Joy Richardson covers stories about successful parolees and other prison-related subjects throughout the state.
Gail Brown and Vanessa Nelson have been actively involved in prison reform for over 10 years, and have loved ones inside. Brown’s husband of 14 years is a lifer. Nelson’s nephew and significant other are lifers. Brown and Nelson have been members of the Statewide Inmate Family Council and have vigorously pressed for inmate rights up and down the line.
Brown and Nelson both have full-time jobs in addition to learning as they go how to be lobbyists. They have met with many people at the Sacramento headquarters of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, including CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, Martin Hoshino, director of the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH), and Debra Herndon, associate director at the headquarters level responsible for statewide visiting.
In the beginning of 2010 Nelson and Brown decided there was a lot of talk and not enough action. They believed that lifers are a forgotten population and decided to do something to make a difference. From that meeting, Life Support Alliance was born.
LSA’s purpose is to find a way to make the Board of Parole Hearings accountable. Nelson and Brown believe there is no oversight or accountability for the BPH, and there should be. Nelson says, “We want to make the legislators and people of California aware of how much the actions of the BPH are costing the taxpayers, just in pure dollars and cents.”
Brown and Nelson meet with legislators and assert that there is something wrong with the parole process – the money the BPH spends is astronomical, it doesn’t buy public safety, and it continues to contribute to overcrowding in prisons.
Nelson says, “We understand the BPH isn’t going to change as long as its members are all ex-law enforcement or victims rights advocates. We’re hoping to change the mix of the parole board. We want the legislature to put in oversight and accountability requirements for the BPH. We want the board to be accountable for the decisions they make, the number of times their decisions are overturned in the courts, and the money they spend. We think many more life term inmates can be released safely. If board members had more oversight they would consider their actions rather than giving out knee jerk ‘no, no, no.’”
Nelson says she can’t stand it when she believes something is not fair. She says, “This state cannot afford vengeance as public policy. It’s all about money in the Capitol dome these days. We don’t expect the lawmakers to respond to us on humanitarian terms, but we do expect them to look at the money.”
Brown and Nelson say they make these key points to legislators: lifers are the safest population to parole, they are the most expensive population to incarcerate, and the reasons BPH gives for denying a vast number of lifers’ parole dates are rooted more in politics than in public safety.
LSA began sending out surveys seven months ago to get the lifers’ stories about their experience with BPH commissioners and psychologists. To date they’ve had some 300 surveys returned from lifers up and down the state. Many surveys offer quotes from transcripts of inappropriate actions and comments by commissioners and psychologists.
Life Support Alliance may be contacted at P.O. Box 3103, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741.
