Having entered the correctional system as a young twenty-one year old in 1976, Lamonta McBroom happily reunited with his family on May 19, 2009. It has been a long, long road that Lamonta has traveled, one in which he has made the very best of his opportunities by never giving up the fight to gain his freedom.
As a pillar in the San Quentin Law Library since 1999 (para-legal for more than 29 years), Lamonta openly and willingly shared his knowledge with anyone, especially towards those willing to better help themselves. As all have witnessed, one of the many positive attributes he has consistently shown is that he would stop whatever he was doing to share his knowledge and time to help others.
The S.Q.U.I.R.E.S. program has been an invaluable resource at San Quentin that has helped ‘kids at risk’ for generations. One of several mainstay stops that these kids were priviledged to experience has been Lamonta’s intense and in depth speeches on Saturday mornings. These speeches emphasized the trials and tribulations of prison life, making the right choices and looking at the consequences of their actions. Rare is the kid that was not wide-eyed and unattentive to what Lamonta was saying to them. As a native from North Carolina, Lamonta would generally talk about the definition, history and legal recognition of slavery today in the United States, incarceration and self: “Slavery in America [today] is no longer within the province of the private slave owner … Consider your next action, consider your choices and consider whether your slavery is by your choosing and is it slavery that you intend for yourself.”
In overcoming self-slavery, Lamonta says, “If it wasn’t for education, I would have been locked into 1976. I stayed focused on the path to grow and better myself and took advantage of every opportunity. I made the best of my time.” To name a few, he gives praise and tribute to Patten University for accomplishing his goal of a college degree, Victim Offender Education Group (V.O.E.G.) and Katargeo for channeling his energy in the best and most healthy means possible. In receiving so much, Lamonta will continue to give back and help serve others. His offering of sage advice: “Don’t give up the fight! Don’t be compacent! Be proactive, help others when you can and get an education!”
Our friend offers his sincere appreciation and gratitude towards all of the people who he has come into contact with, most especially to his wife, Leager, who has been his rock. Lamonta, it is us who “Thank you!” for touching the hearts of all the people whom you have made an impact.
Lamonta, we will all miss your compassion, patience, and tolerance. We wish you the very best in your volunteer and research work, that your business venture will be as successful as your prior business, and that you will forever enjoy life to the fullest.
Junior Steele Paroles
Junior Steele finally heard the words that he had waited so long to hear. The words from the Board that would, after more than 27 years, allow Steele to walk out the gates a free man. On May 20, 2009, Steele left San Quentin into the arms of his waiting family.
Junior had some very productive years here while at S.Q., attending numerous self-help programs, maintained an excellent work ethic, you could always find him working on small rock sculptures and pendants.
He will be remembered fondly by the friends he left behind, among them Homer McWilliams who said, “Very few people knew Jr. as long as I have known him. When he received his date from the Board we were all very happy for him.”
Junior realized his greatest dream of returning home to his dying father so that he could go fishing with him.
“Junior, we all hope you and your father catch the big one.” said another one of his close friends.
“Junior wasn’t much of a talker, especially when it came to matters of the Board, he could get frustrated easy. When talking together the hour before his parole hearing, he was told to think about the big picture, and that his freedom was on the line. He was listening because he told the Board what they needed to hear and was found suitable for parole. When Lt. Robinson brought Junior his walking papers that said he was going home, there were many of us cheering for him. I wish you well Junior,” says Williams one of Junior’s oldest friends of 25 years.
Junior mentioned on the morning before he departed, “If I had a dollar for every hand shaken this morning I would have over a hundred dollars.”
—Keith L. Lettier
Cronk Paroles After 26 Years
One of San Quentin’s pioneers to the multitude of self-help / therapeutic programs that are in place today was paroled on April 13.
Don Cronk has been a fixture in helping himself by helping and serving others throughout the 25 years that he resided in San Quentin (1984-2009).
Cronk answered a series of questions, in which he has imparted the following: “I never thought for one moment when I rode through the sally port on the Grey Goose (Bus) in 1984, that I would serve my entire life sentence in one prison. Except for medical/legal reasons, I have been in San Quentin for 25 years continuous. I had served almost four years in county fighting my case, so all in all after almost 29 calendar years, I go home.
“My hope for all those I leave behind is that the process, after being found suitable by the BPH, is that your freedom comes quickly and not as difficult and often heart-breaking as it has been for us who have gone before you. My only advice is this, nothing truly good in life is free. One must always pay the cost and work hard, but faith and perseverance will get you what your heart desires. You know what it is you need to do, do it and you will be set free. I will miss many and others I hope to never see again (staff & inmates alike), although I wish no harm to anyone. I was not perfect and often failed my walk, but I believe Jesus Christ set me free. My life-changing scripture is 1 Timothy 1:12-18.
“I hope to help bring about change from outside and I am already committed to several projects you don’t yet know about, but soon will. Take care, good luck, and never, ever, give up! Don Cronk.”
Appeals Court Rejects Order for Parole Board Revisions
On March 13, 2009, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reversed Judge Condron’s unprecedented order against the state parole board on behalf of five Santa Clara County inmates who committed murder and are seeking parole release.
In a San Jose Superior Court, Judge Condron made a ruling that the Board of Parole Hearings (Board) was violating the constitutional rights of inmates serving potential life terms by issuing typical boilerplate parole rejections of their requests for release.
She supported her findings and order by supportive statistical evidence (2,700 selective board denial decisions) that the Board members were issuing “formulaic” decisions without regarding an inmate’s rehabilitative reform. She concluded her findings on the fact of the Board’s arbitrary and capricious reliance on unchanging circumstances of the nature of the original crime, and not providing specific reasons for the denial.
In addition, Condron ordered revisions to the Board’s procedures and for members to undergo specific training to correct the apparent problems of its “malfunctioning” process of deciding an inmate’s sentence in a term-to-life case.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal’s three-justice panel unanimously found Condron’s incomplete and undetailed evidence for the Board’s reasons to deny inmates with term-to-life sentences unreliable. They found that Condron’s order was wholly unsupported due to a lack of evidence and exceeded the scope of the Board’s arguably capricious policy.
Donald Lewis paroled after serving thirty-years for a 1977 killing. The other four inmates (Arthur Criscione, Viet Ngo, Morris Bragg and Donnell Jameison), who all have twenty plus years incarceration, will most likely continue their appeal. They will argue the Sixth District’s ruling in an effort to correct the complex and dysfunctional problems of the Board, and that they are suitable for parole under a just and timely California Supreme Court ruling on August 21, 2008. (See In re Lawrence, 44 Cal.4th 1181).