On the heels of a federal court ruling that says prison overcrowding is causing unconstitutional medical care in California prisons, a change in sentencing credits may be a viable option for law makers to bring the state prison population down.
For years it has been rumored among prison inmates that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was considering a change in the sentencing credits to alleviate prison overcrowding. More than ever it seems as if the rumors may come to fruition. The CDCR is now considering rewarding inmates with enhanced sentence credits for completing predetermined rehabilitation programs.
The Secretary of the CDCR, Matthew Cate “wants to reduce the prison population with enhancements for inmates who complete certain rehabilitation programs such as GED, college degrees and vocational training,” according to an April article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The article was published in the wake of Counsel to the Senate Public Safety Committee, Steve Meinrath and Jerry McGuire’s visit last March to an Ethics class at San Quentin, which is part of the Prison University Project (PUP). A week later secretary Cate visited the same class. The visits were in culmination of Jody Lewen, PUP director, testifying March 10 at a joint hearing of the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees on prison education.
Why visit a college class jammed with inmates, why hold hearings and why now? A possible answer to the question is: state officials must respond to the federal court ruling demanding a fix to the prison overcrowding problem. Changing the sentencing credits for prisoners who obtain an education is one option to help lower the prison population.
It makes sense to reward those prisoners who utilize prison education programs and take a proactive role in their rehabilitation. The benefits of an education on the offender’s ability to assimilate back into society are immense. Furthermore, empirical data proves that educated people commit less crime. Thus, education is a proven strategy that can be used to help quell California’s depressing offender recidivism rate, which stands at more than 70 percent.
In a time when the CDCR is looking to implement evidenced based rehabilitation programs, it is time to reward those who are striving to educate themselves and those who learn trades. Education is rehabilitation and those who are rehabilitated should be rewarded through the elevation of their sentencing good-time credits.
Does society want an uneducated, unskilled offender with little hope of success paroling to their neighborhoods, or an educated offender with job skills and a mindset to succeed? The obvious answer is the latter, as is a proven fact that when a prisoner is rehabilitated through education the risk they pose to public safety is greatly diminished.
With California’s dismal financial situation, taxpayers should no longer have to burden the cost of keeping offenders, who have achieved educational milestones and are ready to be released, behind bars. Longer prison sentences do nothing for public safety; 90 percent of offenders will be released, when and how is currently in the hands of the legislature and state officials. Making an allowance for education in the process of lowering the prison population seems like a no-brainer and is a step in the right direction.
Patch Adams Shows S.Q. His ‘Healing With Humor’
“When I see a prison, I ache,” medical doctor and humanitarian Patch Adams commented during a recent visit to San Quentin. “I see massive inequality and massive injustice.”
Adams visited San Quentin during the last week of March as part of the Arts and Corrections Program. He talked with staff and inmates about his mission supporting free global health care as well as enlightening the prison community on societal compassion.
Hunter Campbell “Patch” Adams is a world-renowned speaker who has spent a large portion of his life as a true humanitarian. His inspiring life story was the basis for the Hollywood movie “Patch Adams,” starring Robin Williams.
Adams was born May 28, 1945 in Washington, D.C., the son of a military professional. He spent most of his childhood growing up around the world.
“I grew up overseas on Army bases,” said Adams. “I was orphaned in 1961.”
After his father was killed in the Vietnam War, Adams moved back to the states where he describes being beat up by his peers and falling into a state of depression, leading him to hospitalization for two suicide attempts.
“At 18, I decided that I’m never going to have a bad day,” said Adams.
He attended the Medical College of Virginia where he earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1971. After graduation, Adams and some close friends founded the Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia, part of his dream to offer free medical treatment to anyone in need. The hospital, which according to Adam’s web site has served over 15,000 patients, has no support from health care insurance and doctors do not have malpractice insurance.
“One-fourth of the $2 trillion American medical budget goes to administration costs,” said Adams, who humbly takes pride in his career in helping others free of charge. “For 38 years, I have paid to be a doctor.”
Part of Adams larger-than-life character is what he calls “healing through humor.”
Adams, who considers himself a clown, bounced through the corridors of San Quentin sporting red clown pants, a blue and purple shirt and his hair pulled back in a waist length blue streaked pony tail.
“Put me on the yard, they’re not ready for me,” said Adams while holding what can only be called the world’s largest pair of underwear.
During his visit, his silliness infected every prisoner who crossed paths with Adams. If a prisoner didn’t initially think he was funny, he pulled out a slew of props including a dental cheek spreader and a nasty looking green booger which he hung from his nose. His props, vivacious personality, accompanied with hilariously funny faces, seemingly melted away the stress of prison from his audience of men in blue prison uniforms.
Silliness aside, Adams is a self-proclaimed liberalist and advocate for prison reform, a very forgiving position from a man whose best friend was murdered by one of his patients in the late 1960s.
Asked about what he thinks of San Quentin, he replied: “I didn’t see any criminals. I don’t even know what criminals look like. I saw a bunch of men with an over-abundance of time.”
Religious Diets Made Available for Muslims
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is in the process of changing the California Code of Regulations (CCR) to include religious diets for Muslim prisoners.
The code change will allow Muslim and other prisoners, with religious dietary obligations, to apply for and receive halal meat in their daily meals. Currently the CDCR has two options to alternative diets outside of the normal food it serves to prisoners: vegetarian and Jewish kosher. The code change will add a third diet: halal meat alternative.
Eating halal food, with an emphasis on specific meat preparation, is a tenet of Islamic faith. According to Islamic law animals slaughtered for consumption must be dispatched humanely. The humane slaughter is performed by a Muslim (person of the book) using a sharp instrument to cut the animals vessels in the neck or upper part of the chest allowing for the blood to drain and reciting the name of Allah at the time of slaughter.
The proposed change to the CDCR regulations comes amid a growing number of law-suits filed by Muslim prisoners who claim that they have the right to practice their religion while incarcerated, which includes conforming to a halal diet. The law-suits are based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). The state asserts that RLUIPA “does not include religious dietary accommodations specifically for Muslim inmates.” The petitioners in the law suites claim otherwise. The CDCR regulation change on its face is meant to quell the expenditures to answer the law- suits.
“The purpose of this action is to avoid future costly litigating and unnecessary expense to the taxpayers of the State of California,” is written in the notice of regulation change.
According to the regulation change, the halal meat program will be available in all CDCR adult facilities state-wide. Participation in the program will be open to Muslims and other prisoners with religious needs to consume halal meat. Prisoners will have to apply for the program by filling out a CDCR 3030 form (Request for Religious Diet) and submitting it to the institutional Muslim chaplain who will determine eligibility.
The proposed regulation change is in the public hearing stage. There is dialog about the difference between providing halal meat and providing an actual halal meal to Muslims, which needs to be worked out. The implementation of the new religious dietary program is pending.
State Officials Get Lesson in S.Q. Ethics
Twice in the last 30 days, officials who help shape prison policy have come to take a look at the work of the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison.
Politics and prisons are intrinsically linked in California, so when officials from the state come to visit, prisoners take notice. The buzz of possible release of prisoners, ordered earlier this month by federal judges, heightened the anxiety of the men who were surprised by the visitors.
Steve Meinrath and Jerry McGuire, counsel to the Senate Public Safety Committee, were the first to visit. They seated themselves among a mixed group of prisoners taking an ethics class at San Quentin. Escorted by Sam Robinson, public information officer, and Jody Lewen, director of Patten University at San Quentin, the visitors got a first- hand look at students and one of their instructors, Helene Silverburg, in the midst of an engaged discussion on the difference between Kantism and Utilitarianism. The topic of discussion seemed to intrigue the visitors. As they left, they graciously thanked the instructor, as well as the men in the class, for allowing them to sit in.
“Yes, I’m the guy who was
on television this morning telling
people not to let prisoners out early”
The most significant visit came a week later when an entourage of officials converged on the same ethics class, the highest ranking being Matthew Cate, Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Cate was accompanied by Elizabeth Siggins, his senior policy adviser, and Lee Seale, deputy chief of staff. Also present were San Quentin officials including: Acting Warden R.K. Wong, Administrative Assistant R. Luna, Chief Deputy Warden Vince Cullen and Public Information officer Sam Robinson and out going, CDW Max Lemon.
Secretary Cate introduced himself to the class and stated: “Yes, I’m the guy who was on television this morning telling people not to let prisoners out early.” He was making reference to the media coverage of the CDCR’s response to the recent court ruling ordering the early release of some 57,000 California prisoners over the next three years.
His comments sparked a roar of laughter from the students in the class, as well as from a few of the guests. After the officials made their introductions they sat down and listened to the instructor, Ben Boudreaux, outlining the tenets of ethical relativism to the class. There was an air of unease among those in attendance, the prisoners not knowing why the officials were there and the officials not knowing what to expect of a college class full of incarcerated men.
A student in the class, Tung Nguyen, asked: “What about the Tarzan effect. I mean how do men raised by animals (lacking morals that lead to ethics) learn proper ethical behavior?” Nguyen’s comments to the instructor gained a chuckle from the crowd, loosening the tension in the room. The rest of the classroom discussion served as an instrument, letting state officials know that the prisoners at San Quentin are very serious about obtaining an education in their rehabilitation, while the prisoners received the message that prison officials are taking notice of the significance of offering college educational opportunities to prisoners and the important role that the education of prisoners plays is the realm of public safety.
Patten University is the only on-site higher education program in all of California’s 33 prisons. Patten offers AA degrees to prisoners and has been running at San Quentin for more than 10 years. The program is privately funded by donations from individuals, private foundations, and corporations. Classes are taught by volunteers, most of whom are graduate students and faculty from UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, Stanford University, and St. Mary’s College. For more information on Patten University or if you would like to enroll, send a request for interview via institutional mail to Jennifer Scaife.
Information is also available @ www.prisonuniversityproject.org
Over 2 Million Muslims Make Pilgrimage
This past holiday season while many people in America were crowded into shopping malls buying Christmas gifts, millions of Muslims from around the planet were making their way to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj.
Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, the 5th pillar of Islamic faith, which all able Muslims must make at least once in their lifetime. Muslims travel to the region Arabia which encompasses the cities of Mecca and Medina, in which Islam was first founded, considered some of the most sacred sites in the Islamic faith. The Hajj has ancient roots dating back to the time of the prophet Muhammad, who himself made a pilgrimage from the city of Mecca to Medina in 622 C.E.
During the Hajj, which fell in the first week of last month, Muslim men shed their modern clothing for seamless fabric and women wear their national and traditional dress. The removal of modern clothing during the Hajj symbolizes a pure and consecrated state. In a state of purity, more than 2 million Muslims traveled to the area known as Hijaz in the Western Arabian Peninsula to complete the Hajj.
“It is very crowded with millions of Muslims in the same dress all making their way to the various locations,” says Abraham Nana, an Islamic scholar who has been volunteering at San Quentin for almost 20 years and who has made the Hajj twice, in 1968 and 1991.
Once in Arabia there are several rituals done to complete the Hajj. One of the rituals is to circumambulate of the Ka’ba (the sacred black stone which Islamic faith holds holy) seven times on three occasions. The faithful also travel to the plain of Arafat where they stay for a short period in a standing ceremony which starts at noon with a special prayer (salat). This is followed by throwing stones at pillars symbolizing the driving out of Satan, a ritual called Wuqoof. In completing of the pilgrimage the faithful stop in Mina, a city between Mecca and Medina, where they spend the night in prayer. The end of the Hajj is celebrated by the slaughter of a sheep, goats, camels, and cattle. The ceremony of blood sacrifice extends to the time of Abraham and signifies the end of the Hajj festivities when the slaughtered animals are eaten in a Feast (Eid al Adha).
“I don’t recommend slaughtering a camel,” says Abraham Nana. “It’s a large animal and difficult to slaughter. I recommend slaughtering a smaller animal.”
The Eid feast is celebrated by Muslims here at San Quentin along with other Islamic holidays such as Ramadan. If you are interested in learning more about Islam or attending Islamic services, contact Imam Rafeeq S. Hassan by institutional mail.
San Quentin Veterans Help Santa
The Vietnam Veterans Group of San Quentin (VVGSQ) will be assisting Santa Claus in the San Quentin visiting rooms where he will be giving out gifts to the children and young family members of prisoners.
The gifts will be handed out by Santa and his elves in the visiting rooms starting Dec. 12 and will continue on Fridays and weekends until Christmas Day. Children from toddlers to 14 years of age are able to receive gifts, according to Santa. Santa is also available for pictures, so please remember to purchase your picture ducats ahead of time in the canteen.
The VVGSQ is celebrating its 20th annual toy drive this year.
“Last year we handed out over 350 bags of toys,” says Eddie Renteria, who is the only prisoner who gets to talk directly to Santa.
The gift bags Santa will be giving out contain all sorts of goodies, according to Renteria. He says last years gifts included games, basketballs, footballs, action figures, remote control cars and much more.
“The declining economy has had an adverse affect on some of our corporate sponsors’ ability to donate this year,” says Renteria. “But individual donations from people seem to be making up the difference.”
If you wish to make a donation or have any questions contact Lt. Cramer at Ext. 5757
California Lifer Is Going Home
After serving 27 years, 4 months in prison for a first-degree murder conviction, Ali Pertsoni has been released from San Quentin State Prison to return to his native country of Kosovo.
Before being granted parole, Pertsoni went before the Board of Prison Hearings (BPH) 11 times in as many years. Rejected the first nine times, Pertsoni was found suitable by the board in 2006, only to have the governor’s office overrule the board’s decision, denying him his freedom.
“At my second parole hearing one of the board members told me that I would probably die in prison,” said Pertsoni. “I heard the mean words of the prison official ringing in my ears when I suffered a heart attack in 2005.”
After his heart attack, and the 2006 parole denial, Pertsoni spent the following two years appealing the governor’s ruling in federal court. Ultimately it was the BPH, re-evaluating his case in an en banc hearing, that resulted in a unanimous decision, which granted his parole. Furthermore, the governor’s office refused to review his case a second time, thus securing his release.
After many hugs, his eyes full of tears of joy, Pertsoni departed SQSP Nov. 24, escorted by immigration officers. He will spend a short time in an immigration holding facility until the long airline flight to his family home in Gjakova, Kosovo, a nation which earlier this year gained its independence from Serbia.
“I am a free man, returning to a free Kosovo after 35 years. I am really going home,” said Pertsoni.
Born in Kosovo in 1954, Pertsoni lived a simple life on his family farm. In his adolescence he became involved in a humans rights movement which held demonstrations against the repressive Communist government. His activism against the government led to him being a wanted man. Believing his life was in danger, Pertsoni fled to Austria, staying in a refugee camp until 1975 when he received political asylum in the United States.
“I love my home country. I didn’t come here (America) for a better life, I came here to save my life,” said Pertsoni.
In the United States Pertsoni met and married his wife of 33 years, Yuri Pertsoni, who has been beside him during his 27 years of incarceration. The Pertsonis’ have been a fixture in the SQ visiting room for almost a decade. It is in the visiting room that all who know Pertsoni witnessed his love for life. Always with a smile, quick witted Pertsoni embraced us and our families with a caring heart that will not be forgotten.
“I have watched so much happen in the visiting room. I’ve seen marriages, divorces and watched many children grow up right here in this room,” said Pertsoni.
When asked how he felt about being paroled, Pertsoni lights up. “It is my faith in Allah, my wife and my focus in doing the right thing that has kept me going all of these years. Some prisoners get rejected by the BPH and give up; instead of staying on track they use drugs and get caught up in prison politics and violence. Not me; I never gave up. I learned a trade (vocational dry cleaning), I didn’t use drugs, and I stayed away from trouble. It was a sacrifice sometimes to do the right thing, but I knew in my heart that this day would come.”
Pertsoni gives a lot of credit to the self-help and community-based programs at SQ for aiding him in his successful bid for parole. He attended and completed classes that include: Trust Fellows, Mankind, New Leaf, Victim Offender Education Group, Coaching Process, Attitudinal Healing and many others in his stay at SQ.
“There are so many volunteers and staff members that I want to thank, so many that didn’t give up on me and the other men here at San Quentin. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” said Pertsoni in his farewell.
Appeals Court Upholds Death Penalty Delay
The 1st District Court of Appeal refused to overturn a Marin County judge’s ruling resulting in additional delays of executions at San Quentin State Prison.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation completed construction on a new execution chamber at San Quentin, prompting a Marin County court to find that the governor and prison officials failed to open up public hearings to California’s changes in the methods used to administer the death penalty, in violation of state procedures.
The current execution procedure is part of a lawsuit filed by condemned inmates, who maintain that the method is inhumane under the U.S. Constitution that forbids cruel and unusual punishment. The case was ruled on by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in 2006, when he described the state’s execution method as “broken.” In the ruling Judge Fogel made recommendations to the state to improve the execution standard while addressing the concerns of the humane termination of condemned prisoners. The state in response implemented a plan to improve training and supervision of execution officers and the construction of a new execution chamber. The construction project, which critics say was completed in secret, is the catalyst for the Marin County judge’s ruling.
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court heard a similar case from Kentucky in which the constitutionality of lethal injections was challenged. The Supreme Court’s ruling upheld lethal injection as a “legal method of execution.” The ruling will no doubt have an impact on the California law-suit, according to legal professionals.
The state has the right to appeal the recent ruling, further exacerbating the delays in a solution to the execution concerns. In addition, the state will likely have to open the execution methods up to public scrutiny, taking months if not years to complete, say attorneys for death row inmates. The result of all of the legal wrangling will further delay executions in California where more than 670 prisoners wait for an outcome. The already three-year delay has kept some men alive who have exhausted all their options in the appeals process.
Opponents of the death penalty see this as opportunity for Californians to reevaluate capital punishment, which was reinstated in the state in 1976.
The death penalty has been abolished in all western countries except the U.S.
Critics of capital punishment assert that in the U.S. at least 400 innocent people have been convicted of capital crimes they did not commit, of which 23 have been executed. As fatal errors escalate, many voters reconsider capital punishment.
In the U.S. there is declining public acceptance of capital punishment as a viable deterrent to crime, say critics. This opposition is amid pressure by the European Union, whose members have expressed deep concerns about the increasing number of executions in the United States. All the more since the great majority of executions since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 have been carried out in the 1990s. Furthermore, in the U.S. offenders who are under 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime may be sentenced to death and executed.
Parolee Arrested in Carjacking
A man recently paroled from San Quentin is accused of stealing a truck and crashing it into another car, killing one woman and injuring two others, while being chased by the Richmond police, say officials.
The suspect, Jordan Taitano, took police on a high speed chase which ended on San Pablo Dam Road in El Sabrante where the crash occurred. The truck, which Taitano was driving, smashed into a Mercedes, hurtling it into several parked cars.
The rear seat passenger in the Mercedes, a 57-year-oldwoman, was killed from the impact of the crash. The driver and front seat passenger were both seriously injured.
A woman who tried to get away from the suspect before the chase started was also seriously injured, said the police.
Taitano is accused of robbing a husband and wife at a local inn were the couple was staying. Police said the husband fought with the suspect while his wife escaped by jumping though a closed window. The woman suffered significant injuries from the escape.
Police said the suspect left the scene of the robbery on foot and carjacked a passing motorist. The Richmond police recognized the carjacked vehicle minutes later and gave chase. The chase began at relatively low speeds but eventually progressed to very high speeds prior to the crash.
Taitano fled the site of the accident and was apprehended shortly afterward. He was booked into the Contra Costa County Jail on suspicion of vehicular homicide, carjacking and robbery, said authorities.
Taitano was paroled from San Quentin one week before the incident, according to authorities.
Student Injured in Print Shop
Andre Taylor, vocational student, was seriously injured while operating a paper cutter in the San Quentin Printshop. Taylor’s hand was caught in the clamp which holds the paper for cutting, as a result, three of the fingers on his right hand were crushed and partially severed.
The seriousness of the injuries warranted emergency response by the San Quentin Fire Department which arrived on the scene within minutes of the accident. Taylor was stabilized and transported to an outside hospital for emergency surgery. Taylor was returned to the prison infirmary after surgery where he is recovering.
According to the infirmary staff, Taylor’s fingers were reattached and he is expected to make a full recovery and is expected to retain the use of his hand.
Printshop Instructor, John Wilkerson say’s that, “all students are trained to safely operate the equipment in the Printshop and are constantly reminded of safe operating procedures throughout their vocational training.”
The paper cutter involved in the accident has been taken off-line until completion of the investigation by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The accident remains under investigation.