to trick-or-treating on Halloween, and local law enforcement is making sure they are safe.

The 23rd-annual Operation Boo is in full effect on Monday night. Parole agents are keeping their eyes on sex offenders and raising public awareness.

These agents’ sole focus is on sex offenders. They are called the GPS Super Unit.

Operation Boo tracks sex offenders on Halloween

Laura Acevedo, abc 23 News

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - It's called Operation Boo. It’s a statewide multi agency effort, led by the California Department of Corrections, checking on registered sex offenders making sure they are following their probation or parole orders on Halloween night.

The sex offenders must be home from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. with their porch lights off, no Halloween decorations and no candy outside or inside the home. The officers work as a team, setting up a perimeter around the home before knocking and making entry. Once inside, they detain the sex offenders while they search the house.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Officials: Inmate slain by 2 others at California prison

The Daily Progress

SOLEDAD, Calif. (AP) — California corrections officials say a central California prison inmate has been killed by two other inmates.

Corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Monday that the 36-year-old was attacked with an inmate-made weapon Saturday at Salinas Valley State Prison.

He died at a hospital an hour later. She says his name is not being released because relatives have not been notified.

DEATH PENALTY

Dueling death penalty propositions draw controversy on eve of election

Sarah Moore , KXTV

Kate Riggins believes the world would be a better place without Richard Hirschfield.

In 1980, Hirschfield abducted and murdered a young couple – raping the woman – before dumping their bodies in a ravine 30 miles east of Davis.

The man, John Riggins, was Kate Riggins’s son, a UC Davis pre-med student who was taking his girlfriend Sabrina Gonsalves to her sister’s birthday party when somehow they strayed into Hirschfield’s path on a foggy December night. They were only 18, and photos around that time show the beaming couple in the full blush of youth and promise.

Will ending the death penalty save California more money than speeding up executions?

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

Past efforts to repeal the death penalty in California have centered on moral or ethical objections. This year, proponents of Proposition 62, which would replace the punishment with life in prison without parole, are focusing on economics.

Prominent supporters of the measure have repeatedly pointed out that the state’s taxpayers have spent $5 billion on the executions of only 13 people in almost 40 years. Online ads have urged voters to end a costly system that “wastes” $150 million a year.

Exonerated Death Row Inmate Says Capital Punishment Should be Eliminated in California

Karma Dickerson, Fox 40 News

The inmates on Death Row represent the worst of the worst of California’s criminals. Collectively, they’ve murdered roughly 1,000 people. Californians have consistently voted that executing these people is the way to make things right.

But what happens if the legal system gets it wrong?

“I’m a Death Row survivor out of the state of California,” said Shujaa Graham.

Graham spent years on San Quentin’s death row.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Woman fights against early release of her brother's killer

Jose Gaspar, Eyewitness News

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A Bakersfield woman carries on a lone fight against the early release of her brother's killer who was killed in a fiery car crash on August 12, 2007 in Carson. William, better known as Bill Cunha was 62-years-old. According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's reports, Cunha died when his vehicle was broadsided by another driver in a Chevy Avalanche who ran a red light going at an estimated speed of 80 mph at the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and Broadway.

Cunha's vehicle burst into flames. The driver responsible for the crash, 28-year-old David Wayne Roberts fled the scene.

OPINION

Prop 57: Not Just a ‘Juvenile’ Initiative

Caroline Aguirre and Katharine Russ, City Watch

TRUTH & CONSEQUENCES-When touting the merits of The Public Safety & Rehabilitation Act of 2016 (also known as Proposition 57,) the 2016 California voters guide addresses the question surrounding juvenile arrests for violent or serious criminal offenses to be charged as adults. Those convicted could spend years incarcerated in California State prisons. Prop 57 strips away the power of prosecutors to try juveniles as adults, overturning Proposition 21 which was approved by 62% of the voters in 2000. Prop 21 gave prosecutors, instead of judges, the right to decide whether juveniles should be charged as adults.

A prosecutor could file directly against a juvenile in adult court under W&I 707(d), but could also file a “fitness hearing” in Juvenile Hall. Under W&I 707(c), a juvenile is presumed to be unfit for juvenile court.

Dangerous Felons Would Be Released Under Prop. 57

Rape, Domestic Violence, and Human Trafficking Can Fall Outside Violence Definition

Stephen Foley, Santa Barbara Independent

Prop. 57 pushes the criminal justice pendulum too far in favor of dangerous felons. Inaptly described as a “public safety” measure, Prop. 57 aims to save taxpayers money by granting early parole for dangerous felons. However, the voters are being misled by the campaign in favor of Prop. 57. Proponents say it only applies to prisoners who committed nonviolent crimes, but there is an eight-page list of violent crimes that fall outside of a legal, technical definition of “violent.” Some of these so-called nonviolent felonies include rape, domestic violence, arson, human trafficking, vehicular manslaughter, gang crime, and assault with a firearm. Furthermore, Prop. 57 allows prison bureaucrats the constitutional power to grant sentence reductions for all felons — including those who committed violent felonies — without any input from voters, legislators, or judges.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Dozens arrested in California during Halloween night check of sex offenders

Dozens of sex offenders back behind bars again in annual California Halloween night check.

John Marshall, Blasting News

Dozens of convicted sex offenders across #California are back behind bars after state and local law enforcement officials went to their homes on #Halloween night to make sure they weren’t coming in contact with children. Officials with state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation say parole agents and police officers knocked on the doors of nearly 1,200 sex offenders across California as part of an annual Halloween night compliance check and search of their homes. During the checks, law enforcement officials say 62 people were arrested for parole or probation violations, including two who were parolees-at-large. Fifteen parolees were also arrested for possession of child pornography and six for having guns or other prohibited weapons.

CDCR NEWS

Governor Brown Announces Appointments

Imperial Valley News

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:

Brigid Hanson, 61, of Cameron Park, has been appointed chief of the Office of Labor Relations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where she has been acting chief since 2016 and has served as a retired annuitant since 2015. Hanson held several positions at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from 2004 to 2014 and from 1997 to 2000, including acting director of the Division of Administrative Services, special assistant to the undersecretary of operations, assistant secretary of labor relations, associate director of human resources, director of administration and operations in the Division of Juvenile Justice, deputy director in the Division of Correctional Health Care Services, assistant secretary and labor relations specialist. Hanson was assistant director in the California Youth Authority’s Office of Safety and Labor Relations from 2002 to 2004, a labor relations manager at the California Department of Education from 2001 to 2002 and a labor relations specialist at the California Department of Transportation from 2000 to 2001. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $132,288. Hanson is a Democrat.

Report cites overworked doctors, poor care at Salinas prison

Don Thompson, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Doctors felt burned out and some nurses seemed indifferent to inmates' care at a prison along California's central coast even after 10 years of federal oversight intended to improve conditions there, the state inspector general reported Tuesday.

Salinas Valley State Prison "demonstrated a profound inability to provide patients with adequate access to care," with inspectors finding problems "in virtually all areas," according to the inspector general's report.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

These puppies have a ‘magical’ effect on a state prison. Can they help inmates change?

Adam Ashton, The Sacramento Bee

When a pair of puppies stepped into a state prison’s highest security yard on a scorching summer day, dozens of felons fretted that the Labradors would singe their feet on hot pavement.

“Pick them up! You’ve got to carry them. Watch out for their paws!” inmate Andre Ramnanan remembers his worried peers shouting at him.

Three months later, Ramnanan says the dogs still have a “magical” effect on the yard at Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County. Sometimes, they even defuse fights.

DEATH PENALTY

Will ending the death penalty save California more money than speeding up executions?

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

No Closure

End the Death Penalty or Speed It Up – California Faces Opposing Ballot Initiatives

Liliana Segura, The Intercept

On the day a California jury sentenced 25-year-old Irving Ramirez to die, Dionne Wilson went out to a bar to celebrate. “We had a major party,” she told me. Ramirez had shot and killed her husband, Dan, in 2005 — the first Alameda County cop to be murdered in the line of duty in almost 40 years. The district attorney tried the case himself; when the death sentence came down two years later, Wilson felt satisfied she could finally move on with her life.

But the next day, a feeling of letdown began to sink in. “I was supposed to wake up in the morning with this newfound freedom,” Wilson said. “And I didn’t. And I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. And it never came.” Wilson had pushed for the death penalty, although she understood Ramirez wouldn’t be executed anytime soon. “Everybody in California knows that when you get on death row you’re more likely to die of old age,” she said. “Everyone knows that. That really wasn’t the issue.” The sentence was supposed to be the thing that healed her. “It was supposed to be my justice.” Instead, she felt lost and angry.

California Faces Opposing Ballot Initiatives On Death Penalty

KQED

Voters in CA, NE, and OK will face ballot measures on capital punishment in November. California has two competing propositions: one would end the death penalty and another would speed up executions.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Voters in Nebraska, Oklahoma and California will consider ballot measures dealing with capital punishment. California's Proposition 62 would get rid of the death penalty altogether. Another ballot measure would keep the death penalty in place and also speed up the process by limiting prisoners' appeals. Scott Shafer from KQED in San Francisco explains.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Voters asked to OK prison reform

Chelcey Adami , The Californian

Issues of public safety, mass incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminals circle Proposition 57, also known as the California Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative, coming up on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Voting for it means supporting more parole and good behavior opportunities for felons convicted of certain nonviolent crime as well as allowing judges, instead of prosecutors, decide whether certain juveniles are tried as adults.

Proponents of the measure, backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, state that it will help reduce the state’s prison populations, allow rehabilitation of offenders, reduce disproportionate criminalization of minorities, and save millions for taxpayers. They also argue that by further reducing the prison population, the chance of a court-ordered release of dangerous criminals is lessened.

OPINION

Prop. 57 is a step toward reforming state’s broken criminal justice sentencing system

Michael Vitiello, The Sacramento Bee

In an ideal world, California would adopt wholesale reform of the criminal justice system.

Instead, we have a crazy patchwork quilt of measures, like Proposition 36, the criminal justice realignment of 2011, and Proposition 47 of 2014.

Some are blunt instruments, like Proposition 47, which reduced some serious felonies to misdemeanors and reduced the incentive for some offenders to participate in drug treatment when their drug offenses were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.

California prison guards have good reasons to fear death penalty repeal

Chuck Alexander, The Sacramento Bee

As correctional peace officers working inside California prisons, we take Proposition 62 very personally, because it directly impacts our safety and the safety of the inmates we oversee.

Proposition 62 would repeal California’s death penalty law, putting inmates and correctional officers at serious risk. The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board supports it (“End the illusion: Abolish the death penalty,” Endorsement, Oct. 9).

Death penalty reform: Vote No on 62, Yes on 66

Visalia Times –Delta

Historically, the voters of California have continually voted to keep the death penalty as the ultimate sentence for those who commit the most heinous crimes. However, every election cycle there is a constant push by a few Hollywood actors, out-of-state billionaires with personal agendas and the ACLU to abolish the death penalty – despite the will of the people.

In 2012, opponents of the death penalty spent over $7 million dollars pushing a deceptive ballot measure called the “SAFE California Act,” which would abolish the death penalty and somehow make California “safer.” California voters were smart enough to see through the smoke screen. The proposition failed, and once again voters made their will clear.

DEATH PENALTY

Should California execute these 749 death row inmates?

Paige St. John and Maloy Moore, The Los Angeles Times

That's the question facing Californians at the voting booth. A yes vote on Proposition 62 would end the death penalty and change sentences to life without parole. A yes vote on Proposition 66 would speed up the legal process leading to an execution. The state hasn't executed a prisoner in a decade. Thirteen men have been put to death since the death penalty was restored here in 1978.

Here's a look at the 728 men and 21 women currently on death row. Click on the photos to learn more about the crimes that put them there.

If California votes to keep the death penalty, what does that mean for the state's execution methods?

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

Note: The reporter was informed that CDCR had not yet completed its rulemaking activities for the proposed lethal injection regulations. CDCR has asked the LA Times for a correction.

In a February 2006 ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel found California’s lethal injection protocols could cause excessive pain, raising constitutional issues that ultimately halted the execution of an inmate only an hour before his scheduled death.

Ten years later, the death penalty system remains on pause, as the state has sought to develop a new method for killing prisoners amid mounting legal challenges and national outcry over botched executions. The fate of its latest proposal for new execution protocols now hangs on what happens at the ballot box.

Under current law, all state agencies, including the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, must follow the state’s Administrative Procedure Act when establishing new regulations, which ensures they meet public notice and hearing requirements.

California Has a Plan to Ban Executions, But Death Row Inmates Hate It

"They are better off, in a sense, being sentenced to death."

Brandon Ellington Patterson, Mother Jones

On Election Day, California voters will choose between two competing ballot measures: Proposition 62, which would abolish the death penalty in the state, and Prop. 66, which would speed up the execution process. If both pass, the one with the most votes will supersede the other. If neither passes, California's death penalty system will remain unchanged.

A recent poll indicates that Prop. 66 is on track to be approved, but Prop. 62 is facing some stiff opposition—including from some death row inmates.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Gay serial killer breaks his silence

Matthew S. Bajko, The Bay Area Reporter

For nearly 30 years Randy Kraft has sat on California's death row attempting to clear his name. A gay man given the nicknames "the Scorecard Killer" and "the Freeway Killer," Kraft has been described as one of the "deadliest and most depraved serial killers" in the state's history.

In May 1989 a jury convicted him of killing 16 men over the course of 11 years in southern California and, that November, recommended the death penalty. Prosecutors had also tied him to the deaths of eight additional men in Oregon and Michigan.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parole granted for Araujo killer

Seth Hemmelgarn, The Bay Area Reporter

Parole has been granted for one of the men who murdered transgender teenager Gwen Araujo in 2002, while parole for another one of Araujo's killers has been denied.

The state Board of Parole Hearings granted parole for Jose Antonio Merel, 36, after a hearing last month at Soledad State Prison. The board denied parole for Michael William Magidson, 36. Magidson is being held at Valley State Prison.

Araujo, 17, was killed in October 2002 at a house party in the East Bay city of Newark, California. Two men at the party had reportedly had sex with the young woman they'd known as Lida, and they murdered her after their suspicions that she was biologically male were confirmed. The men then drove Araujo's body to a grave in the Sierra foothills.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Will sex offenders be covered by Prop 57?

Gabrielle Karol, KXTV

California is in the process of figuring out how to reduce overcrowding at its prisons following an order from the United States Supreme Court in 2011.

Proposition 57 – the Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative – is part of that effort, but like many propositions, it’s not without controversy.

Many of the state’s district attorneys, law enforcement officers’ associations and victims’ groups say Prop. 57 could grant earlier releases to many criminals that most Californians would consider violent. Notably, kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard has come out against Prop. 57, writing on her Facebook, "Other survivors like me should not have to worry when and if their rapist and/or their captor will get out.”

Who should decide how juvenile suspects are tried? Prop. 57 would change the answer

Minerva Canto, Bakersfield.com

The scene that greeted Raymond Aguilar in his old Stockton neighborhood on his release from prison four months ago was too familiar: boarded-up windows, liquor stores, prostitutes and gang members walking the streets. Twenty-five years had passed since his conviction for second-degree murder, and nothing had changed.

He was 16 when he shot dead a man he says robbed his grandmother. San Joaquin County prosecutors filed Aguilar’s case in adult court, and he was transferred from a juvenile detention facility to state prison after his conviction at age 17.

OPINION

Awful as it is, death penalty serves a purpose in California

Marcos Breton, The Tribune

After 30 years as a journalist in California, I’ve come to believe that my industry can unintentionally distort the public’s understanding of the death penalty.

I’m not referring to political distortions rife in the state’s initiative process as voters consider two death penalty measures on the Nov. 8 ballot. (A yes on Proposition 62 would repeal the death penalty; a yes on Proposition 66 would keep it and speed the appeals process and the time it takes to execute inmates).

No, I’m referring to distortion by omission in many media accounts of death penalty cases. As journalists, we often won’t describe the most gruesome details because they can violate the rules of decent public discourse.

Yes on Prop 57: We Need to Protect Young People’s Potential

LA Progressive

In 2010, my son was 17 years old and about to begin his senior year in high school. He was a funny kid with lots of friends and a big heart. Like many teenagers, he had big dreams—he wanted to be a professional athlete or a sports agent. When I thought about what the future held in store for him, I felt excited.

My son was a teenager and he made mistakes—mistakes that resulted in far reaching consequences he did not have the foresight at the time to predict.

He was arrested for being the “wheel-man” in two armed robberies. I remember feeling terrified thinking about what could happen to him. I hoped the system would recognize that despite his bad decisions he was still a kid with a lot of potential and could move forward on a path towards success if given the right support.

Why Prop. 57 won’t work

Robin Sax, Jewish Journal

Rapists, human traffickers, pedophiles, spouse beaters, hostage takers, arsonists and those who commit hate crimes would be realigned, redefined and released if Proposition 57 passes. Although its name uses the words “public safety,” Prop. 57 has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with redefining crime and parole. Crimes that are currently classified as violent crimes would no longer be classified as such and those violent criminals could be released.

Here are some examples. The gangbanger who fired a weapon from his car (known as a drive-by shooting) no longer would be classified as violent. The person who gave his college friend too many drinks and raped her while she was drunk (known as rape of an intoxicated person), no longer classified as violent. The person who beat up a gay person causing them serious injuries (known as a hate crime causing injury), no longer classified as violent. An adult touching the private parts of a child (known as lewd act on a minor), no longer considered violent.

Voters should take Proposition 57 serious

Kevin D. Sawyer, San Quentin News

For decades California has led the nation with tough-on-crime legislation like its draconian Three Strikes law. Women and men in the Golden State have been sentenced to indeterminate 25-to-life sentences for an array of trifling crimes such as drug possession and shoplifting; part of a war primarily directed against black and brown people.

The war’s inception was ushered in with President Richard Nixon and maintained through President Ronald Reagan’s administration. It’s what attorney, civil-rights advocate and author Michelle Alexander noted as escalating to a “nearly genocidal” level, and I’ve been ensnared in it for 20 years.

Propositions 62, 66 take opposing approaches to California’s death penalty

Prateek Puri, Daily Bruin

Two propositions regarding the death penalty will appear on Tuesday’s statewide ballot – one which aims to repeal the death penalty and another that seeks to speed up the execution process.

Voting yes on Proposition 62 would repeal the death penalty in California, making life imprisonment without parole the most serious punishment for criminals. Current death row inmates would be resentenced to life in prison.

Gov. Brown Hits The Campaign Trail For Proposition 57, Against Proposition 53

Ben Adler, Capital Public Radio

This undated still from video provided by the No On Proposition 53 campaign shows Gov. Jerry Brown in one of a series of new television commercials to defeat the ballot measure that threatens two of his so-called legacy projects.

Gov. Jerry Brown wants voters to change the way California inmates serve their time behind bars. He argues the state’s current system does little to rehabilitate convicts before sending them back to the streets.

CDCR NEWS

State Has Done Little To Fix Doc Shortage at Prisons

UAPD

On Tuesday the State’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report that gave Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) a failing grade for the medical care it provides to inmates at the Soledad facility. Fifteen years after a lawsuit in which a federal judge ruled that the health care given in California prisons constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” the Inspector General found that SVSP still demonstrates “a profound inability to provide patients with adequate access to care.”

Much of the problem comes from an on-going shortage of physicians in California prisons. According to the Inspector General’s report: “Of critical importance was SVSP’s shortage of providers and extreme difficulty with recruitment and retention of qualified physicians. This inadequate staffing at SVSP led to an institutional backlog of over 400 patients at the time of the onsite inspection, and contributed to the inadequate rating.”

CALIFORNIA INMATES

San Quentin-Based 'Ear Hustle' Wins Radiotopia's 'Podquest' Competition

All Access

PRX's RADIOTOPIA has selected the winner of its PODQUEST open call for new podcasts, "EAR HUSTLE," by SAN QUENTIN inmates EARLONNE WOODS and ANTWAN WILLIAMS and artist (and non-inmate) NIGEL POOR. The show, produced in the prison's media lab and offering an inside look at life in prison, developed from work done for the show "CROSSCURRENTS" on noncommercial News-Talk KALW/SAN FRANCISCO.

WOODS is serving 31 years-to-life for attempted second degree robbery, and WILLIAMS is serving a 15 year sentence for armed robbery. POOR is a Professor of Photography at CAL STATE-SACRAMENTO and volunteer for the PRISON UNIVERSITY PROJECT, which will be receiving a percentage of proceeds from the podcast. As per the contest terms, RADIOTOPIA will carry the forst 10-episode season of "EAR HUSTLE" for distribution in 2017.

DEATH PENALTY

Californians sharply divided on death penalty ahead of historic vote

The Sacramento Bee

Competing ballot measures that would bring historic changes to California’s fractured death penalty system are both on the cusp of passing in Tuesday’s election.

A new survey of likely voters from the Field Poll and UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found a slight majority for Proposition 62, which would repeal capital punishment in California after nearly four decades. It leads 51 percent to 45 percent, with the remainder still undecided.

But support has also soared in recent weeks for a rival initiative that aims to resume executions after more than 10 years and speed up an appeals process for death sentences that can take decades. Forty-eight percent of likely voters are inclined to vote yes on Proposition 66, according to the poll, up 13 percentage points from September. Another 42 percent are opposed, while 10 percent have not made up their minds, down sharply from 42 percent in the last survey.

Conflicting measures on death penalty both favored in poll

Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle

A ballot measure to repeal California’s death penalty was favored by 51 percent of likely voters in the last survey before Tuesday’s election, but a rival measure that instead seeks to speed up executions was close behind, according to a Field Poll released Thursday.

Proposition 62, the repeal measure, led by 51 to 45 percent, with the rest undecided, in the online survey conducted from Oct. 25 through Oct. 31. The measure’s strongest support came from women, liberals, young voters, college graduates and residents of coastal areas, particularly the Bay Area, according to the survey conducted by the Field Poll and UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.

Defeat is likely for both death penalty measures on California ballot, poll finds

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

There are more voters in favor of a ballot measure that would repeal the death penalty in California than one that attempts to speed up executions, but neither proposition has attracted the majority of votes it needs to pass come Tuesday, a new poll finds.

Partly, it’s because some voters seemed confused about what each measure promises, pollsters and strategists said. Mainly, it’s because voters remain strongly divided on the issue of capital punishment, with a strong core of beliefs driving their decisions.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Supes Choose a Team of Two to Lead L.A. County Probation: Terri McDonald and Sheila Mitchell

Celeste Fremon, The Chronicle of Social Change

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have just announced their selection of not just one brand new Chief of Probation, but two.

Here’s the deal: The Supes have chosen a new Chief Probation Officer to lead the county’s problem-plagued department — namely former Assistant L.A. County Sheriff Terri McDonald who, up until recently, was in charge of the county’s massive jail system, where she has been credited with successfully leading the implementation of the reform recommendations from the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence.

New poll finds voters poised to pass Prop. 57 and revamp California's prison parole rules

John Myers, The San Diego Union Tribune

Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to revise and ultimately loosen state prison parole rules appears to be on its way to passage on Nov. 8, as a new poll finds strong support across a wide swath of California voters.

Fifty-seven percent of likely voters in a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times survey backed Brown’s Proposition 57, and only 31% were opposed. While earlier polling showed an even wider lead, the proposal has had consistently solid backing throughout the campaign season.

CDCR NEWS

California looks to single drug for carrying out executions

Don Thompson, Associated Press

California's death row inmates could be executed using one of four different drugs or choose the gas chamber under regulations submitted for final approval Friday, just days before state voters consider whether to do away with the death penalty or reform it.

The plan by corrections officials responds to court pressure and amid a nationwide shortage of execution drugs.

The Office of Administrative Law now has 30 working days to review the regulations for technical problems. If approved, the rules could go into effect early next year, barring court challenges.

State execution method nears final approval

Scott Shafer, KQED

Days before California voters decide whether to ban capital punishment or expedite executions, state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials have sent a new execution protocol to its final administrative review.

“The Office of Administrative Law has up to 30 working days to review and approve it,” said CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton. Depending on when they are approved, the new rules would take effect no later than April 1.

A federal judge put a stop to executions in 2006, citing concerns about the state’s three-drug execution protocol. The Brown administration agreed to develop a new protocol as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Inmate rehabilitation success a top priority for new warden

Giuseppe Ricapito, Union Democrat

New Sierra Conservation Center Warden Joel Martinez has more than two decades of experience on the staff of the state prison on the outskirts of Jamestown.

In the modern day turn away from inmate punishment toward rehabilitation, he sees his tenure as warden as one to advocate for inmate success.

“It’s good to look back and say, ‘I made a difference to that one,’ ” he said. “Even if you can’t help everybody, I say, ‘maybe I can help just one.’ ”

Correctional officer reportedly attacked by CMC inmate

KSBY

A correctional officer at the California Men's Colony is recovering after being attacked by an inmate late last month, according to Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Sessa says the attack happened in the early-morning hours of October 27 in one of the housing units when the female correctional officer went to check on the inmate.

The inmate was said to be visibly upset over a previous decision that had been made about him and while talking to the correctional officer, physically attacked her, according to Sessa.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

State prisoner re-arrested after leaving Moreno Valley group home

Richard Brooks, Riverside Press Enterprise

A 28-year-old state prisoner was re-arrested barely a day after he walked away from a Moreno Valley group home, California prison officials say.

Michael Diaz was found at 3:35 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in a homeless camp in Moreno Valley, said prison spokeswoman Vicky Waters. He was taken to the California Institution for Men in Chino.

Waters was reported missing at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday after he removed his ankle monitor, Waters said.

Crime Q&A: Was anyone convicted in 2009 slaying at San Juan Road apartments?

Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

Q: What happened in the case of Perrell Waters in 2009? Did they convict anyone of his murder?

Ashley, Sacramento

A: Three men were convicted of first-degree murder and a fourth pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2009 robbery and shooting death of 19-year-old Perrell Marquis Waters at an apartment complex on San Juan Road.

Convicted of murder were Marquel Lamar Dixon, Marcus Scott Jr. and Ronald Delano Grant. They were also convicted of second-degree robbery in the case, and all were sentenced in 2011 to life in prison without possibility of parole.

DEATH PENALTY

Death penalty dilemma: Will vote on Props. 62 and 66 hinge on costs?

Gerard Wright, CalMatters

Money changes everything, it is said, and that adage hovers conspicuously over two clashing death penalty proposals that Californians will weigh in next week’s election.

Proposition 62 asks voters to abolish the state’s death penalty after 38 years. The other measure, Proposition 66, promotes a streamlining of legal proceedings so the term “capital punishment” means what it says.

Mixed with the traditional ethical and legal arguments on this sobering subject is the issue of cost—what taxpayers spend on a system with nearly 800 condemned prisoners and not a single execution in more than a decade. Their otherwise warring arguments aside, the opposing camps agree on one thing: that capital punishment costs too much.

Los Angeles City Council passes resolution in support of ending the death penalty in California

Jazmine Ulloa, LA Times

Pointing to a costly system that has resulted in only 13 executions since 1978, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday passed a resolution in favor of Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty in California and replace the punishment with life in prison without parole.

The death penalty process has cost taxpayers more than $4 billion over nearly 40 years, the resolution states, and the practice "carries the risk that the state could execute an innocent individual," despite the years of required appeals and multiple hearings.

Why Two States Are at Odds Over the Future of the Death Penalty

Paige Brettingen, The Atlantic

Capital punishment will be on the ballot in a handful of states this week. The propositions come amid rising exoneration rates, more awareness of death penalty costs, and an increasing number of questions over whether the death penalty reduces crime. Still, the country is largely split on the death penalty. Forty-two percent of Americans oppose capital punishment, while roughly half of Americans support it, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. Since March 2015, the percentage of Americans that favor the death penalty has dropped by seven points.

But, as evidenced by California and Nebraska, two states that will include capital punishment on the ballot, it continues to be a divisive issue, as some advocate for its repeal and others for its reinstatement.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Law enforcement officials urge 'No' vote on Prop 57

Monica Solano, Victorville Daily Press

Gov. Jerry Brown dramatically altered California's criminal justice system a generation ago. However, Brown’s backing of Proposition 57, which asks voters to give corrections officials more say in when criminals are released on parole, has caused an uproar among law enforcement officials.

The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, better known as Prop 57, would allow parole consideration for nonviolent felons, authorize sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior and education, and allow juvenile court judges to decide whether a juvenile will be prosecuted as an adult.

While Brown has been doing everything he can to tout the measure on Tuesday's ballot, numerous law enforcement officials have come out against it, saying it is a bad idea that will only further strain law enforcement resources.

California's prop 47: Has it helped African Americans?

Carla Green, Al Jazeera

Los Angeles, California, United States - "If you go to jail, and I have the same amount of drugs as you, my sentence is automatic state prison," Donnie Anderson says. "Yours is go home."

Anderson is a Los Angeles businessman. And what he means is this: he's black, I'm white.

"The judicial system is rigged against us," Anderson says.

Retired correctional officer runs for Dixon city council

Jessica Rogness, Vacaville Reporter

Make Dixon a city by the people, for the people, says Dixon City Council District 3 candidate Michael Loftin.

Loftin is a newcomer to Dixon’s political arena, competing with Vice Mayor Steve Bird for an open seat on the council in that district, which encompasses the southwest portion of the city.

At a candidate forum hosted by the Dixon Chamber of Commerce in October, Loftin said he is running because he is tired of being “force fed” decisions by the city government.

DEATH PENALTY

The future of the death penalty will be decided in these 3 states

Josh Sanburn, Time

The future of the death penalty will be on the ballot in three states Tuesday, potentially affecting more than one-quarter of the nation’s death-row inmates.

California, Nebraska and Oklahoma will vote on four capital-punishment ballot measures at a time when support for the death penalty nationwide is at all-time lows.

Just 49% of Americans say they support capital punishment, the lowest figure in four decades, while 42% oppose it, according to the Pew Research Center. Support has fallen 7 percentage points in the last year and a half following a series of botched executions and a Supreme Court case challenging execution-drug combinations in Oklahoma. The number of executions, meanwhile, have hit their lowest levels in two decades thanks to drug shortages and lengthy death-row appeals processes.

Will California repeal the death penalty?

Paige Austin, Pacific Palisades Patch

As California voters cast their ballots Tuesday, the polls show the state’s two competing death penalty measures too close to predict the outcome.

Proposition 62 would abolish the death penalty in California, automatically converting sentences for death row inmates to life without the possibility of parole. And Proposition 66, conversely, reforms the death penalty to speed up the rate of executions and reduce the taxpayer cost for condemned inmates’ appeals and housing.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

California governor's initiative would allow earlier paroles

Don Thompson, Associated Press

Gov. Jerry Brown is asking voters to change California's sentencing laws in Tuesday's election by giving corrections officials more say in when criminals are released and stripping prosecutors of the power to decide when juveniles should be tried as adults.

Proposition 57 would restore balance to a legal code that has become overburdened with get-tough policies, the Democratic governor said.

Law enforcement officials object that the initiative gives bureaucrats too much power to overrule judges.

How Prop 57 will change juvenile justice

George Lavender, KCRW

María Luisa Borrego has a photo of her son on her phone. It shows a young man with a small beard and glasses wearing a blue prison uniform. “Handsome” is how she describes him, laughing, “What can I say, he’s my son.” Borrego’s son, Steven Menendez, is 20 years old but she says he looks much younger than the other prisoners around him. “He still has that baby face” she says.

Menendez is serving a sentence of 50 years to life in prison for a murder committed when he was 14 years old. Instead of being tried as a minor, the District Attorney in his case decided to file his case as an adult, a process known as “direct file” meaning he could receive a much longer prison sentence.

Part II: Prop 57 and youth justice

George Lavender, KCRW

George Lavender reports for KCRW on Proposition 57. The measure could affect tens of thousands of inmates here in California. It would give some “non-violent” prisoners the chance to apply for parole earlier than they otherwise would. And it gives others the opportunity to earn time off their sentences by completing classes.

Proposition 57 could lead to fewer youth serving time in adult prison

Dylan Tull, Peninsula Press

Californians will decide Nov. 8 if only judges — instead of prosecutors — will determine whether youth should be tried as adults or minors, a change that proponents say would help resolve racial inequities in sentencing.

In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the overcrowding in California’s prisons was cruel and unusual punishment. As a result, the court ordered California to keep prison populations below 137.5 percent maximum capacity. Proposition 57 is the latest reform aimed at addressing the problem.

Local law enforcement urges no vote on Proposition 57

David Benda, Redding Record Searchlight

With Proposition 57 ahead in the polls on the eve of the election, local law enforcement officials staged a last-minute effort Monday afternoon to discredit a measure they believe if passed will make the streets less safe.

"Forty percent of the voters in California have still not cast a ballot or turned their vote-by-mail ballot in," Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said. "That's why we thought it was important to get that last-minute message out."

Marc Klaas says Prop 57 is dire threat to public safety

Sandy Wells, KABC

The passage of Prop 57 will endanger the public by re-classifying certain crimes as nonviolent in order to expedite the release of prisoners and reduce prison crowding. This view is widely shared by California’s law enforcement community. Marc Klaas has joined the opposition. He started the KlaasKids Foundation after his daughter Polly was brutally murdered in 1993. He says the prison overcrowding is no longer a justification for releasing anyone serving time.

What it’s like to vote after prison

Rikha Sharma Rani, Politico

Eduardo Cordero, 19, has spent most of the last five years in either juvenile hall or prison for gang-related felonies. Now that he’s out, he’ll be able to vote for the first time ever on November 8th. “I feel like I have some power and I have some voice,” he says. “I feel like my voice does count.” Cordero plans to cast his ballot for Hillary Clinton.

When it comes to voting rights, Cordero is one of the lucky ones. While California revokes the franchise for those in prison and on parole, the state allows people with felony convictions to vote while under county probation supervision and afterwards. But a dozen states—including Florida, Arizona and Nevada—restrict voting even after prison, parole or probation are completed. In these states, people like Cordero, once convicted, may face a waiting period of several years before being able to vote again or, in certain instances, are banned from voting indefinitely.

Hercules: Convicted murderer testifies as jury weighs death sentence

Nate Gartrell, San Jose Mercury News

Darnell Washington has stayed silent for months during his trial and conviction in the brutal 2012 murder of retired Hercules kindergarten teacher and mother of four Susie Ko, who was beaten and stabbed with a knife and the barrel of a shotgun.

But that changed Monday, when Washington, 28, took the stand during the penalty phase of his trial. A jury is tasked with deciding whether Washington should be sentenced to death.

DEATH PENALTY

Death penalty repeal effort fails again in California

Brian Melley, Associated Press

Four years after Californians defeated an effort to repeal the death penalty, voters rejected a do-over and were favoring a counter measure that would speed up appeals so condemned murders are actually executed.

With more than 8 million votes counted Wednesday, 54 percent of voters rejected Proposition 62 that would have replaced the death penalty with life in prison without the chance of parole. The dueling reform measure had a narrow lead of about 51 percent.

California votes to keep death penalty

Jim Miller, Sacramento Bee

California voters reaffirmed their backing for capital punishment Tuesday, rejecting a ballot measure that would have repealed the death penalty.

Proposition 66, which would accelerate the death penalties appeals process, holds a narrow lead in unofficial results.

Proposition 62 would have eliminated the death penalty and replaced it with life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the yes-on-62 campaign getting large donations from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and wealthy Democratic activist Tom Steyer, as well as others. It failed with 46.1 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results Wednesday.

California rejects ban on death penalty, opts to speed up executions

Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

California voters defeated a ballot measure to repeal the state’s death penalty, while voting to pass a rival measure backed by prosecutors that would seek to speed up executions.

For the second time in four years, voters rejected a law to reduce the maximum sentence for capital crimes to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Proposition 62 was defeated 54 percent to 46 percent.

Proposition 66, which would set strict timelines for state court rulings in capital cases and limit future appeals, won with a narrow 51 percent of the vote, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

California governor's initiative will allow earlier paroles

Don Thompson, Associated Press

At least 30,000 of California's 130,000 state inmates could soon be considered for early release, the latest step in an unprecedented five-year effort to reduce California's prison population, after voters approved a sentencing reform measure championed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The Democratic governor says Proposition 57 will encourage more rehabilitation and help reverse a mistake he made when he was first governor in the 1970s by giving corrections professionals more say in when inmates are released, restoring balance to the legal code that he says has become overburdened with get-tough policies.

But opponents worry the initiative could cause a spike in crime and create uncertainty about the timing of inmates' releases.

Proposition 57, Gov. Jerry Brown's push to loosen prison parole rules, is approved by voters

John Myers, LA Times

California voters handed a decisive victory to Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday in his effort to reshape the state's criminal justice system, approving a ballot measure to offer a new chance at prison release for thousands of prisoners.

Proposition 57, the governor's plan to further shrink the state's prison population, was supported by almost two-thirds of voters in Tuesday night returns. Its strongest support came from urban areas with a sizable number of Democratic voters.

DEATH PENALTY

Prop 62: Challenge already filed to measure that would speed executions

Tracey Kaplan, San Jose Mercury News

Although California voters soundly rejected abolishing the death penalty and appear to have approved a measure to speed up executions, don’t expect anything to change soon — if at all.

Proposition 66, which was ahead Wednesday by a razor-thin margin with dozens of counties still counting ballots, would face major hurdles before it could deliver on its promise of expediting a death penalty appeals process that often drags on for decades. About 750 people are on death row in California, and no one has been executed since 2006.

California has upheld the death penalty. Now what?

Alexei Kosoff, Sacramento Bee

California has once again reaffirmed its commitment to the death penalty.

On Tuesday, voters defeated Proposition 62, a measure to abolish capital punishment. It garnered only 46 percent of the vote, the second time in four years that the state has rejected an effort by critics to repeal the death penalty.

Proposition 66, which aims to speed up a fractured system that has produced only 13 executions in nearly four decades, was narrowly ahead as vote-counting continued, with about 51 percent support.

Death penalty measure a 'huge victory' for crime victims, major backer says

Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union-Tribune

San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos is relieved.

After the votes were counted, the ballot measure to streamline the decades-long appellate process for death penalty cases passed by a narrow margin in Tuesday’s election.

Ramos, who helped lead the campaign for Proposition 66, said Wednesday that its approval — along with the defeat of a competing initiative aimed at repealing the death penalty — shows that most Californians believe the ultimate punishment is warranted in certain cases.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Onetime jails chief returns to head troubled probation

Stephanie Michaud, My News LA

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Wednesday formally appointed Terri McDonald, the onetime jails chief, to head the troubled Probation Department.

Supervisor Hilda Solis called McDonald a proven leader and said she “will provide the seasoned command, leadership and management skills that the county needs right now.”

Solis said the board had been looking for a candidate with a commitment to both public safety and the rehabilitation of offenders.

McDonald — who stepped down from her role at the Sheriff’s Department earlier this year — was hired three years earlier by then-Sheriff Lee Baca in an effort to reform a culture of intimidation and violence against jail inmates.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inmates gain vocational experience

Giuseppe Ricapito, The Union Democrat

A man with a prison sentence may feel trapped by his past, even after release.

The New Professionals Career Development Program at the Sierra Conservation Center, the prison located on the outskirts of Jamestown, is trying to change that.

“We do it despite the challenges,” said Ralph Contreras, 43, inmate and project manager for a 2016 graduating class working on building a business plan for a Special Olympics softball game in Tuolumne County. “We keep pushing forward.”

“It helps us understand the business aspects, yes, but we are the project essentially. We can manage our lives and know that in our past we were working for success but didn’t understand the language. We are the project managers of our own lives.”

Scott Peterson's family fights for his freedom

Ted Rowlands, FOX News

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (KTVU) - When Scott Peterson was found guilty of killing his wife Laci and unborn son Conner 13 years ago, his family began the fight for a new trial.

Now, 13 years later, they believe there's a very good chance that Scott could someday go free. "We'd be very surprised if Scott's conviction isn't overturned" says Scott's sister Janey Peterson.

DEATH PENALTY

Death penalty battles likely to continue after election

Brian Melley, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES- The fight over the death penalty never seems to die.

Even though it's not yet certain if opponents lost both capital punishment ballot measures, they pre-emptively asked the state Supreme Court to block Proposition 66 that would speed up executions.

The first volley in what could be a protracted legal battle rankled death penalty supporters and could be a harbinger of a long road ahead if the reform measure goes into effect and shakes up the way appeals are handled.

Prop. 66 to speed up death-row appeals

Inmates sentenced in Kings County could return to local courts

Mike Eiman, The Sentinel

Some death row inmates sentenced in Kings County may soon return to local courts following the passage of Proposition 66, which seeks to reduce delays in the state’s death penalty process.

About 51 percent of voters approved Proposition 66, which requires the state court officials to expand the number of attorneys who can represent death-row inmates. Once an attorney is appointed, inmates and courts will have five years to review any appeals challenging a death sentence.

Analysis: California’s death penalty battle isn’t going away

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As executions have declined and public opinion of the death penalty has hit a record low nationwide, many looked to California as a test of whether the public — not courts or governments — was ready to overturn the practice.

But California voters on Tuesday defeated a measure to repeal capital punishment and, as of Thursday, were on course to narrowly approve a dueling proposition that aims to amend and expedite it.

Death penalty supporters lauded the outcome, saying it reflected what they have been pointing to all along: Most Americans want the system fixed, not ended.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

California denies parole to serial killer of 25 farmworkers

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California man once known as the nation's worst serial killer was denied parole again for murdering and mutilating more than two-dozen farmworkers 45 years ago, officials said Thursday.

Juan Vallejo Corona, 82, was denied parole for another five years and will keep serving his life sentence in Corcoran State Prison, corrections department spokesman Luis Patino said.

Corona, a farm labor contractor with a history of mental illness, was convicted of killing and mutilating 25 men with a meat cleaver, machete, double-bladed ax and wooden club that investigators found in his home, all stained with blood. The bodies were found all at once, but he said in 2011 that the slayings occurred over a year.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

What COs need to know about California's criminal justice measures

This past Election Day there were several California propositions on the ballot that were criminal justice related

Bob Walsh, Corrections One

California has a very lively 100-plus year history of referendum and initiative direct democracy on the ballot. This has given us some very significant things, like Proposition 13 in 1978 which limited property tax increases to prevent people from being “taxed out” out their homes and “Three Strikes” in 1994 which dropped the hammer on career criminals.

Mike Reynolds, the man behind “Three Strikes,” originally went to the legislature with his proposal. His daughter was murdered by two career criminals. He was told to go home. He did and got the ball rolling on a ballot initiative. He was so successful the legislature eventually passed its own version of the law in an attempt to short-stop him. He continued anyway and got the initiative passed, making it much harder to diminish or alter its requirements.

Criminal justice reform rolls on in California, much to the chagrin of police leaders

Frank Stoltze, KPCC

Another defeat at the ballot box this week for California law enforcement leaders. For months, many police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors urged voters to reject Proposition 57, which will give thousands of state prisoners an early opportunity to be released.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure 63.59 percent to 36.41 percent.

The passage of Proposition 57 is only the latest measure to roll back the policies of the 1980s and 90s when crime rates were much higher than they are today.

In 2014, voters approved Proposition 47, which reduced certain drug possession felonies to misdemeanors. It also made petty theft, receiving stolen property and writing bad checks (under $950) misdemeanors instead of felonies.

OPINION

Passage of Prop. 57 poses questions

Marjorie Hernandez , Ventura County Star

Law enforcement officials say they are concerned the passage of a new law that provides early parole consideration will place more felons “back on the streets” without addressing crucial program gaps.

California voters on Tuesday passed Proposition 57 by a wide margin, with about 64 percent voting yes. The proposition, backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, was touted as a cost-saving measure to address the ballooning prison population. It would impact roughly 30,000 inmates who were convicted of nonviolent crimes and are eligible for parole.

The bill would allow these inmates credits for good behavior and for educational milestones they accomplish. Prop. 57 has another component that will allow a judge to decide whether a minor should be tried as an adult. That decision was previously made by prosecutors.

California’s death penalty process more flawed and more expensive than ever

Lauren Krisai, The OC Register

One of the ballot initiatives Californians passed on Tuesday promises to pose a number of unfortunate problems for the state in the coming years: Proposition 66. This measure, which was marketed as a “fix” to California’s death penalty, will only further entrench problems that exist with an inherently broken system.

After Prop. 66’s passage, all post-conviction proceedings in death penalty cases will now be moved from the California Supreme Court to state trial courts, which are the same courts that handed down the death sentences originally. State trial courts, which have no experience reviewing these appeals, are also now tasked with appointing lawyers — many of whom have never worked on a death penalty case — to handle the flood of petitions.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Tim Robbins’s Prison Improv Classes Make Inmates Less Likely to Re-Offend

Mickey Rapkin, New York Magazine

You can imagine how this idea was received 10 years ago, but here’s the pitch: A tenacious British actress teams up with Oscar winner Tim Robbins to bring acting classes to maximum-security prisons. And not just any acting classes, but improv workshops that ask Crips and Bloods and convicted murderers and white supremacists to sit together, wear makeup and masks, and maybe even pretend to be women sometimes. The eight-week intensive is meant to help the incarcerated better handle their emotions. But if you think it sounds more like the treatment for an Orange Is the New Black spinoff than a serious attempt at criminal-justice reform, you’re not alone.

“People said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you want to give them crayons. You’ve got acting classes?’” recalls Robbins of the launch of the Actors Gang Prison Project. “We’re like, ‘No, we don’t want anyone to be an actor. There’s too much unemployment in that. It’s about changing behavior.” Fundraising was a slog. Correctional officers pushed back. And these actor-facilitators were dismissed as another merry band of liberals pushing what’s known in the Prison Industrial Complex as “hug-a-thug” programming.

Sabra Williams, the co-founder and executive director of the Prison Project — who also had a small part in Kristen Wiig’s Welcome to Me last year — remembers those early days. “There was so much opposition with lots of COs telling me, ‘Why are you wasting your time with these losers?’” she says. “A few haters thought we were giving inmates too much power. One spread rumors that I was having an inappropriate relationship with a student.”

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

A Look Inside the Journey from Inmate to Parolee

Michael Montgomery, KQED

When Troy Williams was 27, he took part in a robbery that involved a kidnapping and was sentenced to life in prison at San Quentin. Over the next 18 years, he went before the parole board five times, and was denied release each time.

After his sixth hearing, Williams was released on parole with help from lawyer Keith Wattley, whose group UnCommon Law helps inmates navigate a parole system he sees as arbitrary and needlessly punitive. Forum talks with Wattley, Williams, another parolee and a former parole agent about their experiences. And a week after California voters approved reform to the state’s parole system, we’ll discuss what the coming changes mean to inmates, their families and victims.

DEATH PENALTY

The Death Penalty Won Big on Election Day, But the Devil Is In the Details

Liliana Segura, The Intercept

As it became increasingly clear that Donald Trump was about to win the presidency on Tuesday night, mental health staff were on call at San Quentin Prison and at the Central California Women’s Facility, where anxiety was running high over a separate election result. By the next day the men and women on death row would know whether Californians had voted to spare their lives — by passing Proposition 62, abolishing the death penalty — or hasten their deaths, by passing Proposition 66, aimed to quicken executions. “They are understandably concerned,” California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Terry Thornton told me earlier that day, pointing out that many are already under treatment for mental illness. The results of the ballot initiatives “could be destabilizing.”

It’s hard to imagine a place more heavily monitored than California’s death row, where isolation, strip-searches, and suicide watch are a fact of life. Yet CDCR counts 25 suicides among the condemned since 1978, the year a ballot initiative dramatically expanded the crimes punishable by execution in California. With the same people responsible for that initiative now campaigning against the death penalty, no one had more at stake in their success on Election Day than the nearly 750 people facing execution in California.

Lawsuit Filed Against California’s Death Penalty Measure Claims It Violates The Constitution

Zye Angiwan, immortal News

Aside from deciding to legalize recreational marijuana, voters in California also agreed not to repeal the death penalty by supporting Proposition 66. The win is being opposed however, as a lawsuit has been filed questioning the legality of the measure. Ron Briggs, a former supervisor of El Dorado County, filed a lawsuit one day after the election, saying, “Proposition 66 violates the constitution by keeping the [state] Supreme Court and the appeals court out of the system.” He adds, “The proponents of Prop 66 put together a pretty shabby initiative.”

Under the proposition, death row inmates would not send their first appeal – a petition for writs of habeas corpus – to a higher court, but to the original judge on the case. All appeals after that would have to be conducted within five years of the original sentencing.

Analysts caution against blaming so-called 'Trump effect' for death penalty repeal's defeat

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

Proposition 62, which would have repealed the death penalty in California, drew its strongest opposition among Republicans and those who voted for Donald Trump for president, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times post-election poll.

But analysts said the narrow defeat of the initiative at the polls last week came in as expected given a sharp divide over capital punishment nationwide. They also cautioned against attributing the loss to the so-called "Trump effect," a wave of mostly white, male voters from rural areas energized by Trump's presidential run.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Local authorities still determining impact of Prop 57 passage

Jose Quintero, Daily Press

VICTORVILLE —San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said he will continue working with the Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine what impact the passage of Proposition 57 will have in the county.

California voters approved the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, better known as Prop 57, last week. It is supposed to help reduce the state’s prison population by providing more parole opportunities for some convicted felons. The proposition allows parole consideration for nonviolent felons, authorizes sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior and education and allows juvenile court judges to decide whether a juvenile will be prosecuted as an adult.

CDCR NEWS

Cellphones keep cropping up inside California prisons

Andria Borba and Leslie Donaldson, KPIX

Inside the walls of San Quentin State Prison, inmates are forbidden to have cell phones. Nevertheless, some inmates have been able to post selfies in the slammer on social media.

One posted a video tour of his cell, shot on his cell phone. He and his cellmate showed off their food supplies and other loot, and an extra cell phone.

Cell phones continue to be smuggled into cell blocks in prison after prison. They are worth about $1,000 apiece on the inside, according to prison officials.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Wounded veterans benefit from inmate-trained service dogs

Felicia Martinez, Fox 5 San Diego

Marine Master Sgt. James Horner and his service dog, Saturn, have been living together for the last three months. But Monday afternoon was Saturn’s official graduation from the POOCH - Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope - program.

Master Sgt. Horner says he had almost given up hope due to a severe case of PTSD.

Because of Saturn and the life-changing training he received from inmates at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs, everyday tasks are now a possibility for Master Sgt. Horner and his family.

Dog trained by prison inmates given to local marine

Dan Plante, KUSI

Something very inspirational happened Monday inside the walls of the Donovan State Prison.

The inmates are training service dogs and turning them over to people who need them on the outside of the walls.

Prison inmates training service dogs to make a difference

Todd Strain, NBC San Diego

The Richard Donovan Correctional Facility and Tender Loving Canine Assistance Dogs are teaming up to transform lives. As NBC 7's Todd Strain shows us, the effects are being felt inside and outside of the prison walls.

Graduation day for Pendleton Marine's inmate-trained service dog

Debbi Baker, San Diego Union-Tribune

It was a happy and poignant day on Monday for a war-wounded Camp PendletonMarine who received a service dog and life-saving companion, trained by prisoners at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.

Master Sgt. James Horner, a career military man who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, stood in front of some 100 people gathered at the prison and gave an emotional speech about how much the dog, named Saturn, has meant to him and his family.

Local inmates train service dogs for wounded Marine

Shawn Styles, CBS 8

A local non-profit is proving all it takes to change lives is a little TLC.

Tender Loving Canines works with prison inmates to train service dogs for wounded warriors.

Arts-in-Corrections

CMAC

Arts in Corrections is a partnership between CDCR, the California Arts Council, and the Fresno Arts Council to combat recidivism, enhance rehabilitative goals, and improve the safety and environment at Valley State Prison.

Prison worker sent home for Trump t-shirt

Nicole Comstock, Fox 40

A state prison librarian says he was sent home from his job at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville Tuesday because he wore a Donald Trump t-shirt to work.

"They just told me I gotta go. I didn't say anything. I don't want to create a conflict. I mean, I feel some sort of free speech violation was made but, that's not something to argue over," Leo Sanchez said.

CA prison worker sent home after wearing pro-Trump shirt

Dana Griffin, KCRA

A state prison worker was reportedly told to go home and change after wearing a shirt supporting President-elect Donald Trump

Leo Sanchez has worked for the California Medical Facility for nine years. He's a librarian at the male medical and psychiatric state prison in Vacaville.

Sanchez said his idea of a politically-correct shirt got him sent home from work. He said his supervisor told him to go home and change his red shirt that said “Trump Is My President.”

PAROLE

No plea for Fairfield man jailed in connection with deadly shooting

Fairfield Daily Republic

A Fairfield man who police arrested Monday in connection with the shooting death late last month of a San Francisco man made his first court appearance in the case Tuesday.

Vashawn L. Davis, 24, was already wanted for allegedly violating his parole. He was found Monday by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers in Sacramento, where he was arrested without incident.

He was turned over to Fairfield detectives and taken back to Solano County where he was booked on suspicion of murder and an existing felony warrant for an alleged parole violation, according to a Fairfield Police Department release.

88-year-old veteran fights off suspect at California home

Maneeza Iqbal, WXII 12

An elderly veteran helped take down a home invasion suspect Tuesday morning at his senior care facility, the Citrus Heights Police Department said.

Charles George, 88, fought the suspect and called for help when his apartment was broken into, Sgt. Wesley Herman said. Within an hour, the suspect was taken into custody by police.

“Our officers were able to locate the suspect based on the timely information provided by Mr. George and the great investigative instincts by our patrol officers,” Herman said in a news release. “His capture will no doubt prevent future members of our community from becoming victims.”

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Did O.C. prosecutors hide witness' schizophrenia in murder trial?

Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register

Jail informant Landon Horning was schizophrenic and off his medication when he testified as the prosecution’s key witness in the 2007 murder trial of Ricardo Salas in Orange County Superior Court.

But Salas says Orange County prosecutors never told his trial lawyer about Horning’s mental condition, a violation of legal ethics and state law. Salas also says Horning lied on the stand about his medication and that the prosecutor did not correct those misstatements.

DEATH PENALTY

ACLU files suit to thwart resumption of executions in California

Maura Dolan, LA Times

A civil liberties group on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that could slow California’s plans for resuming executions.

The ACLU of Northern California challenged a state law that gives the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation wide flexibility in establishing execution procedures.

Delegating such policy decisions to a state agency, the suit says, violates separation of powers provisions of the California Constitution.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Local authorities still determining impact of Prop 57 passage

Jose Quintero, Victorville Daily Press

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said he will continue working with the Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine what impact the passage of Proposition 57 will have in the county.

LA County counted on Prop 47 to save money. It hasn’t yet

Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News

A California law that turned some felony offenses into misdemeanors to save costs has had no monetary benefits so far for Los Angeles County, according to a report presented on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors heard updates from eight department leaders – including Sheriff Jim McDonnell – on whether or not Proposition 47 has had any cost saving effects. Overall, departments either reported increased workloads or else a lack of a solid data system to track offenders.

Trial or deal? Some driven to plead guilty, later exonerated

Alanna Durkin Richer and Curt Anderson, Fresno Bee

Three days into his carjacking trial in 2005, James Ochoa faced a daunting choice: Risk spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted by a California jury or plead guilty and be released in two years.

Ochoa, then 20 and on probation for drug possession, had already rejected two plea offers and wanted to prove his innocence. But the judge made it clear the odds were against him because he had been identified by the victims as the perpetrator. If convicted, Ochoa feared he would never see his young son again.

OPINION

Why inmates need gender-affirming surgery: an inside perspective

Michelle-Lael Norsworthy

When it comes to genital reassignment surgery, a lot of the population questions its validity as a necessary medical procedure – especially for the incarcerated. But doctors worldwide now recognize gender dysphoria, a conflict between your physical gender and actual gender, as an actual medical condition. Treatment options vary from hormone therapy to surgery, but just like any other medical condition, doctors are the ones prescribing drugs and procedures.

What does this have to do with inmates? It wasn’t until I won my case against the state of California in April 2015 that incarcerated individuals were even eligible for this type of surgery. The decades-long struggle I faced with my identity, coming to terms with my gender dysphoria and then fighting for my rights – despite being behind bars – paved the way for other transgender men and women like me. It’s important to note that when you live behind bars in the United States, you’re still a human being with rights. You don’t give up those rights to being human because you’re serving time. If an inmate needed a medical procedure to be physically or emotionally healthier, once a doctor deemed it necessary it would be carried out.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Wasco State Prison Correctional Officer attacked by two inmates

Chloe Nordquist, ABC News 23

WASCO, Calif. - A Wasco State Prison Correctional Officer is recovering from an attack by two inmates Sunday evening.

Inmate Anthony Sanchez asked to speak to custody staff in an office when he started punching an officer in the face and head.

A nearby inmate , Albert Vasquez, joined in the attack. Correctional officers used physical force and chemicals to stop the attack.

Pregnant CMC guard sues state

Chris Mcguinness, New Times

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) found itself on the wrong side of the courtroom for alleged discrimination against a pregnant corrections officer.

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit Nov. 2 in SLO County Superior Court on behalf of the officer, identified as Amanda Van Fleet, claiming that the CDCR failed to properly accommodate her medical condition while she was pregnant and working at the California Men’s Colony (CMC).

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parolee Suspect Arrested in Recent Fairfield Murder

Elk Grove News

Fairfield, Calif. - The Fairfield Police Department announced an arrest has been made in the murder that occurred on Friday, October 28.

On Monday, November 14, 24-year old VaShawn Davis of Farifield was located and arrested in Sacramento without incident after being located by officers from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - Office of Correctional Safety.

On October 28, 2016 at 9:52 p.m., Fairfield Police began receiving phone calls regarding a shooting that had occurred in the 500 block of Alaska Avenue. Officers arrived on scene and located a male victim in an apartment complex suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

DEATH PENALTY

ACLU Fights California’s New Death-Penalty Law

Helen Christophi, Courthouse News

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — Following Californians’ Election Day approval of a proposition to keep the death penalty and speed executions, the ACLU sued the state, claiming Proposition 66 gives unelected officials “unbridled discretion” over executions.

The ACLU of Northern California and two death-row inmates, Mitchell Sims and Michael Morales, claim California’s death-penalty law violates the state constitution’s separation of powers clause by allowing the defendant Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation instead of legislators to develop execution procedures.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Antonovich Calls For More Support For Crime Victims Owed Restitution

Perry Smith, KHTS

The county is trying to preserve restitution for crime victims, after voters once again approved a ballot measure — this time, Prop 57 — which has made it more difficult for the courts to collect from criminals.

The increasing rate of recidivism since voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, combined with the fact voters have once again lessened the penalties for many crimes — Prop 47 reduced nearly all drug and theft charges to misdemeanors — have hampered efforts by county officials to help victims.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Wasco correctional officer injured in inmate attack

The Sentinel

WASCO — Officials are investigating after a correctional officer was attacked by two inmates Sunday at the Wasco State Prison Reception Center, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

Around 6:20 p.m., the CDCR said an inmate, Anthony Sanchez, 25, asked to speak with custody staff in an office. Sanchez allegedly punched an officer in the face, then grabbed him in a choke hold and continued to punch his face and head.

A second inmate, Albert Vasquez, 26, reportedly rushed into the office and joined the attack. The CDCR said officers responded with physical force and chemical agents to stop the attack.

California corrections worker sent home for wearing Trump shirt

abc 7 News

VACAVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- The California Corrections Department is standing by its decision to send an employee home for wearing a T-shirt supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

Leo Sanchez says he was sent home from work at the California Medical facility in Vacaville for wearing a 'Trump is my president' shirt.

Sanchez has worked as a librarian at the facility, which is a medical and psychiatric state prison for men, for nine years.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Men convicted of 2011 shooting that killed child, wounded five others get modified sentences

Elizabeth Larson, Lake County

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In response to a state appellate court ruling earlier this year, the Lake County Superior Court has moved forward with the process of modifying the sentences of two men convicted of a 2011 Clearlake shooting that killed a child and injured several others.

Late last month, Paul William Braden, 26, was in Lakeport for a resentencing while his co-defendant, Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr., 28, has not yet returned and may have to be ordered to do so by the court.

In 2012, Braden and Lopez were tried together but with different juries and found guilty of shooting into a crowd of people at a Clearlake apartment, killing 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, and wounding five others, including his mother and her boyfriend.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

A play written in prison, performed, years later, in a prison

Mary Rees, Berkeleyside

“Well, it is a prison,” McMullan said. “I couldn’t think of a more fitting place to do the play.”

Blythe has come full-circle, and on a long arc: McMullen wrote it while behind bars 25 years ago, but the play only came to life on stage for the first time this fall. Its only Bay Area performance was in the New Industries Building on Alcatraz on Nov. 5, and, like the playwright, the actors were all formerly incarcerated.

McMullan was homeless for several years in Berkeley, and he now sits on the Berkeley Human Welfare and Community Action Commission. He wrote Blythe as part of a statewide playwriting contest run by the Arts-in-Corrections program, while he was an inmate at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in 1991.

Effects of propositions 57 in California

Tiffany Wong, KRCR

REDDING, Calif. - Proposition 57 recently passed, which has some concerned because it would make more felons eligible for parole. 63% of Californians voted in favor of the proposition.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said the proposition changes sentencing laws for juveniles and adults.

The Department of Corrections can choose to have convicted felons only serve a sentence for one of their offenses.

OPINION

Law enforcement’s hands tied by Prop. 57: Laren Leichliter

Laren Leichliter, Redlands Daily Facts

This election season has shocked many and made history in ways nobody had anticipated. And as the reality of the results are starting to slowly sink in, we are reminded to trust in our democratic process, even when the outcome is not in our favor.

It is certainly easier said than done.

National election results aside, California law enforcement officials were dealt a devastating blow last week with the overwhelming passage of Proposition 57, titled the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act. The proposition, which will release deceptively dubbed “non-violent” offenders, passed despite numerous public safety officials and victims speaking out against it. It passed although we thought California voters had already learned their lessons from the failed public safety experiment, Proposition 47.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inmates Share Powerful Message With Military Members

Shirin Rajaee, CBS Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Military men and women and prison inmates are coming together for a first-of-its-kind program in California, if not the country.

Seventeen inmates at California Medical Facility state prison in Vacaville were carefully vetted to participate in the military assistance program, known as MAP.

The inmates, many of them former military, are helping deter airmen from Travis Air Force Base from a life of crime and imprisonment.

Shasta County DA will not seek retrial for Gary Grimes death penalty

Josh Copitch, KRCR News

REDDING, Calif. - The Shasta County District Attorney's Office has completed their review and evaluation of the California Supreme Court's reversal of the death penalty sentence in the Gary Grimes case, in which they concluded that they will not seek a retrial of the death penalty.

Pursuant to California law, Grimes' sentence will automatically default to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Grimes was originally found guilty of the 1995 murder of 98-year-old Betty Bone and sentenced to death in January of 1999. Besides Grimes, two other suspects were arrested: John Morris and Patrick Wilson. The murder occurred after the three suspects forcibly entered the victim's house for the purpose of committing a burglary.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

CA parole changes may speed end to federal oversight

Proposition 57 expands on existing court orders that helped reduce prison population

KCRA 3 News

Voters' approval of Gov. Jerry Brown's sentencing reform initiative may finally give California the long-term solution it needs to end a decade-long legal battle over prison conditions that twice reached the U.S. Supreme Court and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Proposition 57 was pitched as a safety valve to reduce an inmate population that is steadily increasing despite state efforts to shift felons from overcrowded state prisons into equally burdened county jails over the past five years.

Voter-approved parole changes hasten end to federal oversight of prisons

Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO – Voters’ approval of Gov. Jerry Brown’s sentencing reform initiative may give California the long-term solution it needs to end a decadelong legal battle over prison conditions that twice reached the U.S. Supreme Court and has cost taxpayers billions.

The initiative incorporates rules into the state Constitution to speed up how quickly felons can be paroled. It also grants the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation broad discretion to give more early release credits to inmates who complete rehabilitation programs.

Is Solitary Confinement On The Way Out?

States are weighing whether solitary confinement, or segregated or restrictive housing, creates more problems than it solves.

Teresa Wiltz, The Huffington Post

Last month, New Jersey lawmakers voted to stop isolating prison inmates for as long as 23 hours a day for months or years on end after deciding it was abusive and hampered a return to society.

…

California has begun moving nearly 2,000 prisoners out of solitary confinement as part of a settlement of a 2009 lawsuit brought by inmates who’d been on an extended hunger strike. Many of the prisoners had been placed in solitary confinement units because they were believed to be in a gang. Many had been in the units for decades. So far, the state has moved 1,557 inmates out of solitary units, said Scott Kernan, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prison officials have to carefully review each case before transferring an inmate into the general population, Kernan said. “It’s been a monumental task,” he said. “It’s so fraught with potential danger, if you let out an inmate and something bad happens.”

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Infamous Black Muslim leader Yusuf Bey IV tries to order hits from prison, authorities say

Thomas Peele, The Mercury News

Authorities are investigating whether the former leader of Oakland’s cultish Your Black Muslim Bakery — now serving a life sentence for the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey — tried to orchestrate additional killings from prison.

Using a contraband cellphone at Salinas Valley State Prison, Yusuf Bey IV sent text messages to at least one follower directing that person to join plans to hurt people Bey IV believed had slighted him, authorities believe.

The alleged plot is revealed in text messages obtained by this news organization and according to people familiar with Bey IV’s plans.

His intent seemed to be to send a message that he could still do harm despite being in a high-security prison, where he is serving three consecutive life terms with no eligibility for parole.

OPINION

Shasta County’s Crime Wave: View from the Prosecution

R.V. Scheide, News Cafe

Living as I do in the peaceful, wooded foothills of eastern Shasta County, I still sometimes find it hard to believe there’s a crime epidemic sweeping the fair city of Redding in the valley below. It’s easy to get lulled into the idea California’s ongoing experiment with prison realignment and sentencing reform is doing just fine.

As just about everyone who lives in the city of Redding knows, it isn’t. The experiment began with the passage of AB 109 in 2011, the state Legislature’s response to the federal government’s declaration that our prison system was unconstitutionally overcrowded and could not provide adequate health care to the inmates.

To reduce overcrowding, AB 109 among many other things created a new criminal class, the so-called non-violent, non-sexual, non-serious felony offender. Inmates that met the new classification were either released from prison or transferred to county-supervised probation. Persons convicted of non-non-non felony offenses are now incarcerated in county jails instead of being sent to prison.

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