Michael Bernstein is one of many California inmates convicted under the Three Strikes Law, but he has been given a second chance at freedom after the state passed Proposition 36.
“I’m not in prison for violence against anyone. I’m in prison because I was in possession of eight grams of methamphetamines,” Bernstein said. “It was for my own personal use. I wasn’t selling it at all.”
Bernstein said it was in mid-October 2012 when he found out that he qualified for release under Proposition 36 if the judge found him suitable. Bernstein said he felt like he was being sentenced again.
“I had been bitten once with Proposition 66 under then-Gov. Schwarzenegger,” Bernstein said. “Once Proposition 36 passed, I was excited.”
Bernstein, 48, has been in prison since Jan. 5, 1995.
He said his legal troubles started when he began drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at age 12 or 13.
“Then, in high school, that progressed into using other drugs, like Christmas trees and black beauties.” Bernstein said. “These were the names of pills. They’re all uppers.”
Bernstein said he was not running toward something or away from anything. He was looking for the rush and did not realize possessing eight grams of meth would constitute a third strike.
“I didn’t know until my arraignment. That’s when reality set in, when the district attorney said this is a three-strikes case,” Bernstein said.
While in county jail, he married his fiancé and was eventually brought back to Santa Clara County for a re-sentencing hearing to eliminate a strike after his conviction.
“Even my lawyer at the time thought I would get out,” Bernstein said. “The judge said my case deserves to have the strike dropped.”
However, the judge did not drop the strike.“There was anger – lots of it – when I was done with my … hearing,” Bernstein said.
Five years later he and his wife were divorced.
While in prison, Bernstein got his GED, vocation certificates in electronics and computer refurbishing.
“I stayed busy and got some trades. For most of my time I wasn’t able to do any self-help groups because the majority of prisons aren’t like San Quentin. They didn’t have any self-help groups,” Bernstein said.
“The great thing is my attorney found a program for me called Calvary Chapel,” Bernstein said. “It’s a sober-living house, and she’s already got me a bed.”
Bernstein walked out of San Quentin on March 22.
