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When Mary Reese acquired a name on the California Establishment for Girls in 2021, a jail official informed her she had “gained the lotto.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom had granted her mercy with a commutation shortening her sentence of 35 years to life for a collection of burglaries dedicated in 2007. She believed she’d be free and reunited together with her household inside days.
However a yr and eight months after Newsom famous her “good prospects for profitable group reentry,” Reese, 64, stays in jail.
Whereas the governor’s clemency energy permits him to unilaterally free folks he deems worthy, more often than not he doesn’t use it that approach. As an alternative, he sends prisoners to the parole board, permitting its commissioners — who embrace attorneys, former wardens and correctional officers — to resolve their destiny.
Newsom has granted 123 commutations, or reductions of sentences, since he grew to become governor in 2019. However as of January, a 3rd of these folks remained behind bars — in some instances years after the governor’s suggestions, based on information from the California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. That’s due largely to Newsom’s determination to defer to the parole board within the overwhelming majority of his commutations.
The board denied Reese launch six months after Newsom introduced her commutation. Among the many causes: She had violated jail guidelines by stealing some material thread and borrowing a hair straightener to make use of for church in jail on Sundays, based on a transcript of her suitability listening to obtained by The Occasions.
The board’s determination got here after Newsom praised her in his commutation for her use of self-help applications, an “exemplary self-discipline file” and “honest regret.”
Deputy Commissioner Rosalio Castro informed Reese on the listening to that there are “no small guidelines” for a “lifer” like her. That features guidelines prohibiting loaning or sharing private property.
“I by no means damage anybody ever in my life. I don’t perceive why I didn’t get this,” Reese mentioned in a cellphone name from jail in January.
“Who's [Newsom] giving mercy to, then?”
A letter Mary Reese wrote to a Occasions reporter from the California Establishment for Girls in January.
The governor’s method is in line with the clemency course of utilized by his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, who was each heralded and criticized for setting information together with his acts of mercy and permitting folks initially sentenced to life with out the opportunity of parole an opportunity at freedom.
Representatives for each governors mentioned they've aimed to stability clemency with considerations about public security. However deference to the parole board has additional difficult a byzantine system through which folks can stay imprisoned lengthy after even the governor praises their rehabilitation.
Newsom, a liberal icon who issued a moratorium on the dying penalty throughout his first yr in workplace and has ordered the closure of some state prisons, has touted his clemency energy as “an essential a part of the legal justice system” in information releases asserting his commutations.
Along with the 123 commutations, which shorten sentences for these presently in jail, Newsom has issued 140 pardons — which restore some rights after launch — and 35 medical reprieves for folks dealing with well being dangers.
Nineteen individuals who have acquired a commutation from Newsom have been denied launch by the parole board, based on state jail officers. One other 11 who've acquired commutations have been granted parole by the board however stay in jail nonetheless awaiting launch.
Altogether, 41 folks whose sentences Newsom has commuted stay in jail, together with 11 who've both not but absolutely served their shortened sentence phrases, are awaiting parole hearings or are elsewhere within the course of. (In two of these instances, folks have voluntarily waived a beforehand scheduled listening to.)
Jail rights advocates and legal protection attorneys say placing the onus on the parole board, recognized for its selective and sometimes prolonged course of, undercuts the aim of a governor’s clemency energy.
“Clemency is supposed to be a unprecedented measure, and it’s assured within the California Structure. It’s meant to convey consideration to people who dedicated severe crimes however have reworked their lives in jail and have been punished sufficient,” mentioned Katie Tinto, director of the Felony Justice Clinic on the UC Irvine Faculty of Legislation.
Federal commutations granted by U.S. presidents are extra environment friendly than California’s, Tinto mentioned, calling the present dependence on the parole board “problematic” and “outrageous.”
“The concept that they will make it to that stage, the place the governor has acknowledged their efforts and rehabilitation, after which the parole board says that they've to stay behind bars, it's fully at odds with one another,” she mentioned.
Dana Williamson, Newsom’s chief of employees, mentioned the governor’s commutation mannequin “is precisely proper” and creates a essential stability between mercy and public security.
She mentioned that parole board management is greatest outfitted to make judgments in clemency instances, as their “sturdy course of” contains danger assessments, monitoring of patterns and enter from forensic psychologists.
Williamson, who additionally was a high aide to Brown, mentioned one improper commutation determination might set again years of progress California has made on legal justice reform. She recalled sitting within the room with each governors as they pored over clemency functions.
“Your complete premise of all of those reforms was to present folks an opportunity and hope to get out of jail and to go stay their lives, however it was with robust rehabilitative measures and accountability and balancing public security and using specialists,” Williamson mentioned.
A number of layers of scrutiny are constructed into California’s clemency system. The parole board is closely concerned within the course of, voting on and recommending instances to the governor for his consideration. The state Supreme Court docket can also be required to log out on clemency candidates who've been convicted of a couple of felony.
Gavin Newsom, who was then governor-elect, and Gov. Jerry Brown discuss with reporters after assembly on the Capitol on Nov. 13, 2018, in Sacramento. Representatives for each governors mentioned they've aimed to stability clemency with considerations about public security.
(Wealthy Pedroncelli / Related Press)
Within the case of Reese, Newsom acknowledged in his announcement that each the Board of Parole Hearings and the California Supreme Court docket had really useful her for clemency previous to his assessment. Nonetheless, she was denied launch at a later parole suitability listening to.
Giving the parole board the ultimate say can basically render commutation meaningless in some instances, mentioned Mark Osler, a legislation professor on the College of St. Thomas and co-founder of the Clemency Useful resource Heart at New York College.
“That doesn’t appear so as to add any worth. It’s not just like the board doesn’t have already got enter. Giving them a veto on the again finish ... it’s laborious to see it as something apart from political cowl,” Osler mentioned. “It’s so unusual that in granting mercy, we see such timidity.”
In some situations, Newsom — a Democrat who's constantly advised as a presidential nominee — has freed folks immediately with out involving the parole board. In 2021, he commuted the sentence of Teresa Paulinkonis, who spent 31 years in jail for murdering her stepfather, who she mentioned sexually abused her. In her commutation, Newsom didn't defer to the parole board however merely mentioned Paulinkonis was “able to be launched on parole.” She is now not in jail.
He additionally immediately commuted the sentence of Swedish musician David Jassy in 2020, who was convicted of second-degree homicide after, in a match of highway rage, he punched and kicked a pedestrian earlier than operating him over together with his SUV, based on courtroom testimony. Jassy unintentionally struck the person together with his automobile whereas he was leaving, based on clemency paperwork.
His case garnered the eye of Kim Kardashian partially due to his conduct in San Quentin State Jail, the place he mentored younger prisoners via a rap music program. Jassy was deported to Sweden after being launched from jail.
Cristina Chavez‘s commutation, nonetheless, was despatched to the parole board by Newsom. She was 21 in 2008 when she acted as a driver for somebody who burglarized a car, based on clemency paperwork. She shot on the automobile proprietor’s brother with a BB gun, however missed. Later that yr, she was tried for one more crime, through which a person ready in his automobile in a fast-food drive-through was shot and injured by a girl utilizing an actual gun.
Chavez denied the latter crime and mentioned she was wrongly convicted. She was sentenced to 34 years and eight months to life for housebreaking and vandalism expenses she has admitted to, and an tried homicide cost for the capturing that she maintains she didn't commit.
In his commutation of her sentence in 2019, Newsom wrote that Chavez has been described as “sort, even-tempered, hardworking” and trustworthy.
She was denied parole twice after Newsom’s commutation. Jail information present that her subsequent tentative date for a parole suitability listening to is in June.
Chavez, now 36, is afraid that the parole board has denied her as a result of she gained’t admit to one of many crimes for which she’s been convicted. She mentioned she’s been finding out her “character defects” in preparation for her subsequent listening to however is confused about what parole board commissioners are searching for.
In her final listening to, in September 2021, Chavez pointed to being molested at 8 years outdated, and witnessing home violence, as contributing to an habit that led to crime. She appeared to wrestle with some questions requested by commissioners, saying that she couldn't bear in mind particulars of her previous and asking them to repeat themselves or to take a second to gather her ideas, based on a transcript obtained by The Occasions.
When she maintained her innocence concerning the tried homicide cost, presiding commissioner Kevin Chappell requested: “So when you didn’t commit the crime, why are you sitting in jail at present?”
(Jess Hutchison/Los Angeles Occasions)
Chavez, who has requested herself that very same query many instances, felt caught: She mentioned she deserved to be there for her different errors.
In the end, the board declared her unsuitable for parole, citing a scarcity of self management, “immature considering” and accusing her of not taking full duty for her actions.
“The governor clearly noticed one thing in me to say, ‘That individual deserves a commutation out of 1000's of individuals in jail.’ I've damaged the cycle of violence in my life. I do know I’m not a violent individual, and I’m not a risk,” Chavez mentioned in a cellphone interview from the California Establishment for Girls in Chino. “My God, I want they'd see that.”
Reese, who was additionally denied parole after receiving a commutation from Newsom, mentioned she felt “mistreated” by the parole board and that “that they had no intention of letting me go.”
Reese’s sentence included enhancements below California’s “three strikes” legislation, which was authorized by voters in 1994. Her crimes included bank card information theft, car theft and theft from an aged individual.
Throughout her listening to, she pointed to being raped at 13, and giving start at 14, in addition to the gang-related homicide of her son, as causes for her poverty and habit that led her to crime.
Nonetheless, parole board commissioners mentioned she demonstrated “lack of change” after serving greater than 13 years in jail and posed “an unreasonable danger to public security.”
She wonders why Newsom despatched her to the parole board within the first place.
“I used to be speechless. I didn’t wish to act as if I wasn’t grateful, however having to go to the board caught me completely off guard. I wasn’t ready for that,” she mentioned in regards to the second she realized the governor’s interference in her case wasn’t what she thought.
Reese is eligible for parole in November 2025, based on state jail information.
In a report revealed in January, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Workplace warned that California’s parole board has “overly broad discretion” that would result in inequitable outcomes and “biased selections.” The analyst really useful that the Legislature contemplate limiting the board’s energy and enhancing transparency and oversight.
Board of Parole Hearings Government Officer Jennifer Shaffer mentioned the method analyzes somebody’s individualized “criminality” and risk of re-offending whereas additionally providing folks hope. Generally, Newsom shouldn't be ordering the board to do something, she mentioned, however to listen to a case.
“Individuals now have a significant alternative for launch. The facility of that hope has modified folks, it has motivated folks to rehabilitate,” she mentioned.
When requested why folks like Reese and Chavez have been denied parole however folks like Richard Fuentes Revelez, who sexually abused and impregnated an 11-year-old woman, was granted parole in December, Shaffer mentioned they're held to the identical requirements.
Newsom aides mentioned not the entire info that the governor and the parole board use to make selections about parole instances is made public.
“Lots of people take a look at this and go, ‘Properly, why is that this individual being denied despite the fact that their crime was far much less egregious than this different individual’s crime?’ However you actually have to take a look at who the individual is at present. And in each single case, what we’re taking a look at is what have been the criminogenic components that result in their criminality?” Shaffer mentioned. “We attempt to be as constant in our determination making as potential.”
Revelez stays in jail, based on state information.
Critics of the parole course of say treating it like a science is harmful and may take away the human aspect. Prisoners say they research for an look earlier than the parole board as if it's a check that's laborious to cross.
Parole hearings are thorough and may be traumatic, mentioned Milena Blake, an lawyer for the Three Strikes Challenge at Stanford Legislation Faculty. Judgments are inconsistent and may rely upon an individual’s public talking expertise as a substitute of their rehabilitation or innocence, or a commissioner’s personal biases, she mentioned.
Whereas Blake praised Newsom for a few of his progressive legal justice insurance policies, she mentioned it's “actually nicely inside his authority” to commute sentences with out involving the parole board, calling his method “politically handy.”
Blake represented Reese throughout her suitability listening to and mentioned she was “flabbergasted” by the parole board’s deal with what she considered as delicate infractions in jail and crimes she dedicated as a teen.
“Many individuals have gone into these rooms and have been required to consider the worst issues they’ve ever carried out and ever had carried out to them with a view to get an opportunity at freedom,” Blake mentioned. “Do I want there can be extra outright releases? Sure. All we are able to do is preserve pushing to get the individuals who actually can be fully secure to launch, and would truly be an asset to their communities, extra alternatives to do this.”
Proponents of clemency level to analysis that reveals folks “age out” of crime and in addition to the price to taxpayers to maintain folks imprisoned: a median of $106,000 a yr per prisoner, based on the LAO. Commuting sentences can also be a method the state’s amenities have tried to scale back overcrowding.
However there are critics who say California’s Democratic leaders are too lenient on individuals who have dedicated crimes.
When Newsom commuted the sentence of Steven Bradley in 2020, Kern County Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer slammed the governor for permitting his launch regardless of her objections.
The commutation “glosses over” Bradley’s homicide of a fuel station attendant throughout a theft, Zimmer mentioned in a information launch urging the sufferer’s members of the family to take part within the parole course of. She referred to as Newsom’s order a “drastically misguided effort” and questioned how he had “discovered time” through the COVID-19 pandemic to prioritize commutations.
Bradley was granted parole in January. He stays in jail, based on state information.
Greg Totten, chief govt officer for the California District Attorneys Assn., mentioned prosecutors have considerations that commutations and early launch are overused.
“There are some offenders which might be so prolifically harmful to the general public that they have to be incapacitated via incarceration, and sadly a variety of these persons are being launched early and victims are being shocked by that and endangered by it,” he mentioned.
Newsom has additionally used his powers to reverse selections made by the parole board and preserve folks in jail if he feels that they nonetheless pose a danger to society. He reversed the parole board’s determination to launch Sirhan Sirhan in 2022, saying his 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy “modified the course of this nation.”
In every commutation he has granted, Newsom says that his act of clemency “doesn't reduce or forgive” somebody’s conduct or the hurt it precipitated however acknowledges the rehabilitation they’ve carried out in jail.
The notorious case of Willie Horton, who raped a girl and assaulted her boyfriend after being allowed to go away a Massachusetts jail in 1987, has put politicians on alert for many years. The case, which was utilized by Republican George H.W. Bush to defeat Democrat Michael Dukakis for president, has change into a logo of “robust on crime” coverage requirements.
Williamson, Newsom’s aide, acknowledged the potential for political backlash and mentioned utilizing clemency as typically as he does is a testomony to the governor’s perception in altering the legal justice system.
“The very last thing anyone desires is to decide like this and be improper,” she mentioned.
Involving the state parole board in clemency selections shouldn't be distinctive to the Newsom administration.
Brown granted 283 commutations from 2011 to 2019, practically double the quantity issued by the previous 9 governors mixed. Brown’s predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, granted 10 commutations, and earlier than him, Grey Davis, a Democrat, issued none.
However, like Newsom, in an amazing majority of these instances, Brown allowed the parole board to have the ultimate say.
Brown spokesperson Evan Westrup mentioned state historical past is essential to understanding why California’s clemency course of is what it's at present. He defended what he referred to as “an additional layer of assessment” by the parole board and mentioned warning was essential with a view to obtain Brown’s aim to ascertain a “common, constant” govt clemency course of after acts of mercy had dwindled below earlier administrations.
“The truth that this observe has continued below the present administration is testomony to the prudence of that method,” Westrup mentioned. “One mistake might blow up your complete course of and observe, which we so painstakingly restored, and result in a return to the times when commutations merely aren’t granted.”
However there’s a niche between the general public understanding of Newsom’s commutations and what's truly taking place in California’s state prisons, mentioned Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose.)
“A commutation must be what the phrase means: that the sentence is ended, and never depending on a subsequent listening to years from now,” Cortese mentioned. “The difficulty turns into: which one in every of them would have seen their grandchild born? Which one in every of them would have attended a Little League sport however for the truth that somebody can’t get round to granting them launch?”
Even for many who are granted parole, launch shouldn't be fast. There's a assessment interval of as much as 120 days following a parole board listening to, which permits selections to be overseen by the board’s authorized group earlier than they're finalized. Parole selections that change into remaining are then topic to assessment by the governor, who has 30 days to decide.
Aides for Newsom mentioned that the method takes time due to doubtlessly severe penalties, and that the state would want to rent extra authorized employees to maintain up with the ever-increasing variety of folks up for parole, in thanks half to sentence-reform legal guidelines which have made extra folks eligible.
The governor has reviewed about 5,000 parole instances since taking workplace, based on Williamson.
Within the case of Rahsaan Thomas, co-host of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Ear Hustle” podcast, it took greater than a yr for him to be launched from San Quentin State Jail after receiving a commutation from the governor.
Thomas, 52, was sentenced to 55 years and 6 months to life for a second-degree homicide conviction and different expenses after he fatally shot somebody and injured one other throughout a drug deal in 2000, based on clemency paperwork.
In his commutation in January 2022, Newsom praised Thomas for finishing school programs and an array of programming, saying he has “devoted himself to his rehabilitation.”
Thomas acquired dozens of suggestions urging Newsom and the parole board to think about him for commutation, which he initially utilized for in 2017 below the Brown administration.
In an interview with The Occasions in early January, Thomas mentioned he's grateful to each the governor and the parole board, saying the method helped him to heal and replicate on his previous. However he was struggling to plan for the long run and clarify to his household the unsure timing for his launch. His household didn't deserve “the agony of all of the false hope and hurdles,” over the previous yr, he mentioned.
Filmmaker Ken Burns walks with inmate Rahsaan Thomas, left, at San Quentin State Jail in in July 2019. Thomas, co-host of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Ear Hustle” podcast, was sentenced to 55 years and 6 months to life for a second-degree homicide conviction and different expenses after he fatally shot somebody and injured one other throughout a drug deal in 2000, based on clemency paperwork. It took greater than a yr for him to be launched from jail after receiving a commutation from the governor.
(Eric Risberg / Related Press)
“I can’t curse a blessing,” Thomas mentioned from jail Jan. 11. “My one want is that this course of, when you get a commutation, it must be streamlined. Actually, it must be streamlined for everyone. ... For those who determined it’s secure to let me go, why drag it out?”
He mentioned he is aware of that he is likely one of the fortunate ones, calling his pals who've did not get previous the parole board “invisible.” Nonetheless, time is treasured. “Daily issues,” he mentioned.
Thomas was launched from jail on Wednesday, simply hours after his case was talked about in a narrative revealed by The Occasions, to the celebration of an array of supporters he has garnered over time via his journalism about jail life.
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