Mark Titch passed away on April 22 after being hospitalized for 11 days. Titch was scheduled to appear before the parole board May 14 for the ninth time.
The cause of his death is not yet known. “It takes two months before the official cause of death is reported,” said Chief Medical Officer Elaina Tootell.
Titch entered through prison doors in 1976 as a 17-year-old convicted of murder and kidnap. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
Chuck LeGros, his cellmate for nine years, came to prison at age 45 and did not know anything about prison life. “Mark schooled me, and took good care of me, just like a son,” he said, adding, “Mark’s favorite time when he was not working was to cook some food and throw a food fest on the yard with his friends.”
A long-time co-worker, said, “Mark was very personable, and he would take the shirt off his back to help you. He was a hard worker, leading by example in the print shop and as a welder.”
Titch educated himself, achieving a high school diploma and a college education from Chapman University at the California Men’s Colony (CMC).
While at CMC, he became a confirmed Catholic. LeGros said of him, “He believed in God, and his Lord and savior was Jesus Christ. I believe that Mark went straight to heaven from San Quentin.”
According to LeGros, Titch’s childhood was fraught with many problems. He said that Titch’s mother abandoned the family to start a new life without him and his siblings and that their father was an alcoholic who beat him and his siblings. Titch left home at 13 and never returned, according to LeGros.
Growing up in Orange County placed him near Disneyland. According to LeGros, Titch spent a lot of time at Disneyland as a runaway.
When he started getting into trouble with the law, he spent many years in juvenile detention centers and several years in the California Youth Authority. His father passed away during this term, LeGros said. His siblings separated from the family as well, and he lost contact with most of them.
Titch qualified for consideration for parole under the recent juvenile bill passed last year. His correctional counselor was in the process of gathering the necessary records for consideration, according to LeGros.
