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.