After more than 30 years in prison, Conley Dukes was paroled and one of his first stops was to wade in the Pacific Ocean and say a prayer for the brother who helped him turn his life around.
When Dukes was first incarcerated at Old Folsom in the 1980s for kidnap robbery, his life was an extension of the life he led on the streets.
He sold drugs and hung with a bad crowd.
“I was incarcerated in the days when prison gangs … controlled the yards,” said Dukes.
He reported he used drugs regularly in prison and violated many prison rules.
“Prison was an extension of what I was doing on the streets. I was into smoking weed, cigarettes, and I had a criminal mentality. It was my way or the highway,” Dukes commented.
It was not just his addiction to drugs, but his lifestyle was about manipulation, violence and getting things his own way. When Dukes went to his first parole board hearing, he said he did not have a leg to stand on. He had 18 serious rule violations, all related to drugs.
“I went in there and I didn’t care on my first three board appearances. I just sent my identification card,” he explained.
Dukes spent 31 years in prison on a sentence of seven to life and when the parole board found him suitable, he discovered the power to forgive himself.
He said when he stepped into the parole board, he told God that whatever the outcome, he would be OK.
“The first words out of the commissioner’s mouth were ‘Mr. Dukes, we no longer find you a threat to society,’” Dukes said.
He recalled he blinked a few times and started to cry; it was like society had forgiven him and it all started when he forgave himself.
“I started gushing; seriously, my heart was overflowing,” Dukes said. “It’s hard to describe, it’s a feeling you have to go through”.
In 1982 Dukes was convicted of kidnap robbery yet he was eligible for parole in 1996 meaning that he could have possibly received a release date.
“But that didn’t happen. Here I am 16 years after my minimum eligible release date and I was finally found suitable after changing my life around,” Dukes said.
Dukes arrived at San Quentin in 2005 after three years in Jamestown State Prison.
He said Jamestown was a good place for him because, while there, he was able to learn a trade in the Prison Industry Authority (PIA).
“I learned machine sewing, and I got certified to work with the machines,” said Dukes. “I was basically doing fabric sewing.”
While in administrative segregation, he began writing his brother, Skip, who had inherited 10.5 acres of land in Twain Heart, Calif.
“My brother knew I was in the hole behind drugs and he told me ‘if I didn’t quit using heroin that he didn’t want me up there on our property,” Dukes said. “That really stuck me deep.”
When he got out of the (Ad-Seg) Dukes said he quit using drugs and started turning his life around.
“Before that, I spent 16 years on level four yards. I did 10 years at Old Folsom and six at High Desert,” Dukes said. “Eventually my points came down and I went to Corcoran, where I ended up in the hole.”
“When I got to Jamestown and got my trade, I enrolled in Narcotics Anonymous in 2002, I continued it when I got here,” said Dukes.
He continued to do his sewing in the old San Quentin laundry. He also attended San Quentin’s Kairos Christian retreat.
“No seed had been planted and after my dad was killed, I pulled away from religion,” Dukes said. “I’ve always had a belief in God within me; I just got lost.”
Dukes said he now believes the California Board process has matured because now it is centered more on what a person is doing and not so much of who you are.
What helped him uncover his shortcomings were San Quentin’s self-help programs: Victim Offender Education Group, (VOEG), Positive Attitude, The Work and Kairos, Dukes said.
“It took me three quarters of my life to find my authentic self and, through God and my church, I’m on track,” Dukes said. “When I get out, I’m going to go to the beach and put my feet in the ocean and say a prayer for Skip (who has died). I love him and I miss him.”
Dukes paroled and he did put his feet in the ocean and he did say a prayer for his brother.