The public may have lost interest in the efforts to repeal California’s controversial three strikes law, but the 30,000 second-strikers and the 7,000 third-strikers have not.
In 2022, activists who are strongly opposed to the law ran into significant road blocks that stopped their efforts altogether.
“We couldn’t get on the ballot,” said Earlonne Woods, the co-creator of San Quentin’s Ear Hustle podcast. He has fought against the three-strike law for 15 years.
Despite the plethora of new judicial reforms and rehabilitation programs, the three-strike rule has not changed.
“We have to end three strikes. There’s no place for it,” said Woods. “There’s no backing from other organizations.”
He said his organization CHOOSE1 (Could Hip-Hop Overthrow Oppressive Sentence Enactments) has faced many roadblocks while trying to correct the damage from the last three decades.
Over the last two years, it was unable to secure sufficient backing, and there has been no major funding invested in the movement.
Woods, who was sentenced to 31-years-to-life under the three strikes law, described how his organization was unable to keep up with the long hours. He talked about how a shortage of volunteers hindered them from competing with the mechanism of politics.
When asked whether there would be any action taken to finally rid the state of the law, he simply said, “No.”
Under Cal. Penal Code §1170.1, §667(b)-(i) many incarcerated individuals are excluded from receiving relief from the administration and courts.
Most of the reforms went directly to those who have been convicted of non-violent crimes and drug offenses, or were youth offenders.
It can explain why politicians are deterred from putting it on the ballot. This can create an unfair reality on what actually needs to be done.
San Quentin resident Haben Michael, 32, is not a lifer, but has been adversely affected by the three strikes law. He has four total strikes and this is only his first prison term.
“If I didn’t have the enhancements, I would have been home years ago,” said Michael.
He is referring to the exclusion of convicted felons who fall under P.C. 1170(d), §1170.126. He said the only relief available to people like him is Assembly Bill 600.
“It kills hope. It makes you feel like; why should I go into a good program,” he said.
Michael is serving 26 years for a deal he accepted. He doesn’t qualify for the youth offender laws, even though he was 23 at the time of his crime.
Residents report a sense of hopelessness when it comes to the reform of the three strikes law. The stigma is that the public and law makers are insensitive to reform of the incarcerated.
For example, under the rules associated with elderly parole, individuals who suffer a third strike are excluded from going to a parole hearing after serving 20 years and are 50-years-old. Instead, they must serve 25 years and be 60-years-old.
Senate Bills 260 and 261’s provisions require the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct youth offender sessions to consider releasing those who committed their crimes when they were under 25.
However, it excludes those who are serving life without the possibility of parole or who have been sentenced under the three strikes law.
San Quentin resident Eddie Turner a 62-year-old lifer was sentenced to 35-years-to-life in 2008. He claims to suffer a significant amount of anxiety behind the three strikes dilemma.
“It’s not fair,” said Turner. “We already did the time for that.”
He is referring to the prior strikes he accumulated over the decades. He admitted to being a repeat offender, but struggles to understand why staying out of trouble for the last 17 years carries no weight.
Turner filed two separate motions requesting relief, one under the exceptional conduct rule pursuant to 1170, which asks the administration to recommend re-sentencing, but was denied because he did not have enough programming.
“It makes me feel good knowing that I have been on the straight and narrow while I have been here. But it makes me feel like hope has failed me,” Turner said. “Knowing I’ve been here doing all the right things, I have no hope in the courts.”
John “Yay Yay” Johnson, a formerly incarcerated person who was sentenced to 32-years-to-life, is preparing a documentary on three strikes. It is outlining what some consider prejudicial treatment to men of color and older Caucasian men.
Woods stressed that outside support and contributions are central to the success of getting the measure on the ballot in the future, allowing voters to finally decide the matter.
